CHAPTER FIVE: A WEDDING OR BURIAL?

Sophia POV

I barely slept, because every time I closed my eyes I saw the guard collapsing onto the floor again, Gilbert calmly lowering the gun like taking a life meant absolutely nothing to him, and somehow those were now the people forcing me into marriage.

The sound of footsteps outside my door kept me awake for most of the night, guards, always guards, even the windows locked from outside, and at some point around dawn I finally stopped trying to escape, because deep down I already understood there was nowhere to run from people like the De Lucas.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts before the bedroom door opened slowly, and Vincent walked in carrying a tray of breakfast, like this was some normal morning instead of the beginning of my nightmare.

"Good morning," he said calmly.

I stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious right now?"

He placed the tray down carefully. "You should eat something."

"I'd rather die."

"That can probably be arranged," he replied smoothly, sitting down across from me, "but I don't think that's what you really want."

I hated how calm he always sounded, because nothing about this situation should have felt normal, yet Vincent acted like forced marriages happened every day.

"You people are insane."

"That opinion is becoming repetitive."

I folded my arms tightly. "Do mafia families usually force women into marriage this casually?"

"Usually?" Vincent almost smiled. "No."

That somehow made me feel worse, and rain hit softly against the windows while silence filled the room for a few seconds, before Vincent finally sighed. "Nobody wants your brother hurt, Sophia."

I looked at him sharply. "Funny. Your boss threatened to kill him last night."

"Gilbert believes fear gets results."

"And what do you believe?"

Vincent held my gaze calmly. "I believe this marriage keeps peace between families."

Families. The word almost made me laugh, because my family had already been destroyed years ago, and before I could answer him, the door opened again and Luca walked inside, and the atmosphere in the room changed immediately.

Vincent stood up smoothly. "I'll leave you two alone," and the second the door closed behind him, silence filled the room again, and Luca looked exactly the same as always, calm, cold, untouched by everything happening around him, and I hated that about him.

"You look terrible," he said finally.

I stared at him. "That's probably what happens when people are threatened into marriage."

He ignored the comment completely and poured himself a drink from the bottle near the shelf, and at this point I was convinced alcohol just ran through this family's blood.

"You really just obey everything your father says?" I asked sharply.

Luca leaned against the table without looking at me. "You think it's that simple?"

"I think you're weak."

That got his attention immediately, and his eyes finally met mine properly, cold, dangerous, unreadable, but underneath all of it, I saw irritation for the first time, and that was interesting.

"You don't know anything about this family," he said quietly.

"I know enough."

"No," he replied calmly, "you really don't."

The room fell silent again, and then I forced myself to ask the question that had been haunting me since the night before.

"If I refuse," my voice came out quieter than I intended, "will he really kill Matteo?"

Luca didn't answer immediately, and somehow that silence hurt more than words would have, and finally he looked away slightly before speaking.

"My father doesn't make empty threats."

That was it, that was the moment something inside me broke quietly, because deep down part of me had still been hoping the night before had only been intimidation, fear tactics, empty threats, but it wasn't, and these people were serious.

Luca watched me carefully while I tried forcing back tears, because I refused to cry in front of him, absolutely refused.

"You could stop this," I whispered.

"No," he said calmly, "I can't."

I looked at him in disbelief. "You're the one he wants me to marry."

"And you think that means I control anything?"

For the first time since meeting Luca, he actually sounded tired, not angry, not cold, just tired, but honestly I didn't care, because my brother's life was being used against me and Luca was still standing there acting emotionally unavailable, like this was some business deal, and I hated him for it.

A few minutes later one of the maids entered carrying the marriage papers again, and my chest tightened immediately, and nobody spoke, and the pen sat beside the papers quietly while rain kept hitting the windows outside, and this was really happening.

I thought about Matteo, about Rosa, about my father warning us to stay away from this family, and then, slowly, with shaking hands, I picked up the pen while Luca watched silently from across the room, and I signed my name, just like that, and Sophia Rossi disappeared, and Sophia De Luca was created against her will.

The wedding preparations started almost immediately afterward, people rushing in and out of the mansion all afternoon carrying dresses and flowers and jewelry and boxes while guards filled almost every hallway, and nobody asked what I wanted, and nobody cared, and I felt less like a bride and more like a hostage being prepared for display.

By evening rain was pouring heavily across Palermo again, and the ancient church looked terrifying under the stormy sky, candlelight flickering softly inside while armed men stood outside every entrance, pretending this was a normal wedding instead of mafia business.

Rosa looked close to tears the second she saw me, while Matteo still looked more confused than anything else.

"You're seriously going through with this?" he whispered while we stood near the front of the church.

I forced a small smile I didn't feel. "Apparently."

Matteo frowned. "Do you even like him?"

I almost laughed, but before I could answer, movement near the altar caught my attention, and Luca had arrived, black suit, black tie, cold expression, looking less like a groom than somebody attending a funeral, and maybe we both were.

The ceremony started quietly, the priest speaking while thunder echoed outside the church walls, and I barely heard half the words being said because anxiety kept twisting painfully inside my chest.

Then, suddenly, a gunshot exploded outside the church, and people screamed immediately, and another gunshot followed, and chaos erupted instantly, guards reaching for weapons while guests panicked and scattered in every direction, and I froze.

Glass shattered somewhere behind me.

Then Luca grabbed me hard and pulled me down against him just as another bullet slammed into the wall above where my head had been seconds earlier, and my heart stopped, and for one shocked moment neither of us moved.

Then somebody screamed from near the church entrance.

"They're inside the church!"