CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Serafina
The day of the wedding
A loud crash jolted me awake, shattering the darkness of my sleep.
My eyes flew open, but my brain struggled to catch up, swimming through a thick fog of confusion. My head throbbed but it wasn’t exactly a headache.
Something was wrong—terribly wrong. I felt it in my bones even before I was fully awake.
Disoriented, I tried to sit up but winced. Every muscle in my body ached strangely, tender and sensitive in ways I’d never experienced before. There was a dull, unfamiliar soreness between my legs and that confused me even more.
“Cover yourself.” The voice—deep, commanding, terrifyingly and unmistakably Adrian’s—cut through my disorientation.
I tried to sit up again, but a wave of dizziness washed over me. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, pushing me back down as a heavy blanket was dragged over my exposed body with one swift motion.
The realization hit me like ice water.
I was naked. Completely, utterly naked beneath the covers.
Shock coursed through my veins as I blinked, trying to get rid of the fogginess in my brain and vision.
Today was my wedding day.
And I was in Adrian’s room.
In… his bed.
How did this happen?
When did this happen?
I remembered taking the sleeping pill and falling asleep in my bed, in my own room. But I couldn’t remember how I got here, how I ended up in Adrian’s bed.
“How—” I croaked, my throat raw as if I’d been screaming.
Thud.
Memories of last night flashed in fragments in my mind. Adrian’s mouth between my thighs, my fingers tangled in his hair, my body arching against his. The pleasure that had consumed me, the way I’d begged and moaned.
Thud. Thud.
The sensations were so vivid, so visceral that my stomach lurched.
But the details remained elusive, wrapped in a haze I couldn’t penetrate.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
My heart hammered against my ribs. God, what have I done?
“Adrian,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and unfamiliar. “What did we—”
Another crash interrupted me, louder this time, and the door shuddered on its hinges. Someone was pounding against it with enough force to break it down.
Adrian’s lips curled into that infuriating smirk as he straightened, turning toward the commotion. His eyes gleamed with something that looked closely like triumph. “Right on schedule.”
The door exploded inward, splintering as it crashed against the wall.
And my whole world shattered.
Just like that. Everything I had carefully built, meticulously preserved… everything I had ever known collapsed into pieces that I would never be able to put together.
The ashes of my demise laid at their feet.
I sat up in horror, gasping and clutching the blanket tighter around my naked body as they stormed into the room.
Matteo stood in the doorway; his face contorted with rage. Behind him loomed Damon, my father, and Enzo Salvatore. Their expressions shifted from confusion to shock to disgust in rapid succession as they took in the scene before them.
“Serafina.” Damon’s voice cracked with disbelief as he took in the obscenity in front of his eyes.
I clutched the blanket tighter around my body, my hands trembling uncontrollably. The fabric felt like my only shield against their horrified stares. Tears welled in my eyes, spilling down my cheeks as shame washed over me in waves.
“What have you done?” Enzo’s voice was deadly quiet, the calm before a storm. He wasn’t looking at me though. He stared at his son, his judgmental gaze boring into Adrian.
Matteo lunged forward with a guttural growl, his hands reaching for Adrian’s throat. But Enzo moved with surprising speed for an older man, catching his son’s arm in a vise-like grip.
“Control yourself,” Enzo commanded, though his own face was pale with fury.
My father’s face contorted as he took in the scene—me, naked and disheveled in Adrian’s bed, him standing beside it with that infuriating half-smile. He was bare chested, his sweatpants hanging low around his hips. Just like… last night.
He didn’t even move to make himself more presentable.
He just didn’t… care.
What have I done?
Guilt and regret coated my tongue, tears blurring my vision.
“What happened here?” Enzo asked slowly, cautiously.
Adrian’s lips twitched as he shrugged carelessly. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Is there proof?”
“Are you asking for bloody sheets, Father?”
Bloody sheets… he couldn’t… he didn’t mean… no, no, no.
Panic and mortification clawed up my throat, sharp and vicious, and I fought the urge to throw up. My stomach twisted with nausea and swallowed down the bitter bile coating my tongue.
“Since you all seem to be so old-fashioned and traditional…” Adrian tsked, bending down to retrieve something from the floor. My white nightgown.
He fisted it in his hand, and I saw it—the tinge of red against the pale fabric.
Oh my God.
Dread flooded my veins, thick and suffocating. Terror coiled inside me and my whole body burned with humiliation.
Was that my blood? It couldn’t be. It couldn’t. No, it couldn’t.
My chest tightened, lungs clenching, when Adrian threw my nightgown at Matteo. My fiancé caught it in the air and I knew they could all see what I saw.
Matteo dropped the nightgown as if it burned him and his fists clenched. “How could you?” he hissed, baring his teeth at his brother.
“You filthy bastard,” Damon snarled, his hand moving to his waistband where I knew he kept his gun.
“Now, now,” Adrian drawled, not a hint of remorse or fear in his voice. “We’re all civilized men here.”
“Civilized?” My father’s voice cut through the chaos, cold and deadly. “You’ve defiled my daughter on her wedding day.”
I couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come, trapped behind the lump in my throat as tears streamed down my cheeks. I wanted to disappear, to sink into the mattress and never emerge.
How could I have done such a thing?
“Defiled is such a strong word,” Adrian said, crossing his arms over his chest. “She came to me willingly.”
I did? Panic surged through me and I hiccupped back a wretched sob.
“That’s a lie,” Matteo spat, straining against his father’s grip. “She would never—”
“Wouldn’t she?” Adrian’s gaze flickered to me, and I saw the challenge in his eyes.
The memories surged again… my body arching against his, my desperate pleas, the way I’d clutched at him, pulled him closer. Had I begged? Had I wanted this?
Around us, the others erupted into furious arguments, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of rage and accusation. But in that moment, it felt like Adrian and I existed in our own bubble, separated from the chaos by an invisible barrier.
My face burned with humiliation and my body quivered with agonizing shame.
“This is unacceptable!” Enzo’s voice cut through our exchange. “We have contracts. Arrangements. The wedding is in four hours!”
“Four hours?” My father’s laugh was bitter. “You think this wedding can still happen after this... this abomination?” He pointed at me, hissing his words.
Abomination.
What I had done… what I had become.
I was an abomination.
“There will be a wedding,” Enzo said firmly. “The alliance depends on it.”
“The alliance?” My father’s voice rose. “Your son has dishonored my daughter. He ruined her. Tell me, Matteo. Are you going to marry Serafina knowing what you know now?”
“Then we have a problem, don’t we?” Enzo’s threat was a quiet warning that didn’t escape anyone’s attention.
I saw the fear that slithered through my father. He stepped forward, his face ashen. “Serafina, what have you done? You threw everything away! You have betrayed your family, your duty.”
I opened my mouth, but again, no words came out. What could I say? How could I defend myself when I didn’t even remember what happened?
How could I possibly defend myself when I was caught in such a vulgar position that had decimated my honor, my purity… every part that made me… me.
“Look at her,” Damon said, his voice tight with anger. “She can barely speak. She’s in shock. This man has drugged her or coerced her.”
He walked forward, coming to my side. I flinched back, wanting to sink and disappear into the mattress.
But Damon didn’t berate me like I thought he would.
He leaned down, cupping my cheeks, his thumb wiping my tears.
“Did he force you, Serafina?” he asked, his voice tinged with concern.
Distressed on my behalf. “Tell me and I’ll fix this. I promise you I’ll fix this.”
Adrian let out a small, dark chuckle. “I did no such thing. Whatever happened between us… she chose this. She chose me.”
My chin wobbled and I let out a choked cry. “I’m s-s-sorry.”
My brother’s eyes darkened with unmistakable fury. “That’s enough!” He let go of me gently and stepped toward Adrian, body tensed and jaw locked with determination. “If this happened with both of your consent, then there’s only one way to fix this now.”
The room fell silent. Even my tears seemed to freeze on my cheeks as the weight of Damon’s words settled over us all.
And then the room erupted again. I sat frozen, the blanket pulled tight around me as their voices washed over me, a torrent of rage, politics and consequences I couldn’t begin to process.
“She’s supposed to be my bride,” Matteo hissed.
“Will you accept her then? Knowing that she’s ruined?”
“Your brother is to blame.”
Damon and Adrian remained strangely quiet. My brother watched Adrian carefully as he sauntered over to the dresser and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Adrian took a slow sip, eyes gleaming with amusement.
How could he be so amused? So entertained at my expense?
How could he be so heartless?
There was no shame or remorse in his expression. No guilt for what he had done to me.
“You’ll marry her,” Damon announced, his voice cold and final, cutting through the chaos. “Today. Before word gets out.”
The silence that followed was loud.
Blood roared between my ears and my heart almost burst out of my chest.
Adrian’s grin widened. “I will.”
I blinked. Thud.
What did he just say?
My heart ricocheted. Thud.