The Devil's Pawn

Everything about Ferrara was unmatched; his gait, handsome features and that dangerous aura around him. 

He looked so much different now, but I knew, that hard glint in his eyes was only because he was angry that I was being forced into marriage.

"What is the meaning of this shit? Who are you, young man? This is no place for petty theft!" My father said in a loud voice, stepping out from behind me to walk towards him.

All the guards drew their weapons and pointed them at Ferrara, and my heart skipped a beat. I would stand between him and my father if they tried to shoot him.

Except that Ferrara didn't look like he needed to be rescued in any way. He kept advancing towards my father, his steps calculated, his eyes dark and glinting like diamonds.

Memories of last night flooded my thoughts.

"Oh I assure you, I already took what I wanted. Besides, you should have some room for a Castello in your little party, considering that you just killed my father?"

A Castello, his father?

It kicked me, the memory of my father boasting yesterday evening that he had murdered the proud Don Castello and would be taking over his empire.

Ferrara was the son of a Mafia Don as well? Had he known...Definitely not, he wouldn't have been aware of my identity last night.

I blinked in surprise, gripping tightly to the bouquet.

I watched as my father's brows drew in confusion and shock, and whispers broke out in the room. Boris looked bored, his stomach seeming to stick out more prominently.

"What the fuck do you mean? I know all the Castellos and you are not one of them..."

In all the years I had been alive, no one had ever interrupted my father, but Ferrara did it so effortlessly, his tone controlled as if he were discussing something trivia. "Oh, you weren't alerted of the rebellious bastard son, not surprising, the old man hated me anyway."

My father sucked in a deep breath, his fingers twitching in obvious impatience. "If you know that, then why are you here disrupting my daughter's wedding?"

At that, Ferrara pushed his gun into his pocket and reached for a cigarette, lighting and bringing it to his lips as though he were making a normal conversation.

It wasn't like tens of armed security had guns pointed at one another.

He inhaled and puffed out smoke, his dark eyes shimmering and glinting under the rays of the morning sun peeping through the windows.

Then finally, he parted those lips that had been in my most intimate places, lips that had whispered my name in the dark as he took me over the edge...

I sucked in a deep breath and shut my eyes, his voice reverberating through my senses.

"I am here for two reasons, Viktor Petrov. You see, I made a vow to my father that he would die at the hands of his bastard son, and you took that away from me. The second reason, is..."

He turned, his gaze falling on mine for the first time. The veil concealed my face, but I felt nude under his scrutiny.

He took a step towards me, and the sounds of guns being corked made me stiffen, but he didn't stop.

"Don Boris, you see, I believe in honoring every part of a bargain, and you've paid an outrageous amount of money for this lady? Now, how about I tell you that her honor is..."

"What the fuck are you trying to say, bastard?" My father was in front of me in two strides, pulling off my veil and gripping hold of my wrist.

For the first time, I was conscious of everyone's eyes on me, including Ferrara, who was...smirking?

"You look me in the fucking eye and tell me that what this bastard is trying to imply is false! You didn't sully yourself, right?"

My father was squeezing my wrist so hard, drawing tears from my eyes and gasps from my throat.

"Oh, she did gasp like that last night, but then, it was my teeth on her neck and her honor around my co..."

No, this wasn't happening. My father tilted my jaw and took a long look at the hickeys my mother hadn't been able to hide with the make-up.

I shook my head, my lips trembling as I recognized the rage in my father's eyes. He was lifting his palm to hit me, and familiar with this occasional dance, I closed my eyes, waiting for the hit to come.

Except that it didn't, and when I opened my eyes, Ferarra was holding my father's arm, his eyes dark as the night.

"Boris, you haven't wired the money already, so I suggest you leave since the virgin you paid for, doesn't exist anymore. Or you may stay, and get in the middle of a fight that has nothing to do with you." 

Ferrara had barely completed those words when Boris glared at us with venomous gaze and gave a signal to his guards. They withdrew their weapons.

"No, Boris, you can't walk away now! You can teach her a lesson after for the rest of your life but..." My father was saying, his voice loud and desperate as it rang across the room, but Boris was already halfway across the living room.

The marriage was over, and just when I started to relax, Ferrara, the man I had believed was the knight who would take me away from this life pulled out his gun and in one smooth move, fired at Boris who was almost out of the door.

"You forgot something, Boris Ivankov. The traitor who helped to kill his ally, must be stabbed from behind as well." 

The man I had fallen for had eyes cold as ice, and he shot twice, sending Boris to the floors, dead.

A loud scream tore from my throat as guns were drawn, bodies falling all around me. 

Before I could think of a place to hide, something painful hit me, and I slid to the floors, surrendering to the darkness.

***

Two Months Later

"We've run the test a third time, Ms. Petrov, and you are pregnant." 

I stared at the white walls of the hospital and the IV drip stuck to my thin wrists. 

I was...pregnant?

It had been a month since I first woke up in this same hospital bed to my father's consigliere seated in front of me, after I had been shot.

Or rather, my late father. It had been reported that a fire had burned down our mansion and claimed my parents' lives, but I knew it had been no fire.

Because I had been there, and witnessed the man I now knew to be Ferrara De Castello kill people. He had used me to get revenge on my father, while I had thought that it was a love match, that I had found the one.

Fate laughed cruelly at me, taunting me in all forms. My poor mother had been locked out in one of the basements during the wedding, her frail innocent body burnt by that fire.

"Sue Ferrara, he's the one that did this! He killed my mother! I will testify against him!" I had been desperate as I begged the older consigliere, but he had shaken his head, and made me aware that it was futile.

"Kid, you do not know the man you want to deal with. Be grateful that some person saved you and find a way to live your life, quietly. That man is known as the devil himself."

The devil himself?

One month ago, I had learned from the consigliere that Ferrara De Castello had taken over his father's seat and merged it with the Petrov organization. 

I had cried and mourned over the pictures of my parents, since their ashes had been so mixed up in that fire they couldn't even be retrieved. The police had been paid off and quickly closed the case as an accident.

And today, after weeks of weakness and puking, it had been confirmed that I was pregnant with his kid.

I rubbed my stomach as tears slid from my eyes over and over again, the pain gripping me and threatening to cripple me. 

I was pregnant, with Don Ferrara De Castello's kid.