Deadly Nightshade by Sem Thornwood

Chapter 16

Isabella

After the engagement party, I drove to the lake house with my bodyguard Emiliano. Where I was supposed to remain for six months. Until my marriage to Brando Panaro.

Luckily, I have not been caught by my fiancée again at the party. After Alessio kissed my lips and the tip of my nose, we left the bathroom separately, and he didn’t come close to me in front of the crowd.

Yet Antonio did. He played my savior for the rest of the party and reminded me to be good before I left. Honestly, there was not much of a choice. I was secluded from the world except for my phone and laptop.

Because of obvious reasons, I didn’t have any social media, but it was so very boring in the lake house that I created a few fake accounts. I didn’t share anything, but I wanted to follow people and spend time looking at their posts. It was the easiest way to kill time in here.

I texted and facetimed Mia a lot, but she was not able to visit me as much as she wanted because she had school. Yet, the technology made it possible that we never missed anything about each other’s life. I knew every little gossip in my old school by heart now. The first few weeks, that was my only joy in life.

Alessio texted me too and occasionally called me. For the first two months, he sent me a goodnight message every night. The texts sometimes came very late in the morning, but I didn't mind. I liked knowing when Alessio slept. A little part of my brain wondered what was he doing this late. Even I knew his job for the Outfit was not a nine-to-five job, I still couldn’t unhear what the jealous part of me whispered to me.

I knew he was not a virgin long before we did anything sexual. Because I liked to eavesdrop, I knew he was tamer than Antonio and Salvatore, but he was still a young, very handsome man. There were many women in his life, and since I was no longer near him to give him pleasure, he must have been with those women again.

It was not fair to expect him to be celibate when I was promised to marry another man, but in Alessio’s mind, that was not going to happen. He fully believed that he was going to marry me. So, him still seeing other women in that stage hurt. Actually, the thought of him with other women hurt anyway. Even if I got married to Brando, it would still hurt. 

Sometimes I wondered if he would keep seeing other women if we got married. I never thought of that before. I always assumed he would only be mine, but would I really be enough for him?

Being alone in a huge house really messes with your brain.

Of course, I never asked Alessio any of them. I kept all of my worries inside. Even when he started to skip some goodnight messages, I didn’t show my worry. For the first few times, he apologized, saying sleep almost knocked him off.

He didn’t speak to me about his plans, too, saying he didn’t want to give me false hope with any of them. He was going to reveal the plan when it was final. Yet, he never did.

He called me to hear my voice and ask about my day. He still sent me cute messages on some nights and some mornings, but they were getting less and less every day.

And it worried me. It worried me so much that a part of me believed Alessio did give up on me.

Since I was all alone and constantly worried, I needed to find some new hobbies. I found some of Mia’s things and tried to paint. Turns out I was horrible at art. Then I tried cooking and almost burned down the house. I tried almost everything, and I mean everything. Money wasn’t a problem, so I get to buy anything required to do a hobby.

I was horrible.

In the end, I accepted my faith and decided to start working out. I was too curvy and too soft for my liking. There was no way I could get six-packs with the way I worked out, but I still wanted to get some muscle. Made Men usually loved their women soft, so I was also trying to make myself less desirable for Panaro. I was also trying to build up muscle to defend myself against him even though I knew muscle couldn’t help me when he could use a knife on me.

I tried not to think about Panaro and knives at the same time while working out. It was really not helping.

Emiliano helped a lot with my working out. I was very grateful for him. Most of the time, it was just the two of us in the house.

It was not very often for Made Men to leave their woman alone with a man even if he was their bodyguard, but even my father didn’t have any problem with Emiliano. He was almost forty, and he was my mother’s bodyguard before me. He was with us since he was eighteen.

Of course, that was not the reason why everybody trusted him with me. Emiliano was unmarried and most likely gay. Officially there was no gay Made Men, but one had to be stupid to think there was no closeted gay Made Men.

It was not right to assume his sexuality, but I heard it many times from my mom and Aunt Pippa. And they were talking like Emiliano told them. So, all of the arrows were pointing that way.

I also got into candle-making. First, I thought it was cheesy, but it was one of the things I actually managed after a few tries, and I found it therapeutic. I made some to lit and some to gift. Honestly, I did so many that Emiliano was not shutting up about the house being filled with candles.

Oh well, it kept my mind busy.

After two months, I asked my father to visit Mia. He said no, so Mia came here for a brief weekend. It was the most fun I had in two months.

Lucky for me, when I asked to come for Christmas, Father actually excepted, but of course, he had a condition. He wanted me to try on the dress Aunt Pippa choose for me. He also said if I was to visit the Mazzoni mansion, Alessio could not be there.

I said yes to both because I was desperate. Mia was going to come again for the New Year’s, but Father had no intention to send Valerio and Verona. They did sometimes made me go crazy, but I still missed them. I even missed Salvatore. He was not yet forgiven, but it couldn’t stop my longing for him.

I went to Chicago one day prior to Christmas Eve. I was going to spend the night at the Mazzoni mansion, and yes, Rafael Mazzoni had a serious talk about my father about not letting Alessio home.

The next day I was going to go home and have dinner with my family, and then in the morning, I would be opening presents with my siblings. Then I was going back to the lake house. No unneeded time spent.

I didn’t know if I should be relieved that I was coming back in two months or I should be scared that my wedding was two months away.

Scared.

Yeah, definitely scared.

“Do I have to?” I asked as I eyed the white dress on top of my bed.

Aunt Pippa nodded, but her eyes were not so sure. “Darling, we have to. Just once.”

It was my father’s request. I needed to try on the dress so that I won't look horrible on my wedding day. Like everybody thought I was marrying Brando Panaro willingly.

It was stupid.

Honestly, I couldn’t even figure out how kind of dress it was. It was big and white and fluffy. A normal wedding dress, I guess. All I could see when I looked at it was my horrible future with Brando Panaro.

I took a long and deep breath before asking, “Can I keep my eyes closed?”

Aunt Pippa thought for a second. “Well, I guess we can manage that.”

“Good then. Let’s do it as fast as we can.”

“Okay. Mia, come help us.”

Mia straightened from where she sat on the bed and joined her mother and the seamstress. She looked at Aunt Pippa with a hard expression. “I'll help, but just know this I am only doing this so that Bells can get out of that thing fast.”

Normally that would earn at least a giggle from me, but I was too nervous to laugh. So, I simply got out of my current shirt and pants and closed my eyes. “I’m ready.”

I heard fabric ruffling from the bed, and then Aunt Pippa called from the floor. She was probably kneeling, holding out the dress. “I need you to step in, Bella.” With the help of Mia, I stepped into the dress. Then Aunt Pippa brushed my elbow. “Now, arms, honey.”

“Okay,” I murmured, trying to hold my pulse steady, and wore the dress. It was still loose, and that was the only reason I was able to breathe. The fabric burned my skin like hellfire. I didn’t even know how I was going to wear this on my wedding day.

On my wedding day.

Oh, good, God. Please don’t let it come to that.

If Alessio could not stop this, there would be a wedding day, and then there would be a wedding night. How could he even stop that? If it was possible, he’d done it already. He could not convince my father or Panaro. He could not do anything.

“Is it too tight?” I heard the worried voice of the seamstress from behind me.

What is too tight? Oh, the dress.

No dear lady, the reason I cannot breathe has nothing to do with the dress. Well, on second thought, it has everything to do with the dress, but it is not about tightness.

But really. I couldn’t breathe. Maybe a little loose would help.

I needed to say something.

I opened my mouth to just do that, but nothing came up. My pulse was crazy; my lungs were empty, and now I couldn’t form words.

“Bella, are you okay?” With Mia’s words, I felt two delicate hands cupping my face. “Bells, breathe, please.”

There were too many tears to hold my eyes closed. I didn’t have to see the dress. I just wanted to see Mia. So, I opened my eyes. I could only take slow, shallow breaths, and now I was also crying while my best friend watched me with a horrified expression.

Mia’s eyes focused behind me, and all that blue turned to fire for a moment. “Take this damn thing off of her.”

“Mia!” I heard Aunt Pippa calling her because of the cuss word, but Mia didn’t care. She just kept holding me.

“You’ll be okay. Just breathe, Bells. In, and out.”

In, and out.

The fabric on my chest loosened.

In, and out.

Something brushed my arms, and then a cold breeze touched my naked skin.

In, and out.

“I cannot do this,” I whispered.

Aunt Pippa came and patted my shoulder softly. “It is okay, darling; the measurements were good. The length was good too. You don’t have to wear it again.”

But only I do. I have to wear it on my wedding day. And honestly, that was not even the worst part. The worst part was I have to let Brando Panaro take it off of me on our wedding night.

I buried my face in Mia’s shoulder, trying to keep tears at bay. My brown hair and her dark locks covered almost all of my face. “I just want some quiet.”

After a brief moment, Aunt Pippa cleared her throat. “Okay, darling, step out of the dress, and we’ll leave you two alone.”

I stepped out of it without looking, and then Mia led me to my bed. I was still only on my undergarments, but I was in no position to care. I just laid there with Mia, and after I heard the door closing, I started crying.