Peachy YoYo
In the Cesare family, every bride's wedding gown had to be handmade by an elder.
Tradition held that the more elaborate the gown, the happier the marriage would be.
My twin sister and I were getting married on the same day.
At the fitting, Cersei's gown was breathtaking. Tens of thousands of crystals and diamonds covered its sweeping train.
Mom had spent more than six months weaving the delicate lace for her veil by hand.
"Cersei, my darling, you look so beautiful!"
Mom gazed at her, her eyes filling with tears.
"When you walk down the aisle to Antonio in that gown, every guest will be speechless!"
Then I looked at mine.
The seams were sloppy, the fabric was wrinkled, and there was not a single decoration on it.
Worse, it had been stitched together from scraps left over from Cersei's gown.
"Mom, Dad, is this my wedding gown?"
Dad immediately shot me an annoyed look.
"Is there a problem? Your sister is marrying the son of the Di Lauro family's capo. If her gown isn't lavish enough, both families will be humiliated! That bookish nobody you're marrying is just some low-level lackey who opens car doors for his boss. When we met him, he even tried to make himself sound impressive by claiming he owned a startup!"
Mom made no effort to hide her contempt.
"If you wore anything fancier to marry a man like that, his family would think you were showing off."
Cersei quickly chimed in with a smug smile. "Exactly, Lilith. Mom and Dad are only looking out for you. Don't be ungrateful!"
"Bookish nobody?"
I almost laughed.
Raphael was the Don's chosen successor.
He simply kept a low profile and never flaunted his position.
To outsiders, he described himself only as a businessman.
So where had this nonsense about him being some employee who opened car doors come from?
"Sorry, Lilith. I happened to see Raphael opening a car door for someone, so I told Mom and Dad what I saw. You don't mind, do you?"
Cersei sounded apologetic, but the mockery in her eyes said otherwise.
I shook my head