She is now my wife

AVA’S POV

If I had thought my Dad was on drugs the day he spoke about giving me to the De Luca family in exchange for the debt he owes them, I was certainly and most definitely joking.

Because it’s been three days since then and all of a sudden, I found myself seated in front of the mirror, getting dolled up by a makeup artist while a stylist styled my hair.

Turns out my husband, whom I would be getting married to, in two hours, was the huge man who shook my dad to the core at the party the other day.

Yes. Dad is extremely afraid of him, yet, he wasn’t afraid to give his daughter away as a bride to the man he feared.

“You look so beautiful, Miss.” the makeup artist straightened up, after about an hour of dolling me up, a smile on her face.

I flashed her one of my numerous fake smiles. One that never gets to my eyes.

My eyes dragged to the dressing mirror and I looked nothing like beautiful, if anything, I felt used, dirty and sad.

I’ve always dreamt of walking down the aisle with my dad by my side as I get married to the man of my dreams, but all those were distant illusions now.

I was sure as hell my Dad wouldn’t accompany me down the aisle because he is afraid of Vincenzo.

……..

After the argument we had in his office, I stormed out fuming and a day after, a marriage proposal, more like a reply came from the Bratva. 

He agreed to accept me into his family by getting one of his sons married to me.

I prayed desperately it shouldn’t be Vincenzo, but Dad broke the news to me a few hours after the Bratva’s reply that my husband would be Vincenzo.

The man who caused icy coldness teased over my skin and fear crawled up my throat.

Out of anger, I grabbed my laptop and began to hack my way into the firewall of his new security company as a revenge.

If I was going to marry him, I should at least get my revenge. 

Coming to think of it, he didn’t hit me or anything, but I felt the need to torture him a bit for accepting me as his wife.

He should have declined like his brothers did.

“Shit! This is not easy!” I chewed on my lower lips as I kept typing fast against my keyboard, breaking through his company’s firewall.

There were a series of codes which were extremely hard for an outsider to break through, but I was able to break through by a narrow escape.

It was going to take three days to break in completely, which meant I would be able to hack through the firewall of his company on our wedding day.

That sounded more like a wedding gift to me. Interesting………

“Omg, Ava…” Lily pushed the door open, her eyes widened in shock and her lips parted. “You look so beautiful!”

I turned to face my cousin and tears welled up in my eyes.

I had my whole life ahead of me. 

Ballerina was my dream but all because of my Dad and his greedy agenda, my life was crashing right in front of my eyes, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do.

“Thank you.” I smiled, pushing back the tears welling up in the corners of my eyes.

“I’m sure Vincenzo won’t be able to take his eyes off you.” She muttered, stifling a giggle.

The thought of walking down the aisle to meet my new husband, Vincenzo Salvator De Luca, made me shiver as I clambered to my feet.

Lily held my arms in hers as she led me down the hallway leading to the hall where the wedding was taking place.

As the huge entrance door was pushed open, my eyes fell on the unfamiliar faces seating the crowd.

Lily walked me down the aisle instead and I was more than grateful for her support.

If only my mother was alive, would she have let Dad get me married in exchange for the debt he owes the Bratva?

The question lingered on my mind as I took slow, practiced steps towards the altar where Vincenzo stood in a well tailored suit, his hair in a slick back style.

Tattoos in Russian language stamped all over his knuckles and with every move he made while standing, his biceps fought against the suit.

Our eyes met as I stood before him, staring at his empty eyes which were as soulless as they could ever be.

No matter how cold and emotionally detached one could be, there should be a flicker of emotions at least once, except that didn’t apply to Vincenzo, my soon to be husband.

The priest officiated our marriage and in a matter of minutes, he was sliding a ring down my finger and I, a ring down his finger.

And just like that, I was married.

To a handsome devil. 

A soulless being. 

A soon-to-be Bratva.

…………..

The after-party of our wedding commenced and there was jubilation everywhere, except, I, the bride felt nothing but emptiness.

I stood beside Vincenzo who didn’t utter a word to me, watching as the guests moved around, smiling, eating and clicking their wine glasses.

“Ava,” My dad called, moving towards our direction, his shoulder tensed at the presence of Vincenzo but he tried to conceal it.

“Dad.” I forced a smile, clutching my evening gown around my hands.

“I will need you to greet some of my business partners. Come with me.” He reached forward to grab my wrist but I took a step back, away from his reaching hand.

“I’m now married, Papa. I can’t keep greeting your business partners. I have no relationship with them.”

Maybe it was high time to let him know.

I was damn tired of socializing and I would appreciate it if he stopped dragging me to socialize with people I know nothing about.

His nostril flared in anger and he grabbed my wrist, his hold tight, causing a small whimper to leave my lips. “Papa, you’re hurting me.”

“Come with me now! It won’t take long!”

All of a sudden and out of my peripheral vision, a huge body pushed from behind me, grabbing my Dad’s wrist, twisting it around until he let out a small shriek and let go of my wrist.

Vincenzo looked around, making sure no one was watching before whispering down the ear of my Papa. “My wife is tired of socializing, Old man. Let her be.”

My lips parted in shock. Out of everything, I never expected him to stand up against my papa on my behalf.

“She’s my daughter!” Papa gritted, his eyes red with anger and his face turned purple out of pain.

Vincenzo hadn’t let go of his wrist, if anything, he was tugging and twisting it even more. 

“Well, fuck you, Walter. She is now my wife.”