Chapter 0004

MARIELLA

I was so mad right now, but I couldn’t show it. Looking like a lunatic in front of Eros Castellanos was the last thing I wanted. So, the best option was to grab my sister and drag her out of the room toward the direction of the washrooms.

Arabella was upfront about everything. She’d always been, and I’d envied that side of her. Because no matter what happened, even in the worst of situations, I could never think about speaking my mind. Probably because of how reserved and different I’d been raised.

By different, I meant different.

Since the moment I was born, I’d been raised like some goods that could be bartered away for benefits. Never to raise my voice or complain, no matter where I went. They made me into a hassle-free ornament a man wouldn’t mind possessing, because my presence could never bother him much.

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped at my sister as soon as I closed the bathroom door. Ara’s shoulders rose in question. She definitely knew what I was talking about. I asked, “What were you trying to do out there?”

“I was just making a conversation,” she said, as though whatever she said to Eros wasn’t crossing the boundaries. These Mafiosos killed for less.

“Conversation? You practically slammed him for nothing.”

“For nothing?” Her voice piqued. “So, you’re saying that his disregard toward this marriage is nothing?” Before I could speak, she said, “He didn’t come to see you before tonight as if who he was marrying didn’t even matter to him, and on top of that, he was late at his own engagement party. How’s this fair?” She huffed. “Or justifiable?”

“Someday, your habit of questioning everything will get you in trouble, Ara.” It was meant to be a warning for her.

The men in our world didn’t need truth. They sought validation.

“I asked him the questions you were too much of a coward to ask.” Ara wasn’t wrong about that.

I wanted to know about my future husband as well, but was too afraid to utter a word. “I’ll ask him at the right time.”

“You won’t ever do what’s necessary.” She scoffed. “You were, are, and will always be a people pleaser.”

“People pleaser?” Shock marked my voice, and she immediately nodded.

“People pleaser. You’re marrying an unknown man to please our father. You’re standing in the same room as Adonis Vitale, the man you love, to please him and make him think what an absolute martyr he’s been for suggesting this bond.” She edged toward me and spat, “And right now, you’re shutting me off to please the man who doesn’t give a shit about you.”

My jaw twitched, and anger bubbled inside me. I wanted to yell back, to snap at my sister for raising her voice against me, to make me look like an absolute idiot by shoving the truth in my face. Moreover, I just wanted to bail on this entire party, go home and sleep this nightmare off.

“You’ll never understand the burdens of being a firstborn in our world,” I said calmly. “Because you’re free to do whatever you want, choose whoever you want, be whoever you want. It’s because I’m doing this that you have the freedom to do so.”

Her throat bobbed, and she closed her mouth shut. She looked down at her feet, unable to say anything, and I moved away.

I should’ve been selfish enough to say no to this marriage and rebel my way into the life I dreamed of. But that would mean that my sister would be bartered off, and I couldn’t possibly do that to her, no matter how pathetic I felt.

So I graciously returned to the main room and took my seat at the table.

Thankfully, Eros wasn’t here. My eyes roamed around the room, only to find him near the stage with my father. The look on Papa’s face was unreadable, but I could sense a hint of relief in them. Relief that his son-in-law had graced us with his presence.

Ara’s words rang at the back of my head. Her words carried truth and reality. Eros Castellanos didn’t actually care about this marriage. He cared about the main reason behind it—his initiation. Marriage was part of a tradition, only an errand he needed to run to strengthen his power.

Papa’s eyes met mine, and he gave a terse nod, a sign that it was time. I took a deep breath and looked down at my ring finger. In just minutes, I would be branded to a stranger. The mere thought of that sent shivers down my body.

I traipsed toward the stage, trying to keep my steps managed, but I couldn’t hold myself on my feet properly. My entire body wanted to shut down.

Papa wrapped a hand around the small of my back, my height only till his chin. Eros was even taller. Now that we both were standing, I could compare. I was only till his collarbones, precisely, and his shoulders were so broad that he could just as easily envelop me.

“Be ready,” Papa said, before centring the stage, while Eros and I stood facing each other from two different corners.

There was something different about his eyes. A few moments ago, they had been carefree, but now it had been zapped with darkness. Chilling darkness. Perhaps Arabella’s question had offended him. I gulped, every pore in my body asking me to move my eyes from his, but I couldn’t. It was impossible, because he was the one holding my gaze, boring into me, trying to look for some weakness.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming here this lovely evening,” Papa began. “I know this arrangement was sudden and somewhat much unexpected, but I’m sure you’ve heard of the reasons, so I won’t dare indulge in that and waste any more time.”

A few men laughed, but obviously, that didn’t include Adonis, as far as I knew him, or Eros.

“They say that our bonds are forged with blood, business, and marriage, but I’d like to highlight the key component, which is Omerta. Oath. Today we are here to celebrate and bear witness to one such oath-taking ceremony, a new bond that will bring new meanings. My daughter, Mariella Romano, will be taking the ring from the underboss of Manhattan, Eros Castellanos, binding us in new business and relations.”

Papa took a few steps back and spread his hands out to the stage, a queue for both me and Eros. We moved up to the stage and stood before each other, our eyes still in contact. His burning stare alerted every nerve in my body. Deep down, I knew they meant something, but I didn’t know what.

What was he so angry about? Or perhaps I was wrong in reading him. I wasn’t always right.

His fingers were frigid as he pulled the ring out of the inside pocket of his blazer and extended a hand to take mine. I bet he could feel me shivering under my skin, even when I didn’t visibly show my fear.

He took his time to hold my tiny hands and slip the ring onto my finger. It was strange how miraculously it had fit me. Papa had probably sent my ring size to him for ease, because I doubted he knew anything at all about me.

He didn’t even know what I looked like, which was pretty clear from the shock on his face when Isobel had told her I was right at the table with them. At least we were on the same page at that, because neither I’d known who he was.

“Now, you’re both betrothed, and a week from now, you’ll forever be tied.” As soon as Papa ended, everyone stood up and clapped, but I froze.

In a week, I would be Eros’s wife. I would belong to someone I didn’t know, someone that wasn’t the one I’d mentally prepared myself to marry. A week was too soon.

My chest clenched. I couldn’t breathe.

A feathery brush of a thumb on the back of my hand pulled my attention back to Eros. My hand was still in his and his grip had only gotten tighter. As if what I’d been feeling were stuffy enough, one look at the diamond ring on my finger knocked the air straight out of my lungs.

Ownership. Eros had staked his ownership over me. Now, even if I said no, it wouldn't matter. I would anyhow be his.

“Are you okay?” Eros’s voice came muffled as my vision blurred.

And the next thing I knew, my feet had completely given up and all I could see was darkness shrouding me.

***

EROS

She fucking fainted. Out of the blue.

I’d sensed her panicking, had seen the dread in her eyes, but hadn’t expected her to knock herself out. She was terrified. Worse, even though I wasn’t fucking scary.

“Why did you let her fall, you idiot?” Adonis scowled as we walked out of the banquet to the parking lot on the back.

“Danilo gave me strict instructions that until the marriage, I’m not allowed to touch any more than her hands,” I said with a light shrug.

Bella, who had been walking ahead of us, paused and turned to me. With a ridiculed expression, she asked, “So you just let her fall to the ground? What if she hit her head hard and had a concussion?”

I held a hand up and clarified. “Okay, just because I hadn’t stopped the fall, doesn’t mean I hadn’t saved her from the catastrophe. I was holding her hand, so I balanced her and laid her down slowly.”

“You call that slowly?” She arched her brows. “If there was a thud, the fall wasn’t delicate enough.”

“At least she didn’t faint before the ring ceremony.” Adonis pressed his forehead with a finger and reached into his pocket for his car keys.

She probably would have, but she’d controlled herself well. I was genuinely curious to know why she’d fainted. It was a panic attack, so what caused her that? I refused to believe it was because of me.

I paused midway and twisted my head to my car, which was on the other side of the parking lot. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Adonis responded. “Until your wedding, we need to work on a few things. We’ll discuss them tomorrow.”

I nodded and walked away from them. My mind swirled with too many thoughts and my chest with too many emotions.

I’d thought that my relationship with Ira and my aversion to the whole arrange marriage tradition was the reason I had to look for an alternate way out. Without risking any of my stakes. But turned out there was another reason. Not mine. But Mariella’s.

I surely wouldn’t be married to that girl any longer than necessary. Especially after knowing about her feelings for my brother. No way in hell.