~ Rosanna's POV
"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!"
Dad was yelling again. He'd never been the tamest father in the world - he'd always liked to open his mouth to argue with those around us - but I had still never seen him like this, so worked up and red in the face. I was worried he would make himself faint from stress, though I was certain there was nothing to stress about. Olivia would come back - what reason did she have not to?
... except having to marry a man she'd only known for two months and was only interested in wearing her on his arm like a trophy. But at least she seemed to have a positive view of Mr Cartelli, whose name she would soon take on. It could have been a lot worse.
"Dante, please," said Mom, "she just stepped out for a minute. There is still plenty of time before the wedding begins."
Dad glared at her - another first. "We have barely twenty minutes."
"And she is mostly ready. All she needs is to put on a pair of shoes. Does it take someone twenty minutes to put on a pair of shoes in your world?"
Dad's lips pressed together, unimpressed, before he looked to the floor sighing. "No, it doesn't." His arms wrapped around his chest as he walked toward the window of the hotel room to stare at the driveway.
I tugged on Bella's bridesmaid dress, my eyes never leaving our father in fear he would fall back into the stress surrounding the day.
"What is it?" Bella whispered to me.
"Is Dad alright?"
She scoffed. "He's just being overbearing, Rosie, don't worry about it." Her head twisted toward Sara and she added, "I thought this day was supposed to be stressful for the bride."
Sara snickered to herself, and Bella grinned proudly. I looked away to check Dad hadn't heard before I gave them both a little smile.
"Sara, call Olivia and get her back here, will you?" Mom asked, oblivious to our amusement. She was too focused on rearranging the bridal bouquet.
"Sure." Sara walked out of the room to take the call.
"Rosie!"
Beckoned by my mother, I left Bella's safe, comfortable side and leaned in close. She wrapped her fingers around my wrist, pulling me toward the other end of the room. Olivia had been gifted the more extravagant suite for the weekend since she was the bride and apparently, "the Cartellis are gentlemen when they want to be."
"Could you put those lovely managing skills of yours to use for me, Rosie? I am worried that your father is getting too worked up to do it himself, and Sara has a lot to worry about at the moment." Mom squeezed my hand. "Besides, I think it would be nice for you to show off your capability."
I gulped. "But I don't manage events, Mama."
"It is a similar concept, Rosie. Just do this for your dear old mother?"
"O-okay."
I had never been able to argue with my mother. She was beautiful but scary at the best of times. It was no wonder she was the only woman who had ever been able to tame Dante Rizzo, who'd made more mistakes in his life than all four of his daughters put together.
Sometimes I wondered if we were a mistake to him, too.
Mom reached to hand me the clipboard of items that needed to be done during the last fifteen minutes before the wedding started, but before she could let go, the door flung open, and Sara stormed through it with wide eyes. Dad spun around at the sound, confused.
"Daddy, you... oh, god." She put her hands over her face.
"What is it?" Dad demanded, rushing across the room to get to her. His eyes were frantically searching her face. "Sara, if you don't goddamn-"
"Daddy, please don't kill Liv."
Dad's face twisted into disgust. "What? Why would I ever do that? Sara, what have you heard?"
"Just..." Sara trailed off at the sound of the hallway door opening outside. She couldn't speak again as she refused to take her eyes off of Dad.
If Sara was worried, I knew everyone should be, as she was the only one of the Rizzo sisters who knew how to deal with nerve-wracking situations like these. But I couldn't figure out why she might think Dad would want to kill Olivia. Unless she'd been told something on that phone call.
After a moment, Olivia walked into the suite with a tall blonde man trailing behind her. His eyes were directed at the floor, whilst she had her chin held high, confident. She strode in through the entranceway and stopped, causing her unfamiliar companion to stop beside her.
"Valentino..." Dad murmured, but didn't elaborate. His eyes moved onto Olivia herself. "Why aren't you in your dress?! Olivia, your wedding is in-"
"My wedding won't be for a year," she interrupted.
Dad frowned. "What?"
"My wedding, the one I'll be having with Matteo Valentino? That's not going to happen for a year." She crossed her arms confidently over her chest, but all I could think was how Sara could let her come in here and proclaim such a thing when she knew about it. Dad would kill her without a doubt, especially if she kept up her attitude toward him. He was already stressed enough.
"Olivia, what are you doing?" Mom snapped. "You can't do this, the point of this wedding is to stop the Cartellis from starting a war against us."
"There was never any guarantee of that. Dad just wanted to marry me off," Olivia dismissed.
"Do not doubt your father's intentions like that, young lady!"
"Mrs Rizzo, if I may," Matteo muttered, "my father is quite close friends with the Cartelli family, so he knows what is really going on. The Cartellis would never start a war over this, not after so many years. No, what your husband is avoiding is having to pay them back with money for what he did."
Mom opened her mouth to argue and defend her husband's honour, but when she glanced back at his face and saw the obvious guilt covering it, she stopped. Her eyes stooped down to the floor as she lost the ability to speak. None of us were really sure of what to say.
"However," Matteo continued, "you will have to go to war with us if you force my fiancé to marry another."
Dad pressed his lips together. "I don't like your tone, boy."
"I am only repeating what my father himself has said."
"What about the wedding?" Bella whispered.
"The Cartellis still want payment, so you either give them a Rizzo, or you pay."
"A Rizzo..." Dad's eyes trailed from sister to sister; Sara, who was already engaged; Bella, who was already married; Olivia, who had just managed to get out of her wedding; then me, who was completely single - and mostly useless.
"If they have to marry a Rizzo, then so be it. Rosanna, are you the same size as your sister?"
My mouth opened and closed but I couldn't speak.
Olivia swept forward into the way. "Firstly, Father, you need to postpone the time of the wedding. Secondly, Mother and I have had a dress picked out for Rosanna for years and I brought it with me."
Dad narrowed his eyes. "I don't like your tone, either, Olivia."
She didn't reply.
"I'll find Cartelli and tell him to wait a little longer, but only by ten minutes." His eyes found mine. "You have less than half an hour to look like the bride. Do not disappoint me."
Olivia was a wonderful seamstress and designer; this was something the whole family had known for a long time. But I never expected her to be able to produce something so beautiful for someone who didn't even want a wedding.My floor-length, lace white dress was covered in embroidered flowers and leaves that I knew must have taken hours to delicately perfect; the sheer sleeves had a branch of leaves falling down to the slim wrist. I felt like a princess, but one who was being tortured when I was handed the shoes I was supposed to wear.Whilst Olivia and I were completely different sizes in clothing - I was the thickness of a stick and five-foot-one, compared to her healthy weight and height of five-foot-five - we could still wear the same shoes. And Olivia happened to wear a lot more heels than I did, so the pair of peep-toe white heels with matching flowers embroidery and a thin ankle strap, would not have been a problem for her. I, on the other hand, was barely able
The doors closed behind us at the end of the aisle, trapping our guests so the only way they could leave was through the door into the reception room. We'd been showered in petals and sent to sign the real contract before we had to join the rest of the party.Armani didn't hold my hand after the doors shut, so I struggled to follow his lengthy strides in the direction of another room. He didn't seem to notice that I couldn't keep up, but he did wait at the door of an office-like room instead of totally abandoning me."T-thank you," I muttered, slipping through the door he held for me. "Um, what happens after this?""We sign then have to enter the party," he replied quietly. He sat down in a chair, which made him seem much less scary. His incredible height was turned into nothing more than less than mine. Although, it didn't look like he was that much shorter than me sitting down, and that was a kick to the ego.I cleared my throat. "Yes, but do we... do w
Armani and I sat down in the midst of both of our families. He was beside his father whilst I was beside my mother, and the rest of our families stretched on from there at the long table.Looking around the room, I didn't know many of the people, but I figured they were more Dad's friends than Olivia's, so I didn't have to worry about anyone wondering why the bride had been switched. Most would convince themselves that they'd simply had the wrong sister in mind - this was what my mother told me when she caught me staring at the guests.Dad made a short toast to bringing our families together, which he was clearly overjoyed about since it meant he didn't have to pay lots of money to the Cartellis. I pondered over how I could replace that money, as it must have been a large sum for my father to sell one of his daughters just to avoid it. But then, Dad had always been protective of his cash.After a meal that allowed me to rest my feet for a while, I was forced to
If anyone noticed the bride had shrunk three inches, they didn't mention it.I was more excited for the party now that I didn't have to worry about falling over or hurting myself, and Bella was quick to start dancing with me as a result. I let her take the lead, spinning me around and pretending to be my partner, whilst smiling the whole time. It felt good, given the circumstances, to be able to have so much fun.But the part of the night I had been quite nervous for since finding out about it was coming up: we had to leave for our honeymoon.The word honeymoon still sent a shiver down my spine that I couldn't seem to avoid. I didn't like the connotations it brought with it, specifically that it suggested we would be sealing our marriage with physical intimacy. No matter how sweet Armani seemed to be, I would not be doing that when I hardly knew him.Bella spun me around one last time, tugging me into her chest and wrapping her arms around my wai
"Do I need to drug you?" "W-what?" I flung upright from my seat, my eyes locking on his. I could have sworn there was a glint of amusement in them but it could have been insanity. "Do I need to drug you?" he repeated in the same serious tone. "I can't stand how tense you are. It's making me uncomfortable." My posture collapsed. "I-I'm sorry, I've just... never really been on a private jet before. Hardly even a normal plane." "Does your father not own a private jet?" I shook my head. "I thought a man such as himself would jump at the opportunity to own one, but I could be wrong." "Could be?" Armani brought his drink to his lips. "Even the people closest to you could be hiding something, Rose." When he put down his glass, a thought flickered across his eyes. "What will ease your nerves, then? A drink?" He pushed the glass toward me, but I quickly pushed it back. "No, thank you... I don't..."'I don't want
"Miss?" "Excuse me?" "Um... Miss... I'm going to touch you." Her voice had just been a muffle at first, something I could barely hear through my dreams, but when I felt something unknown touch my shoulder, I heard back everything she'd said. My body forced me upright, startling the attendant leaning over me. "Oh! Mrs Cartelli, I am so sorry for scaring you!" I almost told her she had called me by the wrong name, but the uncomfortable press of my bridal hairstyle reminded me that I was no longer Miss Rizzo. The wedding had really happened, it wasn't a dream and it wasn't going away. I was legally married. Clearing my throat, I slid off of the bed in the cabin. "Um, you didn't scare me," I lied. "W-why are you in here?" "We need you to sit down with a seatbelt, Mrs Cartelli. The plane is going to be landing in approximately six minutes." "Okay, um, thank you. I'll be right out." The attendant left, so I took a mom
Seeing the very town we had passed by so quickly earlier without any rush was exciting. After parking just down the road, we walked as if we were any other couple along the streets, admiring the little stores, cafes, eateries and restaurants that littered the long stretch of concrete. Just behind the stores on one side, you could see the ocean, which many little cafes took advantage of with a decking facing the beautiful view. People looked at us and smiled. The few that scowled or showed any sign of contempt were often put in their place by a simple glare from the man hovering behind me. I couldn't help but watch him each time we passed a window. I needed to know if I was with someone mean, but he was as kind to most of the locals as I was. Still, I never saw him smile. Once the sun had set - which we enjoyed from the railing of the parking lot where Armani's fast white convertible sat - we headed back to the private beach house. It had been mostly quiet bet
Armani himself said the only reason he’d agreed to the honeymoon with Olivia was because she had business here, and he wanted to return home. But even hearing that, I didn’t expect to receive his complete focus. For the first three days, it felt like I couldn’t get a moment from him, as he was always right there asking if I needed anything or if I was bored. And whilst I appreciated the attention I’d never gotten off of anyone else, it was daunting to be the one making all the decisions. I supposed that was the point. Armani expressed openly this was all his way of making up for the unexpected wedding. Still, sometimes it was nice to take a step back - like how he decided we would go for breakfast during sunrise at a cafe nearby. Since, it was all, “What would you like to do, Rose?”I finally managed to get a moment alone when Armani stepped away for a phone call and came back with the news he had to attend a brief meeting here in Italy. “I won’t be long,” he told me, as he typed aw