Chapter 2

I don't know how these two days went. With all the wedding preparations going on around me in which I took no interest as I was busy thinking about my dreadful future.

Now I am sitting in my room getting ready to go to church for the biggest day of my life.

MY WEDDING.

My sister came inside my room and almost shed tears the moment her eyes fell on me " Oh my god sweetie you are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen" she gushed with moist eyes. Hearing her praise calmed my nerves a little bit. At least someone thinks that I am pretty.

But this happiness was just for a short time because someone came to tell us that the wedding was about to start.

Just then Damon came " Anna we have to go," he said as he looked at me.

He was the one who was going to walk me down the aisle as I had no father or brother.

He was the closest male relation I had after my father which made him responsible for my life decisions. Isn't it strange that even though I was a fully grown adult I wasn't allowed to make my own life decisions just because I was a woman in the mafia world.

According to our world, it's men who will make decisions for their daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. And we were expected to comply without any hesitation.

I stood up and hugged my sister tightly to get strength so that I could endure this day without breaking down.

I looked at her one last time and before she could say anything which could make me second guess my decision I turned away and walked towards Damon, who held his arms out for me to hold.

We came to the entrance of the church where at the end of the aisle was Alex, looking straight into my eyes as if he was looking through my soul.

Everything was so overwhelming as it was so beautiful and mesmerizing. If I wasn't half paralyzed with fear I would've appreciated my sister's efforts who made it look like a dream wedding for a bride who was marrying her love but unfortunately, I was not that bride.

Bianca was in charge of our wedding, from the decoration to the venue she decided everything, and the more I looked around the more I realized that it all felt familiar.

It was all just how I imagined my wedding to be when I was a kid. She remembered every detail that I told her when we were kids. Like what flowers I wanted, and what kind of color theme it should be. And it made tears spring in my eyes.

Bianca was able to make all these true only because my husband's family was not interested in this marriage much less in decoration. All they wanted was this alliance.

I looked at Damon when I felt a little nudge from him as he was gesturing for me to start walking. I nodded and we both started to walk towards Alex whose eyes were drilling holes in me as he stood near the priest.

I didn't dare to look up or make eye contact with anyone as I was busy being nervous about what would come after this.

Once we reached the end, Damon gave my hand in Alex's outstretched hand making me shiver a bit at the physical contact.

I quickly composed myself and took my place in front of him then only I look into his gray eyes which were already fixed on me, they held something not anger but something like confusion as if he was gauging my reaction.

After that everything went in a trance. I only came to my senses when I felt Alex squeezing my hand while looking at me with a frown, that's when I felt everyone's eyes on me which made me realize it was my turn to say 'I do'.

My cheeks got heated with embarrassment at their gazes and I tried to say the words but it felt like they got stuck in my throat. The more I tried, the harder it was getting to voice down those words.

With so many eyes waiting for my answer as they held different emotions, some held anger, some held pity, some held amusement. The first two were by my Cosa Nostra men and women and the latter was by my husband's brother.

After taking a deep breath I looked up and met with a pair of gray eyes which were looking at me, his eyes were like sea, calm but deep, and somehow I found myself drowning in them.

I never thought that I would find calmness and be soothed while looking into my husband's eyes. While holding his gaze I said the words that sealed my fate 'I do'

I was about to release the breath I was holding when the priest dropped another bomb of "You may kiss the bride".

In the back of my mind, I was preparing myself for this, to not show any weakness or emotions that I was feeling.

But I knew that even if I could convince everyone with my facade my husband would not be one of them, people in Chicago don't call him a genius without a reason

I had my doubts from the beginning of this alliance when I noticed the way he was examining me, it was giving me a feeling that he already knew that I am not what I pretend to be. It felt like he already knew that this all was a lie, a big facade.

My pulse rose when I saw him coming close to me for the kiss. I closed my eyes as he circled my waist with his big hands making my breath hitched. It took all of me to not shove him away at our physical closeness.

He tilted his head and took my lips in between his. His lips were on mine for merely a few seconds but it felt like an eternity before he left them and leaned back to look in my eyes.

This whole time I didn't realize that Alex was holding my hands until after the priest announced us as Mr and Mrs. Alex Ricco , making me stumble a bit. It was all thanks to Alex's firm hold that I didn't fall on the ground.

The realization of being married to one of the most dangerous men in our circle slapped on my face. The realization that I am no longer a fratello but a Ricco felt like going from one nightmare to another.

Alex took me with him to the car which was taking us to the reception. We both sat in our seats, the whole ride went in silence as no one tried to strike up a conversation for which I was grateful as I was in no position to talk without crying my heart out.

We both entered the hotel where our reception was held when I heard Alex whisper in my ear

"You ok?"

I was about to nod but then I remembered his words from before about verbal answers so I replied.

"y.yes.."

But it was sounding unconvincing even to my ears then how could I have expected Alex to believe that.

"Are you sure? Because you look like you could faint any moment" he said with amusement.

I looked at him and was about to repeat my words with more conviction when the look in his eyes made me stop because what I saw in them made me confused, it was a concern.

His eyes had genuine concern for me, it was there for a moment and then it disappeared making his eyes emotionless again.

I was deciphering the meaning behind that look when his brothers came to congratulate us. The first one who shook hands with Alex was Dante, the eldest of all brothers and capo of Bratava.

He gave me an easy and charming smile but there wasn't anything comforting about it. I was getting a feeling it was a smile that was meant to unsettle the other person as if there was something weird and dangerous lurking behind that smile.

I always heard that Bratava Capo was one of the most handsome men in Chicago but also that he was equally sinister as well.

People in Chicago used to call him Satan because he killed his first man at the age of 11. And I heard that he and my husband are the best torturers in Bratava.

He was married to one of the prettiest girls but we heard that she was an outsider. Her name was Nina. She also came to congratulate us.

"Congratulations Anna for the wedding, I am Nina Dante's wife. I hope we get along. I really wanted a shopping partner," she said with a wink, making me like her immediately as I really would love someone to get along with me.

But then I remembered that I would need Alex's permission before going out so I looked at my husband to know if I was allowed to do that but he didn't glance at me once so I felt that he didn't mind me going out with Nina So I said what was on my mind.

" I would love that".

She was an outsider. In our world, it is considered offensive to marry an outsider but I think Dante doesn't care what anyone thinks as he was the capo and he has his brothers to back him up.

After that I met the smallest Ricco who would've been not more than eight, he smiled at me and then shook hands with Alex.

He congratulated Alex and then looked at me as he said "Welcome to the family" It was kind of hard to believe that he was Ricco as he was so cute and innocent.

But just then Marco came and he also congratulated us, "Ready to draw some blood," he said as he patted my husband on the back who looked annoyed at his brother's words.

At first I was confused but when I saw his teasing smile it dawned on me that he was talking about our wedding night.

Marco was smaller than Alex. He was around 19 but still, he was considered the biggest flirt in Ricco's history. I knew it was true because I Just saw him giving looks to one of the maids.

And I think Dante and Alex saw it as well because Alex was glaring at his brother while Dante warned him in a loud enough voice that we all could hear.

"If you deflower any of the fratello girls I am going to chop your dick off. Because I don't want anything to harm this alliance until we get what we want". Dante warned.

That's when I remembered that if this alliance wouldn't work then I would be of no use to Alex. That he could even kill me and no one would say anything.

"Let's get over with this reception before I kill one of the Cosa Nostra men" Dante growled, making my breath hitch at the sudden outburst. Hearing me gasp took everyone's attention towards me.

I was about to apologize for my interruption when alex said something which warmed my heart

"let's keep our voices down" he said to his brother

Who looked kind of irritated at the whole situation. I was just hoping that it would not be because of me. Alex took my hand and we went to take our seats.

The reception went kind of fast. I didn't eat much as it was hard to gulp down anything while thinking about what was coming next.

I was standing with my sister and cousins while Alex was standing with Damon, Lorenzo, and Dante.

I was talking with my sister when Nina came to me with champagne, I took it from her without thinking. I was not a drinker but today I thought I would need it to calm my nerves.

Just then everyone started to chant "spill the blood" it was time for us to retire for our wedding night, the night that was going to change everything.

The night will take out all the secrets that I had kept for years.

Bloody sheets have been our tradition for years. It was the way to prove that the bride was a virgin and was defiled on her wedding night by her husband.

Everyone knows how much importance is given to this by our elders. It was something that we could not escape. Even our capo's wife had gone through this.

But it was easy for her because she was a virgin, but l was not. This was the worst nightmare for girls in our world because everyone would be seeing the blood on the sheets after their wedding night proof of their virginity but in my case, it was a nightmare as it was going to be lack of blood on the sheets.

Just then Alex looked my way and when he saw that I was not coming to him. He took long strides towards me and covered the distance between us. He held my hand and gave it a squeeze and we started to walk to our wedding suite.