Mafia Wife (Mafia Series Book #2)

Part 11

Today was the day.

The wedding day.

Their second wedding.

First - as far as everyone else was concerned.

Gabriella was staring at her reflection in the mirror, her insides twisted, her stomach heavy. The hairdresser was pulling at her hair - a little too much - as she was finishing up her hairstyle. Her mother was the only one in the room with her.

For now.

She had managed to convince her grandmother's family to give her a little mother-daughter time. She wasn't ready for the snakes to come around her mother. She knew she would not be able to avoid it all day but - she'd push that moment back for as long as possible.

There was also another chit-chat that had been avoided.

Not by her own choice.

Niccolo.

Ever since the night he had returned completely wasted, they had barely interacted. She had seen him in passing in a hallway, a gust of wind in the kitchen... but never long enough to talk to him.

Sure. The sex had been... unusual compared to their previous sex-capades... but she could have brushed it off. She could have. Now though? Why in the fuck was he avoiding her? She tried to tell herself it had nothing to do with that night but...

The timing was conspicuous.

At the very least, he wouldn't be able to avoid her later. Unless he planned on ditching her at the altar. Which she doubted. Then again, it was not as though they could have a full, honest conversation in front of her family.

It was mostly them.

She didn't invite friends - not even Katie. She didn't want to explain this mess.

Sure, one day, she would have to do it.

Especially since she was no longer attending school... there would be a lot of explaining to do but... she had enough to deal with for now. Later. Future Gabriella could deal with all this bullshit.

To think that her life had been so different not long ago... curiosity did kill the cat. Fuck.

"You alright sweetie?"

Gabriella pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yeah."

"If you don't wanna do this..."

"No, no. I do."

She already did.

Gabriella was long passed the point of doing what she wanted to do. Now everything was about surviving. Trust no one, evaluate everything and keep secrets. That was her whole damn life.

Her mother smiled, but it was easy to spot the sadness hidden beneath the gesture. "Alright then."

She wanted to pour her heart out to her mother. She wanted to tell her everything and yet she couldn't. Gabriella could barely handle all of it. She couldn't put that on her mother and she didn't want her to live with that knowledge. She'd be scared all the time and she would likely put herself in danger to help Gabriella.

This wasn't her mother's mess. It was hers.

It was her burden to carry and she wouldn't let this life poison anyone else.

She had tried to keep her brother out of it, but he had heard about it and tagged along regardless. He had told her he would seek out Niccolo, whom he still viewed as a role model, and she could only pray that Niccolo avoiding her didn't mean he would leave her little brother to fend for himself.