Until Death Do Us Part

Twenty

~Don't Blame Me~
Taylor Swift

"I once was poison ivy,
but now I'm your daisy."

I heard Tom grunting in frustration as he put our bags in a pile. I glanced out of the bathroom, finishing putting my earrings in as I did. He moved towards the floor-length mirror, struggling with his tie as his hands clenched into fists and his neck strained with annoyance.

I took in a deep breath and walked up towards him, grasping his hands in mine. "Tom," I said in a whisper. His wild eyes were looking everywhere but towards me. "Hey, look at me."

Finally, those chocolate brown eyes stared into mine. I saw the anger and hatred behind them, I could feel the fury fuming off him. He was a living reflection of how I felt on the inside, but one of us had to be calm and live with the life we had been given. "Let me help," I said in a gentle tone, beginning to tie the knot around his neck. "We need to be on our best behavior tonight. I have a feeling we're going to have a certain...foreign audience."

"I just thought we were going to have this one thing to ourselves. One thing we could control," Tom answered, his voice straining against his throat.

"We need to do this, okay? Defeating Alexi isn't for our parents, it's for us, for our future," I answered, my fingers beginning to tremble at the thought. Our future was so unknown as it was, and now it's on the line.

I watched as Tom's shoulders rose with a large inhale, then he let out that breath, and with it came out his hatred. "I meant what I said," he whispered, placing his hand against my cheek. "I won't let anyone touch my family." He leaned down, placing a soft kiss on my lips. It wasn't until that moment that I truly resented my parents for making us go to this event. I just wanted to stay here. I wanted to relax.

There was a knock on our door. Tom let out a sigh, then moved to answer it. It was Anthony. "Good evening, Mr. Holland. I'm here to retrieve your bags. They will be transported to the jet, ready for you and Mrs. Holland when you leave for Greece tonight."

"Thank you-" Tom paused, waiting for his name.

"Anthony. I work under Mr. Y/l/n," Anthony replied. Tom looked back at me for confirmation that this man could be trusted. I gave a nod of approval, wishing we were heading somewhere else, somewhere far away from everything. Anthony entered the room, getting all of our things in one trip. Man, whoever got him would be a lucky woman.

"Thank you, Anthony," Tom said. Then he looked back at me, reaching out his hand for me to take. "Are you ready, Mrs. Holland?" he asked.

I took one last look in the mirror. My red dress hugged me in all the right places and the slit gave me easy movement. It matched Tom's pocket scarf. We had to appear as a team, and with every passing minute I was believing that we didn't have to fake that.

I grabbed his hand in mine, seeing his wedding band hugging his finger. The sight reminded me just how bonded we truly were. A blush rose from my neck to my cheeks, heating my face. Tom Holland was actually my husband.

We headed down to the car and the drive to the venue was not too far, and it was relatively close to the nearest private airport. We were really going to be heading straight for Greece after this ball.

Tom let out a sigh, and he stared out the window with his fists clenching in his lap. "What's wrong?" I asked, unsure if I should reach out to comfort him or not.

"Nothing, I'm just being dramatic," he said, still not looking over to meet my eyes.

"It's our parents, isn't it?" I watched his muscles tighten under his suit jacket at the mention of them.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't born into this life- that we could have met and done things the natural way, that we didn't have to change honeymoon plans to kill a threat to us," he answered. "But then I have to remember that because of this life, I can protect you, though you don't need much protecting." He looked at me then, that familiar smirk on his lips.

"How did I not know you two weeks ago?" That was all I could say. It was all I could think.

Tom ran his thumb along my cheekbone, his eyes searching mine. I didn't know if he had found what he was looking for, but he grew closer to me, as if he couldn't bear for us to be separated. "Time is a funny thing," he whispered, and his words hovered in the space between us. It was a strange concept. Time.

The car came to a stop and we both looked out the tinted windows to see a sight that was familiar to us both, but foreign to experience together. A large museum, a red carpeted staircase, and a line of paparazzi.

Anthony rolled down the glass that separated him from us. "I will pick you up at eleven, boss," he said from the driver's seat.

"Thank you," I said, my voice trembling. I had never been nervous for these things before, but we knew our enemies were walking amongst us here. There was so much relying on this night.

Tom opened the door and the clicking of cameras and shouts from those behind them flooded around us. He got out of the car, putting out a hand for me to grasp. When he helped me out of the car, it felt as if I was moving in slow motion. The lights were blinding, even though it was dark. The rush of voices was so loud.

"Just hold on to me," Tom whispered into my ear.

I took a deep breath, and I let him lead me up the stairs, his hand resting at the small of my back. We paused for some pictures, smiling at the cameras and smiling at each other.

It was all such a blur. The only thing I could truly focus on was the fact that Tom was at my side. One of the most feared men in England, the owner and protector of the Royals, the son and heir of the Holland dynasty, was my husband. He wanted to protect me, and I wanted to protect him. We would be the most powerful family in history if we took down Raptis.

We entered through the large doors, met by our parents, Tom's brothers, and those who called themselves friends of the family, even though they knew nothing about us. What many of these people at these events cared about was that we had money, enough to spare in order to make large donations. We could even get them on the cover of a magazine or in an article if they were pictured near us. They had no idea they were standing next to assassins.

"Congratulations, my dears! Oh my, what a beautiful couple!" one woman exclaimed, smiling brightly towards us and placing her hand over ours. I watched as her eyes searched the perimeter to see if the moment had been noted.

"Thank you," I replied with as warm a tone as I could manage.

"Oh, I can't wait to see the children!" she exclaimed once more. My heart stopped and my grip tightened on Tom's arm. I didn't know what to do. We had only been married a day, and we were already getting pressed about kids?

Tom laughed it off, smiling his usual, cozy smile. He rubbed a thumb over the back of my hand. "Me too, but I'm afraid we'll both have to wait a little while," he said with a wink of his eye.

How was I going to survive the rest of this night?

~ ~ ~

I hope you all are still enjoying this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it!

Also, let me know if you've been listen to the songs that the chapters are named after, and if they've helped you set the scene for the chapter ;)

Thank you all so much for the support, and I'll catch y'all in the next one <3

~Aidan