Stalk Me (Beautiful Monsters #1)

SOFIA

I glide down the marble aisle of the Palazzo Vecchio, my blood-red dress trailing behind me like spilled wine against the ancient stone. My father’s arm is steady beneath my hand, but his pulse races. I can feel it through his sleeve. He knows, as I do, that this isn’t the marriage he originally planned for his lost daughter.

Candlelight flickers across the grand hall’s frescoed ceiling, casting dancing shadows that seem to move with my every step. Mario sits rigidly in the front row. His green-gold eyes, so like mine, reflect a mix of pride and resignation. His careful manipulations brought me here, but not as the pawn he’d hoped for.

My breath catches as I look up to see Nikolai. He stands like a king at the altar, his brothers Erik, Dmitri, and Alexi arrayed behind him in pristine black tuxedos. But it’s Nikolai’s burning gaze holds mine, those steel-gray eyes drinking in every detail of my dress, my face, my being. His intensity makes my skin tingle even from this distance.