Chapter 5

Marcella’s POV

The morning of the wedding came faster than I wanted it to.

My face was still painful from my father’s slap, but I spent an extra half hour at my vanity using heavy concealer to cover up the redness just like I've done over the years

l pulled out my duffel bag from under my bed.

There's no coming back to this house after today. The moment I pulled out that marriage certificate and ruined his alliance in front of the entire mafia underworld, my father would either throw me out or try to kill me.

 Either way, I was leaving for good. I was finally going to be free.

I packed only the things that actually mattered to me, which wasn't much. I packed a few clothes, but most importantly, I went for the small wooden lockbox hidden at the back of my closet. 

Inside were the only pieces of my mother I had left, a gold necklace anf her favorite silver ring, and a framed photograph of her smiling at the beach before she got sick.

I held the photo frame with both hands, my hands gently tracing her face as tears welled up in my eyes, but for the first time in ten years, they weren't tears of sadness.

"I'm doing it, Mom" I whispered to the picture, my voice trembling with so many emotion. "I'm finally standing up to him and taking my life back today, and I'm never coming back to this cage again. I hope you're watching me, and I hope I make you proud."

The door to my bedroom opened and Anita stepped inside and locked it then gave me a hug.

"Marcy" she gasped, pulling back to look at my packed bag on the bed. "Are you really doing this? You're actually going to go through with it?"

"I have to, Anita" I said, carefully placing my mother’s picture and jewelry into my bag before zipping it. "If I stay, I'm just a pawn for my father to abuse for the rest of my life. I have to break free."

"I'm going to miss you so much" she whispered, crying "I'm terrified of what your father will do when he finds out, but I'm so proud of you for fighting back."

"I'm going to miss you too" I said, hugging her tightly because she's not just my cousin but the reason I've survived for so long in this house in this place.

 "I promise you, once I get settled and away from my father, I'll come back for you. We're both going to get out of this toxic family."

By two in the afternoon, the mansion’s ballroom was packed. Hundreds of high-society guests, celebrities, reporters, and dangerous mob bosses from all over the country filled the room, drinking expensive champagne and waiting for the biggest alliance of the decade to be sealed.

My father stood near the front altar alongside Julian, looking proud and smug in his tailored suit. Sienna was standing right next to them in a short, very short off shoulder gown and I can't believe this is the same girl who accused me of whoring myself and she looks like she is a prostitute in a downtown bar.

When I stepped into the room, all the chatter in the ballroom died down and everyone turned to look at me.

The girl marrying the capo di capi.

My father glared at me as I walked down the aisle towards him, I could see him warning me to behave. But I didn't look at him like his scared daughter anymore. I held my head high, kept my shoulders back, and gave him a smile.

"You look decent" he muttered under his breath and grabbed my wrist so I wouldn't move away. "Don Cavaliere’s men are already in.the lounge. The Don himself will be stepping down any second to sign the contract and take you off my hands. Don't you dare mess this up, Marcella, or I swear I'll make you pay."

"Oh, don't worry, Father" I said loud enough for the anyone to hear. "I won't mess anything up."

He frowned like he sensed something was wrong. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means there isn't going to be an alliance today," I replied, pulling my wrist roughly out of his grip.

Before he could react, I unzipped my bag, pulled out my stamped legal marriage document, and held it up in his face.

"I got married last night!" I announced "I'm legally bound to another man. And under syndicate law, a Don cannot marry a woman who already belongs to someone else"

"Are you out of your mind?!" he roared, his booming voice shaking the chandeliers above us. 

"You threw your life away to marry some nobody?Who is the? Where is he?"

Julian his right hand man, stepped forward with his fists clenched, grabbed my shoulders roughly in front of everyone. "You stupid bitch!" he yelled in my face. "Do you realize what you’ve done? Who did you marry?"

His palm swung toward my face.

Before his hand could reach my face, a strong arm suddenly reached past me and grabbed his wrist.

I froze because I wasn’t expecting anyone to stop him. Nobody ever did.

I turned to see who it was, and my eyes widened.

It was him.

The stranger from the club. My husband.

For a second, I just stared at him because I couldn’t understand what he was doing here. I hadn’t told him where the wedding was, and I definitely hadn’t invited him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, looking from him to my father.

He didn’t answer me. He was still holding my father’s wrist, and the look on his face was nothing like the teasing smile he’d given me last night.

My stomach tightened. This was my wedding to Don Cavaliere. If the Don found him here, knowing that he was the man I married—

Then I noticed my father’s face.

It had turned an ashen gray, and his whole body was trembling. He wasn’t even trying to pull his hand free anymore. He just stared at my husband with a terror I had never seen on his face before.

“D-Don Cavaliere”