Chapter 3 Stella #2
I smile at her, then avert my gaze toward Lucio, who is waiting for me with an arrogant grin on his face that I wish I could sucker punch without immediately being wrestled to the ground.
Scowling, I approach the altar. He takes my hand and squeezes it so harshly, I wince.
He leans forward and whispers, “You look gorgeous. Deadly, but gorgeous.”
I fight the urge to step on his shoes.
“But I will punish you for trying to hurt Bartolo earlier.” He leans away, smiling, while my skin turns ghastly white as blood drains from my face. Not just because of what he said but also because I spot my own damn father sitting all the way in the back of the crowd.
He’s here.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today,” the officiant begins, but I’m no longer listening. All I can focus on are all the people who surround me, judge me, and that one inkling of repressed courage that makes me want to scream at everyone here.
But I chose this. I chose to become his wife after I had nothing left to give in exchange for the debt I owed him. But how could I live a life with a man like him, this monster who will hurt me in every way possible?
A tear rolls down my cheek, and Lucio’s grip on my hands becomes even stronger, as if he’s trying to squeeze the tears out of me, so I won’t show anyone I’m in pain.
“Stop,” he whispers. “Don’t make a scene.”
Or else.
I listen to the pastor finish his sermon before Lucio finally brings out the ring that’s going to be around my finger in a few seconds.
“Now, do you take this man as your husband?”
I can’t even remember the moment Lucio said yes. Everything went by in a blur.
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
“Say it,” he hisses to me. “Say the word.”
“I ... I ...” I stutter.
BANG.
Smoke fills the room, and guests scream in collective shock.
BANG! BANG!
Multiple gunshots go off, filling the room with smoke and fire, fear gripping my heart. I jerk free from Lucio’s control and glance around the room to see what’s going on and to try to find my family. Panic floods my heart as multiple men storm into the room, guns blazing.
Shit.
I don’t want my family to die. I don’t want to die.
“What the fuck?” Lucio mouths.
Multiple Agostini guards are shot down, dead on impact, while others shoot back.
Guests scatter all around, emptying into the hallways behind us as well as the doors at the front of the altar.
People are fleeing everywhere, and in the haze, I try to bolt away from Lucio, but he grips my arm and forces me to stay by his side.
“Don’t you run off on me, bitch. Not now.”
I only have eyes for my mother, who is frozen to her seat in complete and utter terror. I want to go to her and hold her in what could be our final moment, but he won’t let me.
“Mom,” I scream. “Lower your head!”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
More gunshots fill the room. Guards are fighting with the men who stormed inside, and I have no idea who they are or what they’re doing here, until I spot a familiar face appearing through the smoke in the back.
His handsome features, neatly trimmed scruff, and scorching gaze settling on me make me do a double take, and I nearly faint right then and there.
Matteo found us.
Matteo
I knew that girl would help me crash her own wedding.
I walk up the aisle through the remaining crowd while the rest of my men subdue Lucio’s guards. It was easy to find my way here, using both the information I’ve been given by one of my moles and the tracker I handed her. And we came right on time, it seems.
“Matteo, you absolute fuck—” Lucio begins, but a gun to the back of his head immediately shuts him up.
“I see you’re throwing yourself a nice little wedding you don’t deserve.”
“You bastard, you dare to crash my wedding?” he replies, but it only makes me smile broader as I approach the altar.
The girl eyes me in shock, as if she doesn’t even believe I’m here to begin with. Her face is plastered in makeup that doesn’t suit her, applied by someone who has no idea how pretty she is without it. Just to make this one fucker happy.
“You thought you could kill my mother and double-cross me?” I hiss.
“No, no, wait. This is a misunderstanding,” Lucio says.
I throw over one of the giant candles standing in my way. “I’m understanding perfectly well,” I reply, pointing at him. “You enlisted one of those dogs from the Costa family to come and break up our negotiations because you were afraid I was going to chop you up into bits.”
“That’s a lie,” he says. “I would never work with those disgusting bastards.”
“Right.” I walk up right next to the girl, so he’s forced to face me instead, while I slowly raise my gun.
“You have to believe me,” he says. “The Costas stole my money, the money I was going to give—”
“Oh, you mean my money,” I interject.
“Yes, yes, exactly.”
I point the gun at his balls. “You think I ever cared about that fucking money? You tried to have me killed.”
“No, I swear to God, I didn’t have anything to do with whatever the Costa family was up to. I was just as surprised as you were by their attack. They saw an opportunity, and they took it. They’re trying to start a fight between our families, don’t you see?” Lucio replies.
I take off the safety for my gun, and he begins to sweat. “You already did that. Do you understand me? You started that fight when you murdered my mother,” I growl.
“Please, not in front of my fiancée. I swear to God I will pay you back, whatever you want.”
I run my tongue along my top teeth. I admit, it’s nice to hear him beg for a change, but I’m afraid that won’t be enough.
It would give me so much pleasure to shoot off his dick right then and there, and watch him bleed out all over the floor, squirming like a fucking worm.
But then he’d bleed out, and there’d be nothing left for me to torture.
No, I want him to suffer, which is why I came to crash his wedding day.
He ruined everything, so I’m ruining everything for him in return.
I grab the girl’s arm, and everyone that’s still in the room gasps in shock as I point the gun at her instead. Lucio’s eyes widen.
“You want to marry her?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Lucio says. “But not with you pointing that gun at us.”
A grandma in the crowd faints from all the violence. Some people still try to escape, so I flick my fingers at my guards and say, “Close the doors. I want everyone to remain in this room and watch.” I nod at Franco. “And take care of that old lady over there.”
He immediately runs over to the woman to take her pulse, while I focus on Lucio’s demise.
Only one thing will truly hurt him right where I want him to feel it…
“You want to keep your balls, your fingers, your face?” I tighten my grip on the girl. “Then I will take her instead.”
She gasps. “Wait, what? No.”
I ignore her. “Franco, chair.”
Franco immediately grabs a chair from the audience and scoots it underneath Lucio’s ass so he’s forced to sit down. I snatch the box with the rings from his filthy hands.
“You wanted a spectacle, you’ll get one. You don’t get to ruin my life because I will destroy yours instead. I will take the one thing you never wanted to give, and you will watch while I make your fiancée my wife.”