The Mafia's Angel: forced to be his Bride

My fingers shook like leaves in the breeze as I raised them, my heartbeat hummingbird quick. Samuel's strong hand was firm and steady as he took mine and slipped the ring onto my finger.

White gold with twenty small diamonds.

What was meant as a sign of love and devotion for other couples was nothing but a testament of his ownership of me. A daily reminder of the golden cage I'd be trapped in for the rest of my life. Until death do us part wasn't an empty promise as with so many other couples that entered the holy bond of marriage. There was no way out of this union for me. I was Rico's until the bitter end. The last few words of the oath that men swore when they were inducted into the mafia could just as well have been the closing of my wedding vow:

"I enter alive and I will have to get out dead."

I should have run when I still had the chance. Now, as hundreds of faces from the Italy and New York Familias stared back at us, flight was no longer an option. Nor was divorce. Death was the only acceptable end to a marriage in our world.

i could still remove that day like it was yesterday. The day my father gave me to him without a warning. I still haven't gotten over that shock. Because I still couldn't believe it. I never in a million thoughts expect my father to ever do this to me at any point. There was more to this arrangement and he wasn't telling me. Nobody was telling me.

Even if I still managed to escape Samuel's watchful eyes and that of his henchmen, my breach of our agreement would mean war. Nothing my father could say would prevent Samuel's Familias from exercising vengeance for making them lose face.

My feelings didn't matter, never had. I'd been growing up in a world where no choices were given, especially to women.

This wedding wasn't about love or trust or choice. It was about duty and honor, about doing what was expected.

A bond to ensure peace.

I wanted to blame my father. Yes, he had done this to me. He had thrown me into the arms of this wicked Mafia man just so he could clear his debt and keep up his appearance. He didn't care about my feelings. I always thought that he loved me and would protect me forever. But he gave me off to this man without a blink of an eye. He hurt me. And I would never forget this.

I wasn't an idiot. I knew what else this was about: money and power. Both were dwindling since the Russian Mob 'The Gante', the Taiwanese Triad, and other crime organizations had been trying to expand their influence into our territories. The Italian Familias across the US needed to lay their feuds to rest and work together to beat down their enemies. I should be honored to marry the oldest son of the Italian Familia. That's what my father and every other male relative had tried to tell me since my betrothal to Samuel. I knew that, and it wasn't as if I hadn't had time to prepare for this exact moment, and yet fear corseted my body in a relentless grip.

when i noticed the priest was about to ask him to kiss me, i looked down on my dress. According to the dress maker, this was the second most expensive wedding dress ever made in years. The white dress was simple but layered with real diamonds. It was so much, I lost count.

"if you ever get stranded and need money, just sell this gorgeous dress and you're set for life. So, don't ever leave it behind. " could still remember the joke my dress maker made the day I was testing the dress out. What did she mean that I shouldn't leave it behind?

The dress is completely armless, exposing most of my upper breasts. The sleeves is embroidered with lacy patterns. My eyes crosses the ring embedded on my finger again and my heart sunk.

"You may kiss the bride," the priest said.

I raised my head. Every pair of eyes in the pavilion scrutinized me, waiting for a flicker of weakness. Father would be furious if I let my terror show, and Samuel's Familia would use it against us. But I had grown up in a world where a perfect mask was the only protection afforded to women and had no trouble forcing my face into a placid expression. Nobody would know how much I wanted to escape. Nobody but Samuel. I couldn't hide from him, no matter how much I tried. My body wouldn't stop shaking. As my gaze met Samuel's cold gray eyes, I could tell that he knew. How often had he instilled fear in others? Recognizing it was probably second nature to him.

Samuel's eyes watched me tauntingly for a moment, as if he too were trying to read me. I didn't know how to bring myself to kiss him. Not again. Not now.

As if he saw the hesitation in my eyes and body language, He bent down to bridge the ten inches he towered over me. There was no sign of hesitation, fear or doubt on his face before i felt his lips crash againt mine. My lips trembled against his mouth as his eyes bored into me. Their message was clear: You are mine.

If I had known what was to come after making all those empty voice, if I had known the dangers of this pact I made here today, if I had known I would be suicidal after selling my soul to this devil today, then perhaps, I would have taken off when the thought first occurred to me.

But I didn't just become suicidal. I fell deeply in love with my biggest mistake. And I paid for it.

The day my school's principal called me into his office to have a word with me, I knew it wasn't good news, and somehow I'd seen it coming.

There was no hiding it as the rumors had been going on around the school, fast spreading like wildfire. The famous Lobos Samuel Curtez had been killed at his own party. Samuel Curtez was the world's biggest nuisance and the country's most wanted criminal. He was New York's head of the popular 'zolo' mafia gang, taking after his late father, Carlos Curtez, who had terrorised and shaken up the world in the same manner.

Samuel Curtez was rumored to run the largest drug moving organization in fifteen different countries. Last semester, Katy hadn't resumed school with us and when she was asked, she said her sister went missing and that she overhead her parents saying Samuel Curtez had kidnapped her from the rail road but they didn't want it to go out.

Samuel Curtez, the most notorious criminal ever recorded and ever wanted in history. I couldn't imagine what it's like to stand in front of him. I would probably die from his hard glares.

I've only heard stories about him, and that was enough. And now as I walked into Mr. Henderson's office and watched him give me a tender smile, I knew what it was about. Samuel Curtez, the latest talk of the whole city.

My father had found a way to sneak in a burner phone like he always did when he wanted us to have a 'private talk' and ha whisper warned me not to say anything if the Feds came to my school. And I'm smart enough to know that that goes for anybody else here, including Mr. Henderson.

"Good morning, Rose. Have a seat." The pretense in his eyes is not even hidden.

I sat down carefully and watched him.

" I'll go straight to the point, Valdez, I'm gonna have to give you a temporary suspension. " he said.

"Suspension? Why? I didn't do anything. " I said.

"No, Rose, you're a good kid, but as you might have heard, there's been an investigation going on around here. Samuel Curtez. He died. Last night. " He said.

I shifted in my seat, my great attempt to look surprised. "Really? What happened?" I asked him.

"I know you know exactly what happened, Valdez, and now your father's men will be here any minute. He asked for your immediate return home." The principal said.

"Return home? Why?" I asked, now confused.

He spread his arms and replied, "There's a rumor going on that your father may have had a hand in his murder."

My eyes went wide. So that's why he asked me not to say anything if the Feds came to the school.

"Listen, Valdez, I've known your whole family even before you were born, and I know the kind of shit you all do. So the best I can do is send you home where you'll be safe. You'll be picked up soon. Now, if you need anything, I think now's the right time to go pick them up." He said to me.

I watched him for a while, trying to understand all he had just said. Why would my father be involved with Samuel Curtez in the first place? Is someone trying to frame him? And what did he just mean by he knew the shit my family does?

In the next few minutes, I was on my way home, breathing in the air of New York again. But unlike the other few times I've visited from school, I wasn't so excited.

Once the car pulled up, I didn't wait for the bodyguard to pull the door open for me, I sped out and hurried up the stone steps that led to my doorstep. As soon as I furiously pushed the door open, I'm met with a completely different scene from what I had in my mind.

Then I had a quick flashback to the many sparkly black cars parked around my house, which I'd been too furious to even pay attention to.

At the front of the fireplace stood a tall man, his hair tinted blond on one side, his chin held high, the smoke from the cigarette stuck between his lips colliding with the sunrays that seeped in through the window, obstructing my view of his face. He had on a black suits but he was beside the point right now.

Besides him, there were many other men dressed in suits surrounding every corner of the room. And in the middle of them all sat my father, his blond goatie pointing directly at me as I walked in.

"Rosella, you're home." My father spoke, causing me to look at him again.

"Dad? What's going on here?" I asked slowly as I gently set down my backpack on the couch. I'd completely put my rage behind me as I watched all the men that surrounded us, all looking like they were going to grab me soon and kidnap me, just like in those movies.

At the back of my mind, I knew none of this mattered, because the most important thing right now is getting answers to my questions about all Mr Henderson said about our family and how he was involved with the most wanted criminal in the whole world.

My father rose up before I could reach him and said, "Rose, I want you to meet someone very important." I watched as he turned towards the fireplace, to the man with a black tinted hair, drowning in his cigarette and eying me like he had never seen a female his whole life.

"Meet Samuel Curtez. " My father adds

My jaw dropped as my eyes quickly went back to him, and he gave me a smirk before popping a smoke from his cigarette towards me.

My eyes moved back to my father, and he nodded gently. I must be staring at his ghost, right?

"I have something else to tell you, Rose," my father said, a bit of a worry in his face. "I made a deal with Samuel Curtez on your behalf. "

My heart sank.

My heart drummed loudly inside my chest. The hairs at the back of my neck stood out. Sweat quickly formed on my skin, which I soon realised was goosebumps. At the tips of my fingers, it felt like tiny needles were prickling them.

They were all fear. And surprise. Fear of what was to come out next. Fear of what I knew my father was going to say.

"Rose," my father called gently

"You're coming with me, girl." Samuel Curtez cuts my father off, causing me to snap my head towards him.

He had a grim look on his face and a cornered grin on his lips. Why did he look like that? Why was he so amused? Well, I did look like someone who was about to wet her pants because I couldn't believe what he had just said. Coming with him?

I looked back at my father for an explanation.

"Listen, Rose, you are better off with him. We made an arrangement, and he will take you right away. I am protecting you." My father rushed.

I'd thought I couldn't talk. For a second, I couldn't even move my lips. They couldn't even tremble even though they were so heavy of words to lash out. But suddenly, I felt my fingers move, and then my chest moved in a heavy sigh.

I started to breathe fast. And I could finally speak. "I don't, " I stopped to blink and take a sharp break in. " I don't understand, Dad. What do you mean I'm better off with him?"

"Rose! You will do as I say!" My father yelled, venom in his voice.

I began to shake my head in disapproval, tears brimming at my eyes. No, I would not agree to this madness.

I looked at the door, and the door was shut close. My eyes moved to the staircase. None of Samuel's men were standing there. If I could just make a sprint for it, I would reach my bedroom in a few seconds and get off through my window.

Impulsely, I turned towards the stairs and tried to make a run, just in time for my father to make another attempt to make me agree to this insane nonsense.

"Listen, Rose, there is not much time." My father's words were again cut short as we heard the sound of a gun cracking. I froze for a second, and i turned around, and my eyes glided towards a pistol aiming at my head. And the hand that aimed it at me was Samuel's. I scoffed and let out a surprised sigh.

Did he just point a gun at me? How am I supposed to live with this fucking psychopath if he just pulled a riffle at me right now, in front of my father?

But what I didn't understand was why? Why my father was letting all of this happen? Through the corners of my eyes I could see him standing helplessly, it was almost like I could see his body shivering. None of this makes sense.

Would I wake up from this nightmare if I pinched myself? I was a normal girl who went to school everyday. I'm supposed to be a normal girl. Is this going to be how my life ends? Everything I worked for?

"How would you wanna leave, love?" Samuel's voice tore through my heart "in my arms or in a body bag? You'll still be useful to me either way."

Goosebumps shrilled through my body like electricity. I felt the sweat that had accumulated on my face drip slowly down my face and neck.

What am I even thinking, thinking I could run from this? This is Samuel Curtez standing right in front of me with a pistol pointed to my head. He wouldn't think twice before shooting the life out of me. I would just be another person he killed and would forget the moment he stepped out of here. It would be my loss.

My heart pondered as fresh tears slid down my cheeks. I saw him smile gently and nodded to one of his men from behind me. My eyes shifted to my father. At the time, I felt one of his men stopping right next to me and holding my arm. I felt him stick a cold metal against my upper arm, followed by a sharp pain.

I only knew I'd been sedated when I started losing consciousness, and I fell into strong arms.

Hours Later.

I woke up to the sound of faint air sizzling around my ears and tenderly tapping against my skin. It felt really nice.

I felt the weight of my body on my right arm as I lay on my right side.

I could still feel the anesthesia left in my bloodstream, trying to pull me back into unconsciousness as I tried to peel my eyes open. The first thing I saw was white curtains flowing inside from the air coming in through the open balcony.

I slowly turned on my back and gazed at a beautiful white ceiling bearing a beautifully lit chandelier. The room was cozzy. I gently sat up and found myself wrapped up in a pale blue dress. It was more of a really long shirt that reached the middle of my thighs. I was too tired to even remember what I was wearing before and I how I'd gotten into this shirt.

The room walls were made of glass, and from this bed, I could see the different other walls outside, most of which were glasses too.

Where the hell am I?

I slowly stepped out of the bed, slow enough to prevent myself from leaving sounds.

I saw the doors wide open. But just before I could step out, I remembered how and why I was in this strange room.

Samuel Curtez. I was with him yesterday. Everything started coming back to me in a wave. My father asked me to leave with him. Samuel Curtez pointed a riffle at me as I tried to run off, that stinging sensation on my arm and the blackness that over took me.

Slowly, I turned back to the wide open door and wondered.' Why would he keep the doors open?'