Chapter 5 #2
I blink and look into his eyes. They’re warm and curious, but hold a darkness that I can’t quite read into. I’ve no idea where he’s from, who he really is. Just why he’s here.
Yet, I couldn’t let him stand out there injured.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I just am.”
Damian’s eyes search mine, just as mine do his, and I wonder what he’s seeing there. My heart beats quickly, and I try to ignore it.
I look down away from him and put ointment on the burns before wrapping his arm in bandages just tight enough. I run my fingers along his tattoos for a moment. Some of them are floral. Darkly shaded vines tangled all around them.
Nothing else is said. Not even as he rolls his sleeves down and we leave the bathroom.
But I still smell him, just like I did this morning. Like a spicy musk, pine, and wood.
I remember those words he spoke to me too. Even if they’d been so quiet I almost didn’t catch them with my ear muffs on.
Good boy.
Two days later, it’s time to marry Rosalie. Officially. Legally. Though not celebratory. The wedding ceremony will be a week from now, but Eivor insists that we go over the contract of our marriage and make it official now rather than later.
How romantic.
Weddings that take place in a judge’s office aren’t exactly uncommon in my family.
Sometimes marriages need to be secret, or not told to the public until a certain time.
But this one? I’m not sure why Eivor is so adamant that we tie the knot in the law office first. Perhaps because of the bomb threat.
The warning.
The Carvels are our main suspect, but there are other enemies that both of our families have had and maintain. Truces between our families only last so long; it was only a matter of time before someone lashed out.
Still, the show must go on.
I’ve smoked about four cigarettes by the time I finally step into the law office and head to the judge’s chambers with Carmine and Soren on my heels.
“There’s no rush, Alessio,” Carmine reminds me.
“You could have fooled me,” I reply with a smirk. “Besides, the sooner this is over, the sooner I can get a drink. Don’t you want one, Carm?”
My brother glares at me. “You’re on thin ice.”
I push the door open. “Just like you. Don’t think I forget what you were like when our father died.”
Carmine’s face falls and I turn away from him, stepping inside the room in my black and purple suit.
Rosalie is already standing at the front of the room in a blue and silver pantsuit with her hair pulled back elegantly but simply. She looks just as thrilled about this as I do, with her fake smile pulling on her lips when she sees me.
“Alessio,” she says and takes my hand as I step over to her.
“Darling,” I say as I raise her hand to my mouth and kiss the top of it.
My eyes shift over to Damian, who is standing nearby. His eyes don’t meet mine, instead they stay on the back of Rosalie’s head. He seems to be all about his job the last couple days.
The door creaks in a strange manner as Eivor and Patricia come in and even I find myself flinching ever so slightly.
Everyone is on edge.
Perhaps that was the plan of whoever planted the explosive.
I take a deep breath.
“Is everyone ready?” the judge asks.
I nod my head, Rosalie does too, and after a glance around the room, everyone who needs to be there, is.
We’ve opted to do as simple of a wedding as possible, since the large wedding for an audience will be enough as is.
“Very well,” the judge says simply. “Then I shall start.”
The wedding rings are handed to us by Patricia, who looks teary eyed despite how cold and professional this all is.
Nikolas and Beau stand nearby, looking equally as disinterested in the whole thing.
Eivor has tried to keep them out of the drama that’s been going on as much as possible, and it’s obvious that they don’t know just how serious everything is with the threat.
“Do either of you know of any reason you may not be legally married?” he asks.
“No,” I say confidently. Legally, that’s true. My own opinion is another matter.
“No,” Rosalie follows. Her voice is a little bit shaky.
“Very good.”
“Do you, Alessio Dresvanni, take Rosalie Fiorelli to be your lawfully wedding wife?” the judge asks me.
I take a slow breath and look into Rosalie’s eyes.
This is it.
We’re going to be married. The only way out will be a long and probably difficult divorce with her uncle and my brother fighting us all along the way.
Why are we getting married? For our families, or because of our families?
If I had to choose someone to marry, I can say it wouldn’t be Rosalie. We’re too distinctly different people who wouldn’t even hang out together if we had the choice. Right? So, to marry her seems wrong.
Here we are.
To protect my own family, am I really willing to sell my soul to the Fiorellis?
The very family that threatened us mere weeks ago?
Eivor—a man who wants to take over as much power as he possibly can.
Do I really believe he will be a good addition to our family?
Or will he only be another gun in the arsenal of our pain and suffering.
Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Maybe all that matters is right now; it’s what Carmine feels is best for us. He deserves a chance to lead us just like our father, and just like I will if he dies. Even with his faults and mistakes.
He is not the only one with them.
Loyalty to my family is all I have right now, so I’ll do what needs to be done.
“I do,” I say while not breaking Rosalie’s gaze. I slide the ring onto her finger slowly. It fits perfectly. A gold band with soft swirls of etching along the outside.
“Do you, Rosalie Fiorelli, take Alessio Dresvanni to be your lawfully wedded husband?” the judge asks her.
Rosalie hesitates for a moment, just like me. I wonder if she’s thinking the same thing. If a million thoughts are running through her head.
“I do,” she says finally.
“By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife.”
I lean down toward Rosalie, who slowly leans up. The next second her lips are against mine. I don’t close my eyes, just press my lips to hers firmly but closed mouth. She kisses me in a softer fashion, but her kiss is equally as modest. It lasts for a couple seconds longer before we both pull away.
I note that the kiss didn’t make me feel disgusted but rather just a little uneasy. I’ve played the part before, but not like this. Not a part that I’ll be expected to play for the rest of my life.
At the light applause around us, I suck in a breath.
“What’s next?” I ask.
“You sign the marriage license, and then… There are some papers I’ll need your brother to go over,” Eivor explains.
“Not me?” I raise a brow.
“You’ll see them afterward,” he insists.
I feel a deep dark pit in my stomach, and I glance toward Damian who still is refusing to meet my gaze. Or perhaps, I’m just too focused on him.
The next couple hours feel like a blur. I sign the papers along with Rosalie. And we are married.
I am married to a woman.
I feel a little dizzy while we go to the cathedral hall where we’ll be getting married again in a week. Eivor insists we check it out before the rehearsal, which is only in a few days.
I’ve been here before, a dozen or more times. Primarily while growing up. For Easter and Christmas.
The large cross at the center of the podium looks even bigger somehow than it did when I was a child. The tall ceilings make me feel like a small creature in all of this.
“Oh, I can already see the decorations, can’t you, Sweetheart?” Rosalie asks me with a smile. Putting on that voice of hers. The sweet and affectionate one. The one that says, we’re playing a game of dress up now.
Except, this game of dress up isn’t nearly as fun as I remember it being.
I put on my own smile, and I link arms with her as we walk down the aisle, looking at the pews.
“I can, it’s going to be beautiful, my dear,” I agree.
Damian walks behind us, and his presence is even heavier now.
I swear I feel him looking through me, but I can’t turn around to see if it’s true.
“You’re going to die when you see me in my gown,” Rosalie says with a sigh. “It’s stunning. I can’t believe they got it done so quickly.”
I’m a bit distracted, so I just hum in response.
“Alessio?” Rosalie says slowly and stops us walking.
“Hm?” I ask.
She sighs. “Look, if you’re not going to actually say anything in response, then don’t say anything at all.”
I blink at her. “What do you want from me? I’m here, aren’t I?”
I watch her throat as she swallows heavily. “I don’t expect anything from you, except silence. So, just be quiet then.”
I nod in response and try not to smirk at her, but when she looks away my expression falls and I just continue walking. Every step feels like someone else is taking it.
The next time I’m completely aware, we’re dropping Rosalie off at her apartment, and I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Damian’s car while he drives me back to my family’s estate.
“Today went by so quickly,” I say slowly.
Damian doesn’t say anything in response. It shouldn’t be strange. After all, he’s just the bodyguard driving me home. At the insistence of my brother of all people. As though we can’t afford to hire my own guard.
I suppose he thinks that Damian has a vested interest because of his position with Eivor. I personally think that he just wants to find more ways to push Rosalie and I together.
It doesn’t matter. It’s been done.
“I’m married,” I mumble.
“Yes, you are,” Damian finally replies.
I look out the window and wonder if my mother felt like this on her wedding day. Better yet, my father. How did they feel when they got married?
“I remember my mother telling me her wedding day was a day she would never forget,” I say slowly, not taking my gaze away from the dreary outside. “How beautiful and emotional it was.”
“You still have your ceremony, don’t you?” Damian asks.
I blink. “Ah, yes,” I say with remembrance. “In that church.”
It’s quiet for a long moment before I finally speak again. “This isn’t the same.”
“Why not?” Damian looks over at me. I may not be looking at him, but I can feel the way his eyes land on the side of my face.
When I look over at him, though, he’s looking back at the road. His expression is hard and his jaw is set.
“As if you don’t know,” I challenge him. “You’re a smart man. Eivor wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t.”
“You and Rosalie seem good together,” he insists. “I can guess your marriage isn’t only about romance, though. In our world, they never are.”
I chuckle lowly. “You sound like you have first-hand experience.”
Damian shakes his head. “No. The life you live isn’t for me,” he tells me.
“The life I live?” I ask him, tilting my head to the side.
We turn down another road.
“You have some power in your family. I imagine that’s why you were chosen,” Damian says quietly. His voice a low rumble in the dim car. “My family couldn’t care less about me…and I prefer it that way. I prefer moving from one job to the next. Never getting attached.”
“Never?” I ask as my eyes scan his face. He doesn’t look at me, but I watch as he shifts in the driver’s seat slightly.
“I’ve never gotten attached. Just like you didn’t just marry a woman you don’t really love,” Damian replies.
I smirk at him and then look in front of us as we approach the estate. It’s quiet. Neither of us speaking.
The silence makes it difficult not to think about what happened today. That I’m now tied to a woman I never saw myself being tied to in any way. What will happen next? Beyond the ceremony and reception. Beyond the contract giving Eivor more power in our domain.
What will be expected of me?
Before I can get very far down those lines of thought, Damian pulls the car up to the front door of my family’s estate.
“You’re here,” he says when I don’t get out immediately.
I unbuckle and put my hand on the door.
“I remember the other night,” I tell him. “The way you looked at me.”
Damian is silent.
I open the car door and step a long leg out. “Or maybe I’m mistaken.”
“You are,” he says.
I look to the ground as I step my other leg out. The cold wind hits my face and ruffles my hair. “If you say so.”