Marry the Don

Chapter 15

“Quiet now, Little One,” Nicolas commanded in a deep voice. “Father, get on with it.” He turned to the priest standing next to us and I tore my eyes away from my future husband and jumped when I looked at the little old man.

“What?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion. I was silenced when Nicolas stepped forward, eliminating any space between us, and took my other hand in his as well, tightening his hold on both. I winced again and clenched my teeth to keep from outright screaming in agony.

He was intimidating me with his size and power.

A move I recognized from my father’s catalog and a piece of my soul broke.

Every hope and a small bit of warmth that I’d felt today at the arrival of each of his small, kind gestures wilted away as I realized I was marrying a man who was so much like my father.

So much so, that he’d somehow beat the century-old tradition of the Rosetti family and was the one to steal my virginity last night, while letting me believe he was the priest.

The real priest, an old man twice the age of my father started his rambles about marriage and unions, but I couldn’t focus on what he said. I stared down at my hands still held tightly in Nicolas's and tried to stay conscious.

My body rebelled against the idea that I’d laid with my soon-to-be husband last night without even knowing it. I couldn’t wrap my head around why he would lie and trick me when he couldn’t even bother to attend the dinner before that.

He had even talked about my future husband like he was someone else entirely.

“I do,” Nicholas snarled, staring down at me when I forced my head back to look up at him.

The priest went on and then paused, waiting for me to agree as well. But everything swarmed around in my head at lightning speed, leaving me breathless and confused.

A hiss from the front row caught my attention and my head snapped to my brother Carmine. His face was red and tense as he stared at me, and veins on his temple and neck bulged, but he didn’t say anything.

I saw my father move just slightly in the seat next to him and I caught the glint of the metal torture device he carried around in his pocket where it was pressed against my brother’s ribs. It emitted electric shock like a taser though it looked like a small fork, designed to replicate the divot repair tool that golfers used to fix the grass when they dug it up. It was inconspicuous until he used it.

And then it was gruesome. Only once had he stabbed me with it, and it had been the worst pain of my life.

“I do.” I gasped, “I do!” I didn’t even bother to try to act like I was saying it to my husband, I stared directly at my father until he released his hold on my brother, who sagged in his chair as the electricity stopped pulsing through his body.

Nicolas followed my stare down to my father, who just raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest said, and it permeated through the fog of panic in my brain. “You may now kiss your bride.”

I whipped my head back to Nicolas as fear and uncertainty rushed through me. He wouldn’t.

The man let go of my hands as he stared down at me with intensity burning on his handsome face. I didn’t just call the man handsome, did I?

“Wife,” He said with a sneer and slid his large hand around the back of my neck and tilted it back further as he lowered his face to mine.

No.

He pressed his warm lips to mine roughly, exerting his power over me with a simple move and I froze into solid stone at his touch. The crowd clapped and cheered like they were actually happy at the union that was just created through the entire bizarre situation.

I expected him to pull back, now that the marriage was sealed, but he didn’t. He growled against my closed mouth and then bit my bottom lip, making me gasp in outrage. When I did, he deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue in and possessing my mouth like it was now his. The cheers got louder, and rowdier as men catcalled and jeered at his possessive display.

Worse yet, my body melted to his touch, giving into the desire that he created inside of me just like last night when he pressed into my body.

“Please,” I panted against his lips, begging for reprieve as everyone watched.

“You’ll be begging again soon enough, Little One,” he growled, and then lowered his lips to my ear, “I wear the imprint of your teeth over my heart and your nails down the back of my neck.” I could feel his smirk against my skin as he dropped his lips to my neck. “I wonder what your dear old daddy would say if he knew I could still taste your sweet cunt on my tongue?”

I gasped and then clenched my teeth to keep myself from rising to his bait as he pulled back to look down at me, waiting for … an outburst?

Rage?

I didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to get it from me.

I’d been beaten down way too much in my life to rise to his challenge just because he wanted me to. Instead, I pushed my shoulders back and kept my mouth shut as the crowd waited for us to walk back down the aisle as husband and wife.

He raised one of his dark eyebrows at me and then smirked, taking my left hand in his and turning away to lead me down the steps and back towards the house silently.