Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,41
of the chapel, hand-plucked by the Vitali elders.
My soon-to-be-husband was a virtual stranger, so much so, I only just noticed the small mole above his eye as I inched closer. And I had absolutely no idea who his groomsmen were or if he’d even been the one to select them.
Each step closer was a step closer to my death.
I’d lost my virginity.
In the very confession booth I’d just passed.
I hadn’t even considered the consequences over the fog of lust that clouded me whenever Frankie Amato neared. The same Frankie sitting close to the front with a few other Amato members.
I was so fucked.
I would never make it past the deflowering ceremony, let alone the honeymoon to poison my husband.
The option of excommunication was rarely given, and such benevolence was wasted on Carlotta, who’d dismissed the idea with a fucking laugh. I passed Frankie, swallowed the lump in my throat, and forced myself not to stare at him too long.
I expected him to wink at me. A wicked spark in his eyes or something equally playful. But he appeared serious. More serious than I’d ever seen him.
My final step onto the alter felt like the last I’d ever take.
Tommaso smiled at me while his eyes descended a path to the swells of my cleavage. “You look beautiful,” he mouthed.
I swallowed the vomit climbing up my throat and shifted my attention to Father Luigi. The sympathy in his eyes was almost too much. Maybe that was why he kept it short and skipped over most of the vows.
“Liliana Aurora Vitali and Tommaso Roberto Amato, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?”
“I have,” I lied.
Freely? What a joke.
“I have,” Tommaso echoed.
“Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?”
God, I hope not.
“I will,” we spoke in unison.
“Will you accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his church?”
Children with Tommaso sounded as appealing as binge-eating rotten eggs.
“I will,” I lied. Again.
How many lies did it take to burn in flames on the alter steps? This had to be some sort of blasphemy. At this point, I welcomed the flames. It would happen sooner or later. Better now than during the deflowering ceremony.
“I will,” Tommaso parroted.
Father Luigi continued, “Do you, Tommaso Roberto Amato, take Liliana Aurora Vitali as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
Tommaso winked at me. “I do.”
“Do you, Liliana Aurora Vitali, take Tommaso Roberto Amato as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.
My eyes shuttered closed. I couldn’t say this with them open. No way.
“I do.”
I tuned out the rest of his words. Father Luigi took his time blessing the rings. I plucked a thick band from a satin pillow and slid it on Tommaso’s finger, careful to touch as little of his skin as I could. He grabbed the replacement ring, a thinner band with a smaller diamond than the original gaudy one Frankie had stolen from the jeweler’s.
I preferred this smaller one over that monstrosity, but Tommaso’s lips turned down with displeasure as he slid it up my finger.
The weight of the ring felt like shackles, binding me to a man I couldn’t stand, a life I’d never chosen, a future that ended in my death.
I barely focused in time to hear Father Luigi finish his speech. “You may now kiss the bride.”
The second Tommaso’s dry lips touched mine, my eyes shot open. His tongue dove past my lips, stroking every surface it could reach. I drowned in his saliva, wishing it would end. That I could fade away.
Away from my family.
Away from this church.
Away from the hoots and hollers of the made men in the audience.
And finally—fucking finally—when I couldn’t take it anymore, my eyes slid to where Frankie sat, his expression harder than the granite lining the church floors.
And I realized, if this was to be my last kiss, I didn’t want it to Tommaso’s.
I wanted it to be Frankie’s.
CHAPTER NINE
Frankie
Watching Lily marry fuck-face Tom was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life, and that included watching Manuel decide between death and excommunication.