1

Dad's car had just arrived. Stopping in front of the lawn, he got out of the car alongside his men of honor. Or Doormats. The same looked even more serious than yesterday upon receiving a call from one of the Death Knight's men. All dinner stopped at that moment, as well as my appetite that went from 100 to 0 in a few seconds of conversation. My heart was racing and my hands were pounding even more when Dad could only say, "yes," "sure," "um-rum." Never making it clear what would really happen.

What would happen to me in this final stretch.

I cross my arms and stop looking at the window, turning around and seeing Celina, my younger sister, sprawled on the couch. She knows what I think, maybe even what I'm going to say. If I go.

"He won't tell you if he doesn't ask." — Celina contains no speech from him. She gets up and walks towards me.

"He won't say even if I ask." - I do. It's a truth I've come to know since everything I wanted to build was demolished before it even became a reality.

Celina sighed and I took a deep breath, wishing today could last forever. I wish the days were an eternity since five years ago, when they handed me over to a wolf like I was fresh meat.

Five years. My God, it seems to have passed in a breath. It went by so quickly since my initial wish was that tomorrow would never come—even though I knew it would. I just hoped to change this fate, change the fact that my dreams would be demolished, that again the cruel world I live in won over the world I want to live in, and that now everything I imagined for myself would be trampled on as if it were nothing for something. which for most is everything.

Marrying Kaanadan Salvatore, the Capo dei Capi of the biggest North American mafia and also one of my father's great rivals. Marrying a total stranger who only saw him on websites alongside several women. Marrying someone nobody in my family trusts. To be the alliance between power and honor. To be a mere cog in the deadly game of the world I live in.

I wasn't born for this. But what can I do? I wondered for years how to escape my nightmare and ended up discovering that the bigger the wave, the impossible to escape it.

But I won't drown. And that was a promise.

He knocks on the door and Celina walks towards it, going to answer whoever it is. It's Gregory, our older brother. The Capo. The same looks at me and no emotion sounds other than seriousness.

- Time to sleep. Both. Her gaze flickered between me and Celina.

— We're not sleepy, let's go later. Celina responded quickly. - What is more...

“Now, Celine. - He replied coldly. “Celeste, first thing tomorrow morning, Gina will take you to the studio. You have to be wide awake. It's the father's order.

Celina snorted and glared at me as she leaned against the door. I nodded, seeing my younger sister clear her throat.

"Come on, Celine.

I approached her and touched her back, leading her out of the library. I felt Gregory's gaze on both of us while we were still in his field of vision down the hall. Celina murmured complaints and I headed towards the room we shared.

At the door, I manage to make it stop, soon turning it towards me.

"Why don't you challenge them?" Celina looks at me seriously. "It's your life, Sky!"

“Because stressing both of them out will only get me into trouble. I can't run away, so I have to accept it... Now, don't stress anyone out, I don't want them to hurt you.

She sighs and nods.

We entered the room and soon led ourselves to bed.

Wrapped in the blanket, I looked out the window, specifically at the moon. Tomorrow the beginning of my nightmare would begin, and I'm not prepared for it. A fact.

***

I was only sixteen when I was given a plan for trust and strength. The little I know tells that the Chinese and Russian mafia came together to own the American territory, and with few resources compared to the rival duo, my father and Kaanadan decided to team up. Join even if the reason for the death of the former Capo dei Capi of Washington is a shot aimed at by my father. Coming together even if neither of you trust each other. Get together to make trust arise from the greatest connection between two mafias: The blood one.

It was the law, at just twenty-one I could get married. It was a relief, imagining that I could get rid of Kaanadan, who was already twenty-nine at the time. Of course, we'd only met at the engagement, where I was pretty sure I'd be bonding with a monster if I didn't get away in time. And I didn't run.

The cold wind of the Brazilian metropolitan winter made me wrap myself in my sweater. Beside the tall human pole that follows me everywhere, I follow behind Gina, my father's wife, who walks towards the atelier.

The light rain is forgotten the moment the sliding doors released us to the place of modified temperature, being something warm and pleasant. Júlio, my security guard, started to close the umbrella, when Ryan, the stylist and owner of the atelier, appeared from one of the corridors below.

- Good morning! — He greeted us, going towards Gina and giving her a hug. As soon as he finished, he came towards me with open arms and a sweet smile. - Happy Birthday darling.

We hugged and I forced a smile. - Thanks.

My twenty-first birthday had arrived. What should have been a day of celebration turned into a terrible reminder: I was ready to marry Kaanadan Salvatore. Ready to marry a man I only knew two facts about: That he became O Capo dei Capi after his father's death in the rain of blood—a day marked between the biggest slaughter in the meeting of two mafias; and that he received the nickname of The Knight of Death, after killing a hundred people in 3 hours before the next day. One of them was his own cousin.

How did my father hand me over to someone like this man?

But I had to look happy. And as Ryan returned with the dress wrapped and protected, I had to smile and still convey that I'm just a normal bride who is delighted that she's getting married. He's happy, Gina pretends to be happy, all I can do is pretend too.

— Let's make the adjustments because it's in two months, right? Ryan hums, taking me by the hand. His gaze narrows in my direction. “Two months from now…right?

I realize I'm tense. I shake my head away from the actual thought of it and smile. “Yes, it's two months from now.

And my stomach freezes hearing the fact I brutally tried to forget.

The curtains closed in front of me and here I would be, going to meet my white dress.

***

The wedding would not be in Brazil, as a deal, the official ceremony would be at the Salvatore family's country house, in Bethesda in the state of Maryland.

Two months passed...

I am grateful for the rivalry between the Savoia and Salvatore family, so we were not staying at the Salvatore mansion, but at a luxury hotel. In two weeks in the place, we took the opportunity to leave and I don't know if out of mercy, they released me to have a few days of illusion, without any big closet behind me or orders and reminders at every minute.

But it was only a few days, soon I had Júlio on my tail and listening every minute to my bridal agenda that would have to be fulfilled by this weekend, when the wedding would take place.

I feel suffocated.

Sitting at a table in a cafeteria, Celina, Gina, and I rested after hours walking around the city shopping and adjusting a few missing details.

"Still missing the...

"Enough Ginny!" - Celina snorts. “We're here to soothe Celeste, not remind her of this curse.

Ginny rolls her eyes and closes the notebook.

- All good. - I say finally. “I'm not forgetting a single minute. — I reveal and drink some of the fresh coffee. I get tense just imagining myself next to him...

Celina touches my hand in a sign of support. I look at her and give a weak smile.

Celina is very similar to me, she has the same black tone as my hair, her eyes are also dark and large, her eyelashes are well curved and filled in, and her skin is light and a little yellowish. But she has several small moles on her face, a wider smile, and a thinner face model. She took after Mom's features. I used to be my father.

While we wait for Gregório to return with Túlio from shopping for suits, my cell phone beeps in my pants pocket. The bag quickly, unlocking your screen and directing the sent message. But I feel my heart speed up when I see what was sent. My eyes don't believe what I see, and my hands shake.

I'll pick you up at seven at your hotel, the clothes have already been delivered. kaanadan.

It's the first time you've sent me something direct. Celina leans over to see and as soon as she reads it, she looks at me in surprise.

"What will it be?" - Tense whisper. She swore she wouldn't see him until the weekend.

"Only one way to find out...

My memory flies to Kaanadan's cold, bluish gaze, his expressions nullified by emotions, I remember his firm, dark voice. He scares and alienates me. It's like the dark in a child's room. Worse, it's like he's the monster I've always feared and I don't know what it is...

But now I know.