An Arranged Marriage To The Mafia...?

Brides: They were suppose to be full of nerves, excitement and more radiant than celebrities; I was filled with a heart of dread and poked and prodded inside the perfect white gown. They were suppose to spend the morning drinking champagne and eating strawberries; I never touched the bubbling glass or the wild fruit.
They were suppose to be surrounded and pampered by their giggling bride's maids and best friends; My best friend had been burried months before and my bride's maids were Radev cousins who I hardly knew and stayed mingled together in a group across the room.

I sat alone before a vanity, dressed in nothing but a silk slip and cotton robe counting down the seconds until I walked the aisle. Aimlessly I watched my reflection, the perfect powder make-up looked flawless, dark rimmed eyes coloured in shades of deep silver, lips a smooth nude pink. Dark hair piled in a delicate, messy style, strands of pearls interwined throughout. The reflection told the story of the picturesque bride on the morning of her wedding day.

Inwardly I fought with the image before me, I grew tired and miserable staring at the same sad, sorrow glimmer in my bright eyes. Slowly I slipped my feet into a pair of small black ballet slippers, shrugged the cotton robe from my shoulders and pushed my arms through the sleeves of a long black pea coat and slipped out of the bedroom, my feet dancing down the hallways until the breath of fresh air washed over my skin.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let my eyes close, my free hand clinging to the rail of the long verandah. Inwardly I breathed deeply, the oxygen clinging to the bubbles of nerves and dread within my blood stream.

"Amelia?" The whisper of my name through the cool morning air made my body freeze, goosebumps rose along my arms and my stomach flipped and rolled.

Slowly I spun on my heel to stare at the man before me. I knew who it was the second he breathed my name, yet somewhere inside I couldn't believe it. He looked strangely different, his eyes held a dark, more sober glance, his facial hair had pushed through the pores along his chin and sideburns, his didn't wear a suit like I expected but a pair of slacks and a plain shirt.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Panic filled my voice and I quickly surveyed my surroundings to make sure nobody would see him.

"You expected me not to see you on your wedding day?"

"Actually yes. You didn't make an effort to see me before, why would you now?" My father's face fell with sadness as I told him honestly what I had been thinking since he became partners with Mason.

"Amelia please, you have to understand I couldn't just walk up to you in the light of day. They would have killed me."

"Who?"

"Mason would have seen it as treason. He already thinks I killed Benjamin and freed you from the house in Vegas."

"Why do you care so much about what he thinks? He's nothing, you had friends, you had a family-"

"He is my son! He is my family. Amelia I wish you would try to understand..."

My blood ran cold at his words, Mason was his family and suddenly I wasn't. "I do understand, perfectly well. You would rather be a father to your prescious son who, since revealling himself has ruined you life than to be a dad to me; you're daughter."

"Amelia-"

"Just go." Tears pooled in my eyes as I watched the man before me. To call him my father was unimaginable. This wasn't the man who raised me, this man was a complete stranger. No longer able to bear the sight of him I turned away, tears stinging my eyes while I looked out over the orange morning sky.

"I didn't just come to see you Amelia. I wanted to ask you to come with me." His voice was meek at my back though I said nothing. "Before you make the mistake I forced you into, come with us Amelia, we are your family-"

Instantly I spun on my heel. "You revoked the right to call me family the second you kidnapped me! How dare you come here and try to fix the wrongs you made, try to stop me from going through with something you planned with no regard to how it would effect my life. You decided this, this was your decision, it's too late to try and take it back. And as for Mason, he will never be considered my brother as long as he lives!"

"You mean to tell me you're happier here now, with the Radev's? You're fine with them using you to advantage their own lives, to benefit from all I have ever given you?"

The sounds of voices made my head snap to the right and immediate fall upon the dazzling smile of Louis, dressed in dark grey slacks and shiny shoes, a plain white dress shirt sporting a stupid black skinny tie and white silk vest. To his left walked Ethan, his dark hair messily styled to framed his face perfectly, his body tall, lean and dressed in an almost identical fashion, only around his neck a white silk tie. I watched them for a moment praying they walked without notice, though my luck was that of the Irish and Ethan made drect eye contact with me.

I froze like a rabbit in headlights, my blood pounding inside my head, my father stood around a small corner invisable to Ethan's eye. I watched as my fiance motion a single finger to Louis asking him to wait a moment, his long legs walking in my direction. My lips parted in fear and I snapped my head back toward my father.

"You have to go." I urged without reason, though he didn't question.

Instead he looked at me somberly and nodded his head, his eyes seemed wet and quietly he kissed my cheek whispering delicately in my ear, "I hope you're happy my darling Amelia. And I hope somewhere you can forgive me."

A lump the size of a tennis ball grew in my throat and tears sprang to my eyes as I watched him slowly turn and leave, his head hung low in broken desperation and heartache at the harsh words I had said. I wanted so badly to run after him, to throw my arms around him and say I was sorry, that I loved him and always would. I just couldn't.

"Amelia?" At the sound of Ethan's voice I closed my eyes, "what are you doing out here?"

I sniffed a sob and blinked my eyes a hundred times to cover up the fact I had been crying. I turned slowly and let a soft weak smile through my lips, I prayed it was enough to convince him and hold back any questions he was debating inside his head. "I just needed some air."

His eyes stared back in silent curiosity and I knew then that he didn't buy what I was saying. "Who were you talking to?" His voice wasn't demanding but soft and puzzled, silently pleading that I trusted him enough to reveal the truth.

Shakily I took a breath in, salty tears filling my vision again. "M-my father, he-"

"What?" Ethan's voice was cold and he looked over my shoulder for the figure of the old man. "He had the nerve to come here?"

"Ethan." My voice had his eye focusing on my teary greens. "Please, he didn't mean anything. He- I.. it's just." I knew I made no sense and my voice was pathetic as I pleaded to his hardened exterior.

Slowly his burning eyes became soft and subtle, caring and understanding and emotions ran wild in the icey blue colour. A small nod of understanding had my heart beat slowing and I delicately wiped loose tears from my eyes in an attempt to salvage the make-up rimming them. Ethan's arm reached out toward me, his body stepping closer and crushing my face against his chest as I sniffled softly into his lapel, my right hand clinging to the sleeve of his white shirt as my father's words roamed freely around my head.

The question of my happiness had risen once again and for the second time in twenty-four hours, I juggled with the meaning of the word. Was I happier today then I was several months ago? Would I find happiness in lonliness or in a fake marriage? Did it really take falling in love to find pure happiness? Ethan had debated that point the night before and I had believed everything he had said.

For now I knew I was happier than if I had of followed my father's indirect paths. I was happier with the Radev's than I would have been following Mason's orders. At that very second I didn't care if my father wanted to correct what he'd done, just to find himself saved from handing over every assest he promised in the contracts after I was married. I didn't care if the Radev's only wanted me as a daughter-in-law just so they could widen their hold over Vegas. At that second there was no place I felt safer than with Ethan arms holding me close and his lips pressed to my hair.