chapter 1 (Summer's POV)

So maybe I hung out with my ex boyfriend a night before my wedding, so maybe we almost kissed, but that shouldn't warrant my elder sister to turn up at my door step the next morning, screaming like a drunk sailor.

" Girl what are these?!" She huffs as she slams several photographs of my ex, and I on the dressing table where I was seated.

I pick the pictures leisurely, and glance through them. Based on the angle from which the pictures were taken, it seemed like we were two lovers, but that was far from the case.

" We both know that whoever took these pictures was aiming at making it look scandalous, so please, let me be so that Molly, can finish up with my hair." I mumble as Molly, one of our most trusted aids struggles with styling my unsteady head.

From the reflection on the mirror, I can see my elder sister turning beet red, but I don't fret because, in my own opinion her anger was a bit exaggerated, and she was stressing over nothing?

" Let you be? Seriously Summer!"

" Well, I said what I said, or do you need me to repeat myself?" I ask without sparing her as much as a glance.

She begins pacing all over the place, something she does anytime she wanted to let off some steam. After a while she takes a deep, ragged breath, clenches and unclenches, before finally asking in her calmest voice.

" Do you have any idea who your fiance is?"

"Sincerely, I don't care. That fiance didn't even respect me enough to show up for our engagement dinner, that enough should tell you he doesn't care, so why should I?"

" He had his reasons for not attending, and you know it, but that's not even the issue, the issue now is that you went out with your ex boyfriend, a night before your wedding to an entirely different man. Did you ever stop to think about what the said man would do if he were to find out?! " She says as she raises her voice a notch higher.

" Well thanks to your exceptional problem solving skills, he won't. I'm sure you've handled all the evidence of my little outing from last night, and there's hopefully no more evidence. But if he eventually does find out, its totally fine, because like I said earlier, I don't care."

" Summer!!"

" Ohh please,don't even start." I say, getting up from the dressing table, Molly was finally done with my hair, and was about to help me into my wedding dress.

" Why are you so hungover a guy, who not only left you a lifetime ago, but has shown you in several occasions, how little he thinks of you?" Winter complains as she tails behind me

"Take a look at yesterday, he went ahead to kiss another girl in your presence, if he ever wanted to fight for you, is that how he would behave?" She adds.

" The devil you know is better than the angel you don't know." I say enunciating my words.

" Summer" she calls, and I pause

"All I'm trying to say is, don't let your feelings for Emilio ruin this, give your fiance a chance, and you maybe surprised at how well it goes."

" Fine, I'll try."

**********

Our wedding was set to start in two minutes, and my fiance was nowhere to be seen. I check my watch for what felt like the hundredth time, my heart racing with every passing second. Would he show up, or would I be left standing alone on the altar?

" I don't think he's coming" I say as my eyes dart around the expanse of the parking lot.

" what does he even looks like, what if his breath stinks? what if he...."

" Relax Summer, relax ,there's two minutes left, hopefully he'll be here before then, and as for his breath, I don't think it stinks. Winter replies, while calmly rearranging my veil.

Thankfully, after her crash out from earlier, she was back to being the cool, and collected Winter, while I took over from where her frustration stopped. I was so glad she was back, to her confident self because, that was the only thing currently stopping me from going rogue.

" He was meant to be here thirty minutes earlier, so what could possibly be keeping him?"

I felt my throat tighten as my eyes burnt, the frustration was finally getting to me, starting from my heartbreak from last night down to the wedding arrangement of which I didn't agree to, everything felt so overwhelming and unbearable.

" Ohh goodness, Summer not tears, not tears girl, you'll ruin your makeup, and you know dad won't like that." My sister pleads while using a tissue to dry off the single tear drop that had begun to form in my eyes.

I was livid, I hated it that everything had to be about what my father wanted, at this point, it felt like we were living for him, and I hated that feeling.

" You know what Winter, I'm done waiting out here for nothing." I say as I open the door, and step out.

" Where do you think you're going?" She questions while following me out.

" Where else could a bride possibly go on her wedding day, other than the altar."

" The what? Don't tell me you plan on waiting at the altar for him." My sister panics, breaking her calm facade, but my mind was already made up.

" It's obvious this guy isn't planning on showing up, so instead of prolonging what's sure to come, it's better I face it now, and get it over with already."

She's hot on my tail as I make my way to the door of the cathedral, but I don't stop, I don't plan on stopping, not until she tells me the words I've been hoping to hear for the past thirty minutes.

" Summer, summer wait up, just wait and..... ohh thank goodness he's here, your fiance is here okay? Now please, stop this madness!!" She whisper shouts as she she catches up with me. I'm turning to her when she starts pulling me out of the way.

" It's bad for the groom to see the bride before the wedding." She advices, but I had better things in mind.

" Which of you is it!?" I demand, stopping the whole group in their tracks. I had successful released myself from Winter's hold and was off to give my fiance a piece of my mind.

" Er.. excuse her please, she's a bit zesty today." Winter says, trying to save the day, but she was a few seconds late.

" I thought you said you had her under control?" A shrill voice nags.

" The last thing I need right now is more issues to deal with, but it seems almost impossible these days, first the elder sister, as if that wasn't already enough you guys found a way to get the crazy one!" She adds while looking between my sister, and the group.

I could see her veins peeking out on the side of her forehead, and almost immediately I regret my actions. The last thing I wanted was to get Winter in trouble.

"I'm so sorry sh......."

" Darling, in as much as I would love to stay back, and listen to you explain, I have far more important places I need to be. The best thing you can do for me right now, is to get her in line, before she walks down that aisle. I don't care if you have to use a leash, it's either that, or I get it done myself." One of the guys in the group says, cutting Winter off. There's a twisted smile on his face as he speaks, and I don't like it at all.

I'm about to refute when she holds my hands, a silent signal to not utter a word. There's a quiet stare off between Winter, and the guy, making me wonder if maybe he was my fiance.

The stare off is interrupted when one of the silent guys in the group continues walking off into the cathedral, the rest follow after him almost immediately, well all except the angry looking lady.

" Sonnie or Sunner, whatever your name is, I have only four things to say to you , get yourself in line!"

She commands, stressing every single word. She pauses briefly to look at Winter, but almost immediately her eyes are back on me.

" You know better, advice her, else I will, and she wouldn't like me if I do." She concludes, but what she didn't know was that I already didn't like her, and I most definitely wouldn't end up in her bad books.

" I.. of course.. I'll do something about it" Winter stammers out before the lady follows after the just departed group.

" What was that all about? Why did you let them speak to you that way? Who do they think they are?"

" Well Summer, they are everything they think they are, they are the famous Mafia, your new family."

'Mafia', it was just one word, but it was more than enough for me to understand that I was cooked.