The Italian Dom by N.J. Adel

CHAPTER 24

Nicky

 

In a matter of hours, the mansion turned into a bridal fashion show. A woman with an over exaggerated grin so wide it must have hurt her mouth had put a myriad of white dresses on exhibition in one of the lounges. She was infinitely and proudly babbling about the details of each dress, convincing me they were the best in town to choose for my wedding. A swarming hair and makeup team chased me across the mansion, yelling at each other—and sometimes at me—in Italian because there was so much to do and very little time to do it.

I hadn’t responded to any of them. It was as if I could see and hear everything happening around me but from a distance. Was that what an out-of-body experience felt like? In fact, I hadn’t said a word after all my hopes of freedom were crushed. My body and mind had entered a state of shock since the wolf caught me between his jaws.

It wasn’t like it mattered if I spoke, if I said no, if I fucking screamed it. All the choices had already been made for me. My miserable destiny had been sealed. My head had been served on a silver plate to the coyote.

In the span of a few minutes, I was going to marry my enemy.

No, Domenico Lanza wasn’t the enemy. He was just a hungry coyote on the hunt. He stalked his prey and succeeded to capture her. Could you really blame a beast for acting his nature?

My real enemy was the man who designed the traps, who closed the circle around me so I had nowhere to run. The monster that had robbed me of my family and my future. The wolf that devoured my sister and gave me as a gift to his coyote friend.

My real enemy was, had always been, Don Sebastiano Bellomo.

Lina ended up making all the decisions for the ceremony. I was fitted into a vintage, lace, long sleeve dress. So simple yet so elegant like my makeup. My hair was contained in a twisted updo garnished with a couple of braids and some purple flowers. The perfect attire for a happy, innocent and pure bride. Except I was none of that. A sacrificial lamb led to her slaughter was more like it.

“You look so beautiful,” Lina sobbed behind me as she stared at me in the mirror.

I spun and stared at her. How could she see beauty on a day such as this?

“Nicky…” she sobbed again.

“Don’t cry.” Her tears were waking up the numbness the shock had given me, and I didn’t like it.

Her lips quivered as she looked around my room. There was no one here but the two of us and Nick in his stroller. “I know you’re mad at me, and I’m sorry. I tried… I thought I’d have bought you some time… I didn’t know things would turn around…”

“I know, and I’m not mad at you at all. None of this is your fault, Sis. You did everything that you could to save me. You did more than I’ve ever imagined you’d do. Going against Tino for me was…” Brave, epic, so incredibly sweet and loving and beautiful…and risky. The muscles around my heart slowly contracted. “Is he gonna hurt you?”

She swallowed, and then she bit her lip on a smile, blushing. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Oh, that. I forgot how kinky my little sister was.”

“You should try it some time. There’s a strange freedom in submission, especially when you trust your partner.”

I closed the distance between us and held her arms. “How could you trust him?”

“Tino and I have been through a lot. At first, I didn’t see the reason behind what seemed to be the horrible things he’d done before I married him, but then I realized everything he’d done, each choice he’d made for me, was for my own good, was because he loved me and wanted to give me the best.”

“He almost killed you. Twice.”

“Almost. But he never did. He could have easily pulled the trigger, but he stopped because he truly loved me. And when the time came, he took a bullet for me, Nicky.” Tears threatened to spill her mascara and smear her face. “I never said he was a saint. Tino is a dark man. He has his demons, but has it ever occurred to you that so do I? So do you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“How fucked up we are, Sis.”

My hands fell off her arms, and I averted my gaze. I couldn’t argue with that.

“You and I have serious issues, Nicky. Living in denial for years, pretending to be normal would never make them go away. A woman like me needs a man like Tino, one who isn’t afraid of the darkness, one who would do whatever it takes to protect me, one who knows when to take the lead, to push me to my limits and show me my truth with no judgment, one who understands and embraces every single urge and desire I have, one who is so fucking powerful he can replace the marks the monster left on my soul.”

“Wow. Tino does all that for you?”

“Yes. And, despite everything, I think Dom can do all that for you, too…if you let him.”

“I see. Well, Tino must have a magic dick to make you forget he was ready to take your sister’s life. Or was that another choice he would have made on your behalf for your own good?”

“No. And I didn’t forget. But if it’d ever come to that, I’d have confronted him, and he’d have never hurt you. Like I said, Tino is no saint, but with all his darkness, he has a sweet side.”

“Sweet? You truly believe that?”

“Yes. It’s the side that took care of me, of us, for years. The side that wouldn’t let him pull the trigger and take a bullet for me instead. The side that wouldn’t let him kill his own son even when the sicko deserved it. The side that would have never let him hurt you. It’s impossible for you to believe me now, but one day you’ll understand that when he threatened you, he was doing the same thing he’s been always doing with me.”

“And what the fuck is that?”

“Forcing you to make what will be the best choice you’ve ever made.”

“Marrying Domenico Lanza…will be the best choice I’ve ever made?” I chuckled. “Tino really has a magic dick that fucks all sanity out of your head, doesn’t he?”

She laughed. “That is…rather accurate.” She stretched on her toes. Even with heels she didn’t easily reach my ear. “I hear Dom has one, too.”

That he would have to keep in his pants, if he wished to keep it at all.

She pushed the few strands of hair flowing down one side of my face and smiled. Then she embraced me. “This was never how I imagined your wedding would be, but once it’s safe, you will have a proper wedding, a huge one, I promise. I made sure it’s in the agreement.”

Great. I’d have to go through this torturing charade not once but twice. It was in the agreement. The contracts that sold me to the Lanzas.

The terms had been read to me by the lawyers, and I’d been asked to put my own, too. How generous. But I didn’t give a shit about the wealth Tino did a marvelous job scoring for me despite my dishonorable behavior or the huge wedding my sister wanted to play at. Even when the lawyers read that Domenico and I, upon agreement, would take lovers, but would be discreet—yes, that was a clause in the fucking contract—and Domenico’s face hardened while he said, “No one touches my wife but me,” I didn’t bother disagreeing or asking for the same exclusive rights to him.

The only term I put down was to be allowed to have my degree along with any further education I’d ever want to have after and to pursue a career.

Domenico didn’t find a problem with the first part. The job part, though, seemed to be problematic. Except under rare circumstances and strict conditions, Mafia wives weren’t allowed to work. Again, I didn’t give a shit. They could have chopped me in pieces, and I still wouldn’t have signed my non consent to the one-way ticket to hell until they typed in my only condition.  Domenico must have realized that because he didn’t argue much even though his boss didn’t seem pleased with the decision.

“Dom got their jeweler to send the rings by plane. I haven’t seen them yet, but he assured us—”

“Stop it.” I glared at her. “Please.”

“Okay,” she sighed, smoothing the purple organza of her bridesmaid dress. I’d just noticed it. It was in my favorite color, as if that would make me any less distraught. “I’m gonna go get your bouquet, but before I go I wanna say one last thing.”

“What now?”

“Tino told me something about Dom. A secret of sorts. I’d tell you, but I think you should hear it from Dom himself.”

I rolled my eyes. Like I gave a shit about the fucking asshole and his secrets. “Whatever, Sis.”

“Just when the time is right, ask him why they used to call him Berry when he was a kid.”