20. A Public Claim #2
There was no flowery language or poetry in the traditional vows.
Just consent. And that hung heavier than anything.
I found the courage to meet Santino’s gaze as my lips trembled with anger.
He’d taken my consent away from me, and he knew it.
If I had a true choice, we both knew I wouldn’t be marrying anyone today.
“I am.”
Those two words packed a punch straight to my gut.
Santino lifted his chin, holding my gaze as an angry tear slipped from the corner of my eye.
He didn’t smile as I expected. Maybe victory didn’t taste as sweet as he’d thought.
Let him see. Let him know I didn’t choose this.
That I didn’t choose him. I was coerced into it.
The questions continued, asking whether I was prepared to love and cherish him and accept children lovingly from God.
Prepared? Try forced. But I agreed robotically and said my vows through gritted teeth, burning with fury.
When it was Santino's turn to say his vows, I wasn’t prepared for the reaction my traitorous body would have to his deep, husky Italian and intense gaze.
"Io, Santino Vincenzo Buccini, prendo te, Arianna Caruso, come mia sposa e prometto di esserti fedele sempre, nella gioia e nel dolore, nella salute e nella malattia, e di amarti e onorarti tutti i giorni della mia vita."
He said every word with too much passion as he squeezed my hands in his.
My heart was dangerously close to exploding, and tingles were spreading to very inappropriate parts of my body.
The tension was building. The heat was rising.
His touch on my hands burned, and I wanted to rip them away.
I felt myself falling off the edge of something I couldn’t see.
It was a terrifying moment. It felt as if the life I’d been living had suddenly vanished beneath my feet.
I knew what was coming next. This kiss. When the priest announced us as husband and wife, his family clapped, but the atmosphere was strained. They were clearly picking up on the palpable tension between us as we stared at each other.
He took a step closer, closing the remaining space between us, and I craned my neck to keep him in my gaze.
My heart had a mind of its own as the anticipation for our first kiss grew.
I held my breath, hating how much I secretly craved the feel of his lips on mine, just once, before I could go back to hating him with the heat of a thousand suns.
He inched closer, our eyes never leaving each other.
He brushed the tip of my nose with his, and I could almost taste his minty breath on my tongue as our lips hovered millimetres apart.
To hell if I’d kiss him first. My eyelashes fluttered as he held my hips and pulled my body into his possessively, his breath skating along my lips.
He turned and kissed the corner of my mouth with the most delicate touch that it could barely even count as one.
And then he moved his lips along my jaw until he reached my ear and whispered, “I’ll wait for a time when you don’t hate me.
For a time when you want more than anything for me to kiss you. Only then will I give it to you, wife.”
My eyes snapped open. Anger and humiliation at the rejection surged forward as I stepped back from his arms.
“Then you’ll be waiting forever,” I hissed beneath my breath for only his ears.
That cocky smirk lit up his face, and I clenched my fist because, for the first time in my life, I really wanted to punch someone in the face. He made me violent.
“I don’t think I will.”
Arrogant asshole.
After we’d signed the official papers, my body and mind finally caught up with the situation. The anger and fight in me shifted to utter shock at the day’s events, and I couldn’t feel anything properly. It was all too much.
What had I done?
All the horrifying possibilities of what might happen to me now that I was firmly in Santino’s grasp ran through my mind, and I knew I should have been making a plan to escape, but the thought of what he might do to my papi, to Allegra, or to Callum was too terrifying to consider.
If I went to the police, would they believe me?
I stood at the altar and agreed to the vows.
I gave my consent. No one had a gun to my head.
As long as I was beside him, everyone else would be safer, right?
I’d get a lawyer. Find a way out of this marriage.
Surprisingly, we pulled up outside Hotel XO after the ceremony.
Santino got out of the car and made his way to my door, opening it and holding out his hand for me to take.
I refused, as I had every other time he’d offered it today, and grabbed at layers of my dress as I clawed my way out of my seat.
“What are we doing here?”
“I thought it would be the perfect venue for the wedding reception. Take us back to where it all began.”
His hand slipped possessively around my waist, and he yanked me to his side, marching us up the grand entrance steps of the hotel.
People on the street stared, and when we entered the lobby, it was even worse.
Of course, they all worked for him, so seeing their boss parading his new bride set off a frenzy of gasps, whispers, and giggles.
Mainly because we looked like newlyweds, but I wondered if they could see the truth written on my face.
If they could tell that I was a reluctant bride, married to a ruthless man by sheer force.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to find someone to help me get out of this.
I wanted to kick Santino in the balls and run.
But what good would that do? If I ran, he’d chase.
If I hid, he’d hunt. If I escaped him, he’d hurt people I loved.
There was nothing I could do but let him lead me into our ridiculous wedding reception and sit beside him at the table while we dined with the rest of his intimidating family.
But he couldn’t force me to act happy about it.
In fact, I made damn sure everyone knew just how unhappy I was about the situation.
I didn’t speak unless it was to Allegra, who was seated on the other side of me.
I merely nodded or shook my head when a question was directed at me.
I pushed the delicious-looking food around my plate and refused to touch it.
The only thing I was more than happy to indulge in was the champagne.
The longer my detachment continued, the more I could feel Santino’s irritation rising.
But fuck him. He may have forced me to become his wife, but that didn’t mean I had to be a good one.
“Was there something wrong with your food?” he asked as the servers came around to clear the plates.
I shook my head and picked up my champagne flute, taking another sip. It was going straight to my head, seeing as I was drinking on an empty stomach. I hadn’t even had breakfast this morning. I was too nervous about the wedding.
“So, we’re sulking?” he teased in an amused tone that sent a spike of anger through my veins.
I kept my gaze on Allegra as her eyes darted between us, watching the exchange with curiosity.
He threw his arm over the back of my chair and leaned in, so only I would hear his next words.
His musky, heady cologne swarmed my senses, and I held my breath, refusing to let how good he smelled affect me.
“If you’re doing this to punish me, you should change tactics.
I didn’t marry you for your obedience, Bella Ribelle.
I married you for this fire. So, ignore me all you like.
You’ll still be coming home with me tonight, and I’ll enjoy punishing you very much. ”
My head snapped towards his. Our faces were inches apart, and those dark, seductive eyes danced with amusement.
My nostrils flared, but I refused to rise to the bait.
He could pretend all he wanted that my silence wasn’t bothering him, but we both knew it was.
I could tell from the angry vein pulsing down one side of his neck.
“Allegra,” I said, still staring into his eyes. “Do you need the bathroom?”
“Uh, si. I need to top up your lipstick.”
He exhaled, his eyes flicking down to my lips.
"Stoned rose," he husked, brushing the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. I frowned before he moved out of my personal space and gave a curt nod to two of the enormous men wearing all black standing by the door of the private restaurant. “Don't be long or I’ll have to come looking for you.”
I stood up, throwing my napkin on the table, and grabbed Allegra’s wrist. Santino had given a subtle order to two men to follow us out, and they stood guard outside the ladies’ bathroom as I slammed the door shut.
“Oh my God, at last!” Allegra cried. “I’ve been internally screaming for the past hour, trying to figure out what the hell happened today.”
“He pretended to be the priest in the confessional, Ally! I told him I didn’t want to marry Callum and was only doing it to stop Santino from using me against my father and to forget him.”
She gasped. “You didn’t!”
“I didn’t know I was confessing that to him, did I? And then he threatened to kill Callum and frame my father for it unless I married him!”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“What choice did I have? He practically kidnapped me and ambushed me with a wedding he’d planned! He had his nephew bring you, and yeah, you saw the rest.”
“Holy shit.”
I started pacing, my hand on my face, because it felt like I was burning up. “What the hell am I going to do, Ally? I can't be his wife.”
“Okay,” she breathed, pacing in the opposite direction. “Okay, let me think. We should go to the police.”
“And say what? It’s my word against his.”
“And mine. I can back you up.”
“And that will get you killed.”
She gulped, her eyes widening. “Really?”
“I don’t know! But I’m not about to take that risk, Ally.”