Chapter 31 - Angela

"This one!" I declared from atop the pedestal as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

"Are you sure? You only get married once, and we still have several stores to check out," Melissa reminded me, but I was decided. "I'm sure my brother will go crazy when he sees you in that dress."

"You said that about every dress I tried on."

"But it's the truth. Marco only has eyes for you—no matter what you're doing or who's around, he doesn't look away from you," she sighed as she finished adjusting my veil. "I've never seen him like this before."

"I wouldn't count on that. I heard he had another woman who drove him just as crazy as I do," I muttered low enough that she wouldn't hear and turned once more to check out the dress completely.

I knew it was silly to keep thinking about what Frank had said. After all, Marco had a past before me, and with it, a long list of women. If I really cared about that, I wouldn't be able to live.

But the idea of him having had a woman he cared about enough to worry over her...

"It had been a long time since I'd seen him so happy and crazy about a girl at the same time." Frank's words kept repeating in my mind, even with things going well between us. We were planning the fastest wedding in history, or we'd end up setting that house on fire every time we touched.

Plus, a week had passed since the attack. Marco and Mendoza had announced the union, and now everyone wanted to ally with them.

"The wedding is in two days. If you have any doubts, why not ask my brother for more time?" Melissa said, pulling me from my thoughts and bringing me back to the present.

"I don't have doubts, and I don't want more time to think. I just..." I sighed, letting my shoulders slump as I sat on the pedestal. "Your brother has a past before me, if you get what I mean. I can't understand how I'll measure up to all that. Do you understand?"

"You're insecure because Marco has a lot of experience and you have none. Is that it?" She went straight to the point, and I shook my head in agreement. "Look, I was insecure at first, but the truth is, they're chauvinists and love the fact that we've never been with anyone else."

"That's not enough. My mother always said men get bored easily, and even if your brother doesn't seem bored, I don't know how I'll be able to keep his interest."

"Marriage in our family is different, dear. We've always seen it as a safe harbor, a place to shelter in the storm. It's about friendship and companionship," she described, surprising me. "Marco always said he'd never find a woman worthy of that. He used to say he'd marry for the good of the mafia but never find a woman to be his true companion."

My shoulders slumped, and I felt my hopes fade, making me feel even worse.

"So that's why he's getting married—for the good of the mafia. I should have imagined that. I don't know why I thought otherwise," I murmured low, but Mel grabbed my hand tightly.

"Because you should think otherwise. Ever since he laid eyes on you, Marco has been obsessed, and when he found out about your engagement to Filippo, he went mad. He wanted you at any cost, and not just to hurt your father. If that were the case, he would have slept with you already and found a way to use it against your father a long time ago."

"You really think that? You think he believes I'm worthy to be his companion, and that's why he says I'll be the She-Devil of the Camorra by his side?" I questioned her, but I didn't believe it. "I have serious doubts about that. I don't know how I could become as ruthless and bloodthirsty as him."

"But you killed a man without batting an eye and even confronted your father about it, didn't you?"

I swallowed hard at her words. Mel wasn't lying, but I felt his death and was having nightmares about his wide eyes staring at me. The man might not have been worth anything and had planned to kill me along with the others, but I still felt a bit of guilt for shooting without thinking.

"It's not quite like that..."

"If you have doubts about why my brother calls you the She-Devil and gives you a seat at the table, maybe you should tell him that."

Mel didn't know, but Marco believed there was a side of me I didn't let show—a dark and wild side, just like his.

If I was already afraid of disappointing him in bed and boring him, now I had another part of our marriage to worry about. He believed I was the perfect companion to rule by his side, but what if I wasn't capable of that?

I was doing well in his shooting lessons, and with each day of training, I improved a little, but I still had a long way to go to become good at subduing someone.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with that on my mind, and when we got back to the mansion, I ran to his office. Marco wasn't staying out as long anymore, and I was grateful for that—it gave me more time to get to know him up close.

I opened the door hurriedly, wanting to talk to him and see if I could get the doubt off my chest. But I came face-to-face with Nero and Frank, all very serious, staring at my fiancé.

"What happened? Why do you all have those faces?" I entered further into the office, going to Marco's desk and facing him eye to eye. "What the hell happened?"

"It's your father, Angela. He's alive!"

"How... How is that possible? We saw the car overturned; there's no way he survived that!" I asserted, remembering everything that happened that day.

"We didn't see the explosion. We don't know if he managed to escape in time," he stood up and walked over to where I was, pacing back and forth. "But that doesn't really matter. All that interests us is that he's alive and determined to kill us."

He held my hands, and only then did I realize I was trembling. A simple piece of news had left me like this. How could I be his wife like that? How could I manage to be ruthless and without empathy?

"We'll leave you two alone," I heard Frank say, and I saw him pull Nero out of the office, leaving us alone.

My heart was pounding wildly, just like my thoughts flying to all the possibilities, everything that could happen now, and none of them were good.

"What do you want to do now? Are you going to... cancel the wedding?" I stammered the question, afraid of what he would say, because even though I didn't think I was worthy of him, I also didn't want Marco to give up on marrying me—not after I'd fallen in love with him.

"Cancel? Have you lost your mind? Your father being alive doesn't change our plan at all; it just affects mafia business. In two days, you'll be Mrs. Falcone, and nothing or no one will change that!"

"Are you sure about that? Don't you want more time to analyze if I'm worthy of you? Because we both know how complicated divorces are in the mafia, and..."

"Divorce? What are you talking about? We haven't even gotten married, and you're already considering a divorce?" He interrupted me as he sat on the leather sofa and pulled me onto his lap. "If you're worthy of me? What the hell has Melissa been putting in that head of yours?"

I stared into the brown eyes that scrutinized my face meticulously, as if waiting to find all the answers there.

"Mel didn't put anything there. It's me thinking if I'm worthy of you or if I'll bore you in the first month of marriage. After all, you had a woman in your life who affected you just like I do, and in the end, she's not here, is she?"

A deep crease formed between his eyebrows, and Marco pulled back a little from me, staring at me harshly.

"What the hell are you talking about? Who told you there was a woman in my life?"