1| THE BRIDE

LOTTIE

“Rise and shine, Lottie! It’s your wedding today!” I heard mamma yell through my sleep, right after my door slammed open.

I snuggled into my duvet more, wondering why I was dreaming about my mother who was states away from me, too engrossed in her perfect little family to give me—the black sheep of the family—as much as a call.

Suddenly, the duvet was snatched away from my tight grip and the voice was closer now, loud with panic. “Get up, Lottie!”

My eyes peeked open and I shot off the bed at once. Mamma stood in front of me in the most prim and proper tweed outfit. Fuck. Did I inhale too much of that coke?

“M-mamma?” I yelped.

“Get up, we’re going back to Sicily for your wedding. It’s in five hours, you need to get your makeup done, fit your dress, your hair, there’s so much to do!”

I was neck deep in confusion. “Mamma? Did you hit your head? I’m not getting married. Madonna, my hair care business just finally started getting attention as one of the leading women-owned businesses. Why would I—”

“Oh I don’t care about that bullshit! Your sister bailed! The Morozovs are going to start a war if we don’t show up as agreed. I’m sure you don’t want your dad dead, Charlotte? He’s the reason you’re living comfortably like this, not that stupid, little business of yours. Hurry! I had to fly in with the new private jet to get you!”

I blinked. Blinked again.

“What?”

Mama let out a deep sigh. “Get your ass up, girl! You need to take a bath too, you stink. It’s all that coke you’ve been doing, you always fucking reek. Oh God, why do I have to go through this…”

Her nose twisted up in disgust. I put a palm over my mouth and blew into it. My nose scrunched up too.

I dropped my hand, then started to pinch my thighs in hopes that the drugs would leave my head and mama would disappear somehow. When she didn’t, I finally got off the bed, swaying a little. Mama glared at me, not hiding her disgust at my disarray one bit.

“I don’t understand a thing.” I heard a small slur in my voice as I spoke. “Felicia’s getting married and I didn’t know? And why the hell would I stand in for her instead?”

Mama smiled—that evil lift of her lips she carried out whenever she was about to pass a sentence on me. “Because if you don’t, consider all your family bank accounts frozen and your car gone, too.”

I scoffed. “You can’t do that.”

“Have I ever bluffed, Lottie?”

No. Never. But I didn’t say anything. My fists simply clenched on my sides, then I shrugged.

“Well good for y’all then, mamma. You can keep all that. I don’t care, I can take care of myself anyways. Now if you don’t mind, shut my door on your way out.” I started to pull the duvet over me again when she dragged it off.

“Alright, I’ll just go for it. You’re getting married today, or I’ll see to it that the Parkers get a call from us.”

My heart lurched in my chest and I started to sit up at once. Suddenly, my foggy brain was not so foggy anymore.

“What the hell are you saying, mamma?”

“Not just any call too. Because if your father, Luca dies, he would not go down alone. That bastard disappears, too. For good. I’ll make sure of it. I can make the call right now too.”

My body trembled with hate for this woman in front of me. I knew she was the devil but this was too far. She knew I didn’t give a fuck about any other thing but that, and her twisted smile told me she knew she’d gotten me right where she wanted me.

Sometimes it was hard to believe that I really came out of her vagina.

I got off the bed, came to stand before her. “You’d kill to get your way in this?”

“When it involves my husband, yes.”

I scoffed. “Cazzate. You don’t even love him. If he dies… isn’t that better for your greedy ass? You get to keep everything. Right?”

She held my gaze for a few seconds, then sighed and turned away. “You disrespectful twat. You don’t know anything. But that’s okay, you’re too dumb to understand anyways. So what’s it going to be, Lottie? The clock isn’t ticking in our favor!”

“I can’t get married.”

“It’s only for a short period of time, if you must know. But if you still can’t do it… Sandro?” She called out for her personal bodyguard.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Call Anthony Parker, I have an order to give him.”

“Okay m—”

“Oh put that down.” I snapped. Mamma grinned.

“A yes?”

A beat passed, and then I responded, “I want to think about it.”

Motioning at Sandro, she ordered, “Help her to the car, we don’t have time for all this. We’ll have the others get her… things.”

“No.” I took a step back, but Sandro was on me before I could move any farther, and he threw me over his shoulder like a sack of beans. His cheap, spicy cologne hit my nose at once, gagging me.

I kicked and screamed, bit at the motherfucker’s back even, but he was too strong.

“You could fly all the way to London to get me out for the wedding but you couldn’t find Felicia? Such bullshit, mama! Cazzate!” I yelled when my bum hit the seat of her car, and they secured me with a seatbelt.

She avoided my eyes, looking straight ahead as the driver started the engine. It all started to make sense, I thought as I sat there in the car, my chest heaving up and down.

They were protecting Felicia from whoever the fuck they were imposing on me now. Dread creeped into my skin, at the same time my body itched for a sniff of my favorite powder. My knee bobbed up and down with anxiety.

Who the hell were they sending me off to?