Semua Bab Bound To The Devil Heirs (The Marcelli Bloodline Series): Bab 1 - Bab 4

Talia I'd always dreamt of my wedding day. It wouldn't be something extravagant. Just a quiet ceremony by the beach, barefoot in the sand with a handful of people I loved. Nothing like the charade I was being forced into now. “You look beautiful,” Mother whispered. Her hands trembled slightly as she clasped the last piece of jewelry around my neck. I didn’t feel beautiful. The dress was too tight, made to hug Valentina’s slender frame, one she’d maintained with a strict diet. Each breath pressed against the boning of the corset until it felt like my lungs were being squeezed shut. She fussed over the lace, as if her nervous energy could fix what was wrong. As if tucking me into this gown could disguise that I was the wrong Russo bride. In the mirror, I looked like a ghost. A pale, hollow-eyed parody of Valentina. Mother had darkened my hair with a temporary rinse and combed curls into it until my scalp throbbed, but I could still smell the chemical under the perfume sprayed to mask

Talia My feet stopped working. Mother nudged me forward, but they still wouldn’t move, because I knew, without a shred of doubt, that our lives were about to be ruined in a matter of minutes. “C’mon now, we don’t bite.” The voice came from the end of the long table, sounding far too amused for the tension strangling the room. The man who said it wore an easy grin, his dark hair brushed back carelessly. Beside him sat another man with the same face, only his mouth was a hard, straight line. Next to them was a woman, maybe my age or older, with sharp blue eyes that scrutinized me from head to toe. I refused to look at the man by her side, even though I could feel his gaze burning through my skin. The world had to be playing some sort of cruel twisted joke. Father cleared his throat, turning to fix me a warning look. “We’ve been waiting for you, Valentina.” Swallowing the bile in my throat, I kept my head bowed, and forced my feet into action, slipping into the empty seat beside