Nowhere to Hide!

Elena's POV

I stood there clinging to my white wedding gown with both hands, as everyone at the party poured over me. The attention made my skin prickle.

 I was never used to so much attention before.

"Is this our new bride?" Someone asked over the music, smiling at me and walking over. 

My eyes froze on her. She was beautiful in an artificial sort of way, with a narrow nose, full lips and a cleavage that made my moderate chest look like child's play. I didn't think any of those were natural though. They couldn't be.

"I'm Grace," she said, stopping in front of me and holding out a hand.

I let go of the wedding dress I had been clinging to, and reached out with my right hand to take hers. But the handshake didn't happen. She actually pulled me into a hug. I had to force myself not to stiffen.

"I should warn you," she said softly, whispering against my ear. "Dimitri's a beast in the bedroom and hung like one too. It'll hurt when he takes you and he won't care." She paused, pulling back a bit to watch the color drain from my face.

I swallowed hard.

"I hear you're a virgin?" she continued, as though that was the most casual thing to say. "He doesn't care about you or your silly emotions, He will take you like an animal. He will fuck you bloody," she said flatly.

 A shiver ran down my spine, fear made my entire body tremble like a leaf in a fierce wind storm.

She stepped back but clung to my hand, smiling as though she had just shared the most normal thing in the world. 

I drew back my hand and suddenly, liking her less by the minute.

"Who are you?" I asked. Pressing my hands against my stomach.

She waved at me dismissively. “Never mind that now.”

Umberto drew closer to me from the crowd and gave the woman a dirty, dangerous look. "What were you telling her, Grace?" 

She threw her hand up innocently. "Nothing, or can't I congratulate the bride anymore?"

Umberto's expression turned into a passive mask. "I'm sure you did more than that," he snapped, looking at my face, then back to Grace's. "You know he wouldn't allow this, right?"

Grace said nothing, just shifted uneasily, averting her gaze.

"I don't want to ever see you two feet close to her, now move along." He ordered, his other hand openly resting conveniently on his side, where the outline of a pistol was visibly shown. Grace swallowed, smiled apologetically at me before backing away.

Umberto turned to me. "Are you okay, madam?"

I nodded, although her words were still ringing in my ears and made my knees buckle.

"I'm okay. But who was that woman?" I nodded in the direction Grace had taken.

"She's the daughter of a Senator. She had something with the boss once, but it didn't end well," he said simply.

I nodded. That meant all she said was true then. Dimitri was a monster, as I feared — a cold blooded animal. I was hanging onto my composure with desperate abandon, but yet I could still feel it slipping through my fingers like sand. I could not, I would not break into tears at my own wedding.

Umberto led me towards a table that had been set up under a roof of garlands attached to wooden beams and ushered me to one of the two seats at the head of the table. One of the seats was for my husband — that monster. I gripped my gown tightly, while my eyes scanned through the crowd.

Where were his parents?

I hated having the attention of everyone on me, because then I had to hold up a fake bright smile. To make them think I was really happy about all this, when it was the very opposite of what I felt. 

Not up to three minutes later, my father and the rest of the family came, mother alongside. She took the seat beside me, while father and everyone else sat across from us. Mother reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it gently.

"Elena, dear — are you alright?"

I almost shook my head. I wasn't. How could I be alright when I was just sold off to some cold blooded killer — how could I be alright, when the only man supposed to protect me is the one tearing my life apart?

But I nodded instead and whispered in a fierce, choked out voice, determined not to show her, I wasn't. "I'm fine, ma."

She squeezed my hands again. "I'm sorry baby, you know this is hard for your father but he has to do it, for the family."

I nodded. "Yeah."

So much for the family.

Wasn't I considered part of the family?

My husband came in at that moment with his entourage — his brother and three other men.

Mother clutched my hand so tightly immediately she saw him, that I became worried my hands would fall off. Her eyes were glaring at Dimitri so much that for the first time, I actually felt happy — if that was the right way to express the way my stomach warmed up at the sight. 

At least someone was on my side. Someone still cared enough for me to glare at my husband. It made my heart warm. I squeezed her hands instead, she turned her attention back to me.

“I can't stand him.” She muttered under her breath. “I never wanted your father to marry you off to him, but we couldn't do anything.”

“It's alright Mother. The deal is already done.”

Dimitri took the seat beside me with Matteo and another young man that looked so much like the brothers. Their arrival announced the automatic start of the party.

But Dimitri's parents were still nowhere to be found.

I turned to ask Mother where they were, when Dimitri's hands clasped round mine. I recoiled and tried to pull away, but he held on still. 

Matteo stood up from his seat, clicking a knife against his champagne glass, calling everyone's attention to him. The music died down.

My heartbeat picked up. 

I was sure Dimitri could feel the tension in my body from where he sat.

With a nod towards us, Matteo began his speech. “Ladies and gentlemen, old and new friends.” His eyes fell briefly on Father's table. 

“We've come together today to celebrate the wedding of my dear brother, Dimitri and his stunningly beautiful wife Elena…"

My stomach lurched as his eyes flew to me, all other eyes following his. Dimitri tugged at my hand and whispered fiercely. "Smile."

I tried in vain not to be stiff as a porcelain doll, as I squeezed my face into something of a smile.

Matteo winked at me and turned back to the crowd, smiling. "Before the party starts, I'd love us to have a toast to the couples, to their long life." He lifted his glass.

Dimitri picked up two glasses and handed me one from the table. Mother had to let go of my hand so I could take the glass from him, holding it up with shaky hands.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, here's to the couples!"

Several glasses clinked. Dimitri held out his glass to clink with mine, but I downed it immediately, without sparing a second glance at him. His lips curled into a smirk as he saw this, then he downed his glass with the smirk still on his face, as he lowered his glass a minute later.

"I don't know how much longer you're going to pretend to act stubborn, but you have to accept me regardless," he whispered when he leaned back in his seat, eyes locked ahead on Matteo.

My throat constricted. The champagne I had just taken down churned in revulsion.

I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I'll never accept you.

But the party would end soon. And when it did, there would be nowhere left to hide.