Marry the Don

Chapter 16

He shook hands with men along the way and got more than a few claps on the back as the men stared at me with wild looks in their eyes and the women glared daggers like I’d taken something of theirs.

I felt like I was living in some faraway reality that didn’t make any sense, where everyone was in on a joke except me.

And it was about me.

I kept the same impassive look on my face through the entire bizarre parade until we were inside where Molly, Saul, and Dio waited for us. As soon as we cleared the threshold Nicolas dropped my hand and walked over to the lavish bar to pour himself a tall glass of liquor and threw it back without even a wince.

“Ma ’am,” Molly said gently, catching me off guard. I suppose now that I was married, I was no longer a Miss. “Put this on it to stop the swelling,” She wrapped a bag of ice in a linen cloth and

gently pressed it to my sore hand. I’d almost forgotten that she was behind me when my father crushed it.

“Thankyou,” I whispered in complete dismay.

“ Swelling?” Nicolas barked from his spot across the room as he stared at us. “What are you talking about?”

I ignored him and put the ice on my hand gently, hissing when even the weight of it hurt against my knuckles.

Two of them were dislocated. I could tell fromjust looking at them, purple bruises were starting to form under the skin. Once again, my father had managed to disfigure me.

“I asked you a question, Wife,” he hissed the last word like an insult, and I hated that he was so angry with me for some reason.

I was the one that was tricked, forced, and injured into this marriage.

For fucks sake, I’d spent the last six months comatose because of this entire affair.

“It’s nothing,” I replied, not looking up as Molly fussed over the cloth, holding it closed over the ice.

I heard his heavy footsteps as he crossed the room and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to run. I had nowhere to go anymore, this was my life.

Molly stepped back when he neared with a small smile and a nod to her boss. He lifted the bag of ice off my hand and looked at it where I cradled it against my chest. I refused to look up at him and instead stared at the floor as tears burned the back of my eyes.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” I answered out of habit. He was an outsider, and I was taught at a very young age to keep family things inside the family.

He shifted and I dared to take a glance up at him in time to see him look over his shoulder to Saul, who stepped forward.

“Her father broke it as he walked her down the aisle,” Saul said evenly, “To keep her from acting out.”

I risked a glance at my husband and regretted it instantly.

A fire burned in his green eyes when he looked back down at me, and I wilted under the power of it.

Nicolas stayed silent and clenched his jaw as he gently placed the ice back on my hand. I stared down in submission and hated how I felt so weak to all of these men all of the time.

“That’s why you flinched during the ceremony,” Nicolas said, “Because I squeezed your hand to get your attention.”

“Yes,” I whispered because the truth was I wanted him to know I was in pain. I stupidly hoped that maybe he’d care.

Maybe someone would finally care.

“And when you said, ‘I do ’?” He asked firmly, “Why did you look at him as you said it?”

I took a deep breath and looked back up at him. “Because when I hesitated, he stabbed Carmine with an electric shock device that he carries around.”

His jaw clenched again and the muscles in his cheeks popped and rolled under the pressure. “To keep you obedient,” he repeated my words from last night when I told him about the tonic.

“Yes.”

He looked over his shoulder to Saul who nodded his head grimly.

“Take her upstairs,” Nicolas looked at Molly, “I’ll be up shortly.” He turned back to Saul as Molly took my arm and gently pulled me towards the stairs. “Bring me, Carmine.”

“Don’t hurt him,” I begged, drawing my husband’s eyes back to me. “Do whatever you want to me, but please don’t-” My voice cracked, “don’t hurt my siblings. Please!”

His scowl deepened and he swallowed before nodding to Molly again, who pulled me along after her with more force until I was obliged to follow.

My heart and my head were at war as I followed Molly upstairs blindly. When she opened a heavy wooden door, I finally realized we weren’t outside of my room. I looked up and down the hallway in confusion.

We weren’t in the wing that my family was staying in at all.

Molly smiled at me knowingly and nodded for me to follow after her, “Your new room, Ma ’am,” she said gently, “In Mr. Capasso’s private wing.”

I took a tentative step inside the room and looked around. I originally thought the room I’d stayed in last night was luxurious, but this room topped it exponentially.

Cream-colored bedding adorned a beautifully crafted wooden king-sized bed with four posts on the corners. Above the bed, cream linens were draped, creating a billowed look that reminded me of a princess bed from my childhood.

Windows on the far wall showed off the back lawn where the wedding had taken place and doors lined two other walls.

“Would you like to get out of the dress now?” Molly asked and I sagged with relief. The thing was heavy and hot and given how the entire ceremony and marriage had come to be, I wasn’t sentimental towards the gown and wanted to be rid of it.