Emilia's POV
"I can't even pick out my dress," I complained to Bella as she brushed my hair. "In their mafia, the groom usually does it."
"I'm sorry, Em," She frowned as she looked at me in the mirror. "What did Enzo say?"
I rolled my hands into fists as the thought of my father angered me.
"He was completely fine with it. He said he had done the same thing with my mom. It's completely unfair."
"Look on the bright," she smiled. "At least you'll be in your first relationship."
I stayed quiet as the thought of that scared me.
All my life I have been mostly isolated from others.
I was homeschooled my whole life and the closest I have ever gotten to having a relationship was when I had my first kiss with one of the guards.
Of course when my father found out, he 'fired' him and I never saw him again.
"You're all ready now," Bella said as she placed the brush on the table next to us.
I watched myself in the mirror. I wore a white dress shirt with jeans.
I didn't want to dress too fancy to make it look like I tried but I also didn't want to look too casual.
This will be the first time I will be meeting him.
"What do you think he will look like?" Bella asked as she added a bit of blush to my face.
"He's from the Sicilian Mafia so probably old, bald, ugly and..." I immediately trailed off when I realized I had nothing good to say about him.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked.
I shook my head. "I can't do this."
She sighed as she hugged me. "It's going to be okay."
I pulled away from our hug. "How do you know? Everyone keeps saying that it's going to be okay when they don't know shit."
"Em-"
"He's here," mom said as she walked in. She smiled when she saw me. "You look so pretty."
I sighed as I started walking out of the room. "Let's get this over with."
I started making my way down the stairs before pausing midway.
There he stood in the middle of the living room dressed in a tailored, raven-black suit that complemented his broad shoulders.
Beneath his suit was his pristine white dress shirt which failed miserably in hiding his abs.
His hand, which had on his polished, stainless-steel wristwatch, held his phone while his other gently rested in the pocket of his pants.
My breaths got heavier as my eyes traveled to his face.
His jet-black hair was perfectly styled to frame his face and the contrast of the dark hue against his light complexion accentuated his features, more especially, highlighting the chiseled lines of his jaw and cheekbones.
I automatically held my breath when his dark eyes landed on mine.
"He looks neither ugly nor bald," Bella whispered into my ear which made me jump.
Mom glared at me. "Don't be rude Emilia, go greet him."
I cleared my throat before continuing down the stairs.
As I approached him, a pleasant aroma filled the air.
My stomach began to flutter.
Was I nervous?
When I reached about 6 feet from him, it hit me how tall he was. He couldn't have been any shorter than 6'4.
"Hello," I nervously said as I stretched out my hand.
He watched my hand for a second before slightly bowing his head to acknowledge me.
I immediately lowered my hand out of embarrassment.
I looked back at mom and Bella, who both had sympathetic looks on their face.
The front door opened to reveal papá.
Dad's eyes immediately widened. "Valentino, you're early."
He turned around to look at my father and my eyes widened when his gun briefly showed from under his jacket.
Dad walked over to us. "Emilia, this is Santo. Santo, this is Emilia."
He turned to look at me once again, this time his eyes showed a hint of anger towards me.
A few seconds of awkward silence passed before papá picked up on what was going on.
"I'll go get the papers," he said before walking off.
I looked back to see Bella and mom gone.
When I turned back to him, he was back on his phone.
"Could I get you something to drink?" I asked and he ignored me which pissed me off. "Hey, what the hell is your problem?"
He paused before looking down on me.
He then put away his phone before taking two large steps towards me which left little space between us.
My heart started beating faster as his behavior scared me.
"My problem is that I have to marry you."
His deep voice sent vibrations through my stomach which made me lose my train of thought. I immediately shook my head before glaring at him.
"It's not like I want to marry you either. I am forced to."
He scoffed before looking away he in anger. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
"Well don't," I bitterly said to him. "You can leave your guns with us and leave."
My eyes lowered to his gun which was popping out.
Without thinking, I reached to get it and he immediately grabbed my hand.
I pulled away my hand. "Don't touch me."
"If you try to grab my gun again, I will kill you. I don't care who your father is," he said with overwhelming anger in his tone.
A throat cleared and papá walked up to us.
"Valentino," he said sternly.
"Control your damn kid. She's like an untamed dog," he said before taking the paper from dad and walking out.
I glared at papá, "Are you seriously going to let me marry that asshole?"
"That 'asshole' is a great asset to us. I'm being lenient with him because I am friends with his father. He doesn't want any of this but he will thank us later."
"That still doesn't give him the right to be an asshole."
"Valentino is a good man, he is just a little angry but he will come around. He is not going to hurt you, I promise."
"I hate this," I said before walking back to my room.
I don't like him. He is rude, full of himself, and disregards everyone's feelings.
And that's only the few bad things I've noticed in the short time that I met him.
As soon as I opened the door, I was immediately greeted by Bella and mom.
I ignored them and grabbed my wipes.
I rubbed my skin so hard that it started to burn. I wanted the makeup off.
I shouldn't have even tried.
"What's wrong, Emmy?" mom asked as she and Bella walked in.
I ignored her as I continued to take off the makeup.
"Emilia Mariano, stop!" she shouted as she grabbed my hand. "You're going to bruise your face. Tell me what's wrong."
"Him!" I shouted. "He's wrong. It's already bad that I have to get married. Why do I have to marry him out of all people?"
"Emilia," mom started to say but I knew she had nothing to say that would comfort me.
I pulled my hand out of her hold and continued taking off the makeup. "I would like to be left alone."
"Emilia," mom said again before I turned to her.
"Please," I requested and she frowned.
"Let's go, Elle," Bella said.
"What can I do to make you happy? I hate seeing you like this," she asked.
My mom had a heart of gold. She'd rather be the one suffering than see anyone she loves suffer.
"Can you cancel the wedding?" I asked.
"Emilia, you know I can't," she said.
I continued to remove the makeup. "Well then, no, you can't."
Today began my lifetime of misery.