Alle Kapitel von The Godfather Stolen Bride: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 8

The first thing Vivian heard was a woman laughing, low and breathless, from behind the door of the church office.She had come to St. Aurelia's to meet the priest. Julian had texted her that morning: Be at the church at four, baby. Wear the blue dress. I'll join you. The wedding was tomorrow at noon. She had her checklist folded in her bag, and she was carrying her heels so they wouldn't click on the marble.The laugh came again, followed by a man's groan.She slowed. The corridor was cool and smelled of beeswax and old stone. For two years she had imagined walking down the nave of this church in her mother's veil, and she had come early today to say the vows aloud in an empty room, just once, to hear how they sounded. She had folded and refolded the paper in her bag so many times the creases had gone soft.Flower vendors, she thought. Or two people who had forgotten that churches have walls."Yes," The woman said."Just like that. You're the best I've ever had."Vivian stopped walki

The villa was warm, and everything in it looked like an invitation. Vivian noticed the other things slowly.The staff vanished from rooms before he entered them. A landscape in the front hall hung a little too flush against its wall. In a side passage, the stone floor had been scrubbed paler in one corner than the rest, and no one had tried to hide it."My name is Vincent Cross," He said on the stairs. He had waited until the foyer was empty to say it, which told her he knew what the name did to people.She did know it. It was never said in the street, only in rooms with doors. Cross was the name behind the other names."You were at the church," She said."I was there to see my godson. Julian has called me nine times since morning. He wants a loan." His eyes rested on her. "I came to say no in person. Instead, I found a woman running up the bell tower stairs with Magnus's men behind her.""He's your godson.""By christening certificate. I haven't liked him since he was fifteen."

"Marry me."He said it into the dark, in the flat voice other men used for the weather. Vivian thought she had misheard. Gray light was seeping around the edges of the curtains, and the fire had died to a red thread in the grate."What?""Marry me, Vivian." Vincent had propped himself on one elbow. She could not read his face. "Not as a favor, and not because of tonight. As a bargain. I'd like you to hear all of it before you answer."She sat up and pulled the blanket to her chest. An hour ago she had asked what he wanted from her. She had not expected the answer to come with a ring finger attached."Go on," She said."Julian and his parents took your father's company. I'll help you take it back. Every share, every signature, every board seat. I'll help you make the Marshes pay for what they did to you, and I'll do it properly, in a way they can't wriggle out of." His voice stayed even. "Then there's Magnus."The name made her stomach turn over. "He sent men for me.""He paid e

Nobody breathed.A hundred cameras hung on the silence like hooks. The only sound in the courtyard was the faint electric hum of a satellite van, and then Julian laughed, a short, cracked sound with nothing behind it."She doesn't know what she's saying."He crossed the gravel in four strides and caught Vivian's wrist. His fingers were cold and damp. "What are you saying, Viv? Have you completely lost your mind?""Let go.""You're in shock. Look at you, you're in someone else's clothes." He turned his face to the lenses, and the tears came back as if on a switch. "She hasn't slept. She doesn't know what she's saying."Vincent's hand moved at his side. Vivian saw it from the corner of her eye, and she spoke before he could use it."Julian. Let go. There are a hundred cameras, and I would hate for them to see you hurt me."His fingers opened. He had never been afraid of her before, and she watched him learn how."Miss Hale." The woman in the green coat had pushed to the foot of the