All Chapters of The Mafia's Forced Bride : Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 2TITLE: MYSTERY BLACK BOX HARLEY “The sole property and lawful wife of the lender.”Those ten words had haunted my darkness, stripping away every second of sleep.I sat at the dining table, staring blindly into a lukewarm mug of black coffee. The heavy, dark circles under my eyes were raw proof of a night spent weeping into my pillow until my throat was dry and my heart throbbed behind my ribs. The morning air in the house felt thick, heavy with an agonizing silence a far cry from the cheerful chatter and clinking cutlery that usually filled our breakfasts.I had zero appetite. I picked at a piece of dry toast, utterly incapable of swallowing a single bite, and I certainly didn't have the stomach to look up and meet the guilty, bloodshot eyes of my parents sitting across from me.An hour later, I was on campus, moving through the crowded hallways like a ghost. I forced myself to sit through two back-to-back lectures, but my brain was completely detached. Professors spoke, c

CHAPTER 4:TITLE:RUN AWAY BRIDE HARLEYI paced back and forth across my bedroom floor, the soles of my feet burning against the hardwood.On the bed lay my open suitcase, half-packed, alongside my blue passport and the printed plane tickets to Orlando that Lesley had booked for me under a false name. Orlando. Where my grandparents lived. It was far away, isolated, and completely detached from the rotting underworld of this city.“I spent a whole week planning this,” I muttered under my breath, my voice trembling as I rubbed my cold hands together. “A whole week. It can’t flop. It can’t.”My twenty-first birthday,my supposed wedding day, was tomorrow. This was my last window of escape.I should have felt relieved. I should have felt a surge of adrenaline and joy at the thought of breaking free from the dark shadow looming over my family. But instead, a bitter, nauseating weight settled deep in my stomach. I felt sick. Sick with guilt for abandoning my parents, and terrified that my es

CHAPTER 6SURPRISE, SURPRISEHARLEYI sat alone in the back seat of the black Escalade, the red leather cool against my skin despite the heat rising in my chest. Tears pooled hot and heavy in my eyes, threatening to spill at any second.I turned toward the tinted glass and stared out at the cathedral steps. My mother stood there, her face blotchy and swollen from weeping. Beside her, my father spoke in low tones with Don,a conversation I couldn't hear through the heavy doors.A few minutes later, the door clicked open. The man I had just said "I do" slid into the seat beside me, and his cologne, cedarwood, slate, and dark tobacco filled the cabin instantly.I kept my gaze locked on the window, avoiding his eyes, though I could feel them on me, piercing and grey, studying me the way a hawk studies its prey.Slowly, he raised his hand and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear."You do not know how long I have waited for this day, princess," he murmured. His voice was calm, firm, and