Chpater 7

Anastasia’s pov:

Me spending the next week preparing for my engagement party?, Hell no, Instead of doing it myself, I just hired myself an assistant, I told her all what she needed to do, I am sure that she handled it better than I would, I can’t imagine myself suck choosing the color of flowers or the flavor of the cake, I am not that type of girl,

“Miss Anastasia do you hear me, You really need to wake up.”, Maria the assistant I hired a week ago shouts from the other side of my room door,

I take a quick glance at the screen of my phone on my nightstand, It is 7 AM, Isn’t it early to start the preparations for tonight?, Reluctantly, I get out of the bed, put my night gown and I open the door for her, Her block note in hand and holding her phone with other one, Marta says: “Morning Miss Anastasia.”,

“Buenos dias, Marta, So, what do we have for today?”, I question, “Our schedule is pretty …,I organized everything well, We will get you ready for tonight in time, You will look as beautiful as ever.”,

I enter the room and she follows my steps, That’s when her phone rings, While she answers it, I make my way to the bathroom to do my morning skincare, Once I get out of the bathroom, I find my breakfast already waiting for me, A whole beauty team is standing by the door of my room waiting for me to start their job,

When Marta asked me, two days ago, about if I wanted that professionals do my makeup and hair at I home, I thought that she meant only a hair stylist and a makeup artist, not a whole team of a beauty salon invading my room, God why did I agree to such a thing?,

If I didn’t need to put a show for the whole family to make them believe that this is a real marriage, I would never -ever- go through all this torture, We start with a facial massage followed by a pedicure and manicure, Then, I am seated in front of my hair dresser for the hairstylist to do my hair, I opt for a simple low bun, The next step, and hopefully the last one, is makeup,

After several hours, all the team finally leaves, It is, now, 4 PM and thirty minutes, The party starts after half an hour, I rush to my walk-in closet, Where my gown la pièce de resistance is hung up waiting for me, It had been delivered yesterday morning to the house, The only thing I did myself concerning the engagement party was choosing my outfit for tonight,

I went for black sparkly gown and for jeweler I chose a simple necklace, Emerald, just like the color of my mother’s eyes, that hugged perfectly my neck, I slide into my valentino high heels and I put my favorite perfume,

The small blue box on my hair dresser catches my eye, I reach for it and open it, The jewelry inside of it shines under the light of the room, It’s my mom’s sapphire ring, Dad offered it to her years ago on their first anniversary, I retrieve it and slide it on my index, I stare at it for just few moments, I just wish she could be here for me, See me sacrifice few years of my life by marrying Dante to take revenge for her, Would she have been proud of me?,

I check the time on my phone which I left on night stand, It is already 5PM,

I hear a knock on the door: “Hija are you there?”, My dad asks from behind the door, He must be here to pick me up,

“Sì, Estoy aqui, I am coming.”, (Yes, I am here, Spanish),

I reach for the door and open it, He is ready wearing a black suit, He takes a look at me,

“Estas muy hermosa preciosa.”, He puts a kiss on my cheek, (You look so beautiful precious, Spanish),

“Gracias Papa.”,

He take my hands and covers it with both his hands, “Ana are you sure that you want to do this?, I feel that I am risking a lot by sending you there alone, You – You are my little girl, my world, my last memory from Elizabeth, “, At the mention of the name of my dead mother his voice cracks, both his hands that hold mine start shaking, “Am I a bad father for letting you go, for handing you to the enemy, for sending you into a mission in a foreign country?, Your mother must be upset.”,

I can’t control my feelings as a small tear rolls down my cheek, I immediately wipe it,

With a shaky voice, I say: » Papa, trust me you are the best father I could ever ask for, I already made my choice, I am doing this for my mother, I am the one who made the plan to take down Dante, His family will pay for everything they did to us.”,

I manage to put a simple smile on my face and then I hug him, like a five-year-old daughter would hug her daddy,

“Guests are starting to arrive, Dante will be here any minute, Let’s not make them wait.”, He offers me his arms, I slide mine around it and we make our way to the ball room where the reception will be held,

Dante’s pov:

For this visit to Spain, I choose to stay at the Ritz hotel, I bring with me a dozen of my men, As it is said; better be safe than sorry, Even if I am marrying Antonio’s daughter, I am still considered on the enemy’s ground,

I never have fully trusted anyone in this life except for Greta, my sister Antoinette and Novio my cousin who is currently annoying me,

“Come on dear cous, we don’t have the entire night.”,

“Wait a damn minute you piece of shit.”, I say irritated,

I check my phone for any missed calls from one of my men while I was showering, but I only find a dozens of messages from Antoinette telling me to hurry up because she has been ready for almost an hour,

When she heard about my marriage news, she was thrilled, She was so excited to meet my future wife, For days, she didn’t stop talking about the things she will be doing with Anastasia,

I put on my Rolex watch and make my way toward the salon of my suit where Nevio waiting for me while playing on his phone, When notices my presence, Novio switches his gaze from his phone screen to me, He looks at me from head to toe and he says: “You cleaned up nice for your soon to be wife.”,

“Just shut the fuck up, Don’t make me regret bringing you here with me.”,

“Yeah right, As if you have anyone else to replace me.”, This bastard enjoys messing with me, “When will you ask me to be your best man?, I am still waiting you know.”, Not giving him an answer, I just send him a glare,

“Come on cous, Can’t you be less serious even for day.”,

Nevio is the only member of my family, apart from my sister, who has proved himself worthy my trust, He didn’t try to get my throne when I took over my father just like the rest of the family did, Instead, he stood by my side and helped establish my rein in all Italy and get my men to follow my lead,

“Come on let’s go.”, I say as we get out of the suite,

We meet Antoinette at the reception of the hotel and we head to the Perez’s mansion,

Once there, we make our way to the ball’s room, As we step in, suddenly, everyone stops talking and all the attention turns to us, Every pair of eyes is looking at us,

“I feel like a fucking Hollywood actor.”, Nevio says, It takes me a lot of self-control not to kick him in the arm in front of all these guests,

Ignoring all the stares, we make further steps into the room, There is a lot of people here, While I only brought with me two persons, the whole Perez family in gathered here, I didn’t bother inviting my uncles and aunts, Their attendance on the wedding will be sufficient, I informed Antonio that I didn’t want photographers to be present neither on during the enjoyment party neither on the wedding day, I told him will arrange a press conference after as the wedding day to clarify everything for the media and for the public eye,

Although the huge number of persons occupying the ballroom, my eyes set on a specific brunette dressed in a black shiny gown that hugs her body like a second skin, She catches me looking at her, Her eyes meet mine sending flames to my direction,

My eyes dart to the man standing next to her, I immediately recognize him, Matteo, the one who accompanied her to Mexico, They are standing too close to each other that only few inches separate their bodies, My blood runs so slow in my veins, How dare he be that close to her when she is promised to me?, Every fucking person in this room knows she is mine, not his, and I don’t like my things to be touched by other persons, I make a mental note to remind him of his boundaries later,

After checking us for a few seconds, that felt like an eternity, all the guests resume their conversations again, Anastasia joins her father and I make my way towards them,

“We were just waiting for you Dante.”, Antonio says,

“Let me introduce you, This Novio my cousin and this is Antoinette, my younger sister, Nevio, Antoinette, these are Mr, Perez and Anastasia his daughter.”,

Anastasia offers both of them a simple smile, She shakes hands with Nevio, Then, she extends her hands to my sister, As soon as they hand touch, in a split second, Antoinette surprisingly tugs brutally Anastasia to her, She turns her around so that she has her back to her while keeping her arm around her chest, Looking at this scene Novio giggles beside me,

Unexpectedly, Anastasia kicks Antoinette’s legs unsteadying her, Smart move, She takes advantage of the situation and switches positions with my sister, Placing herself behind behind her, she forces both Antoinette’s hands behind her back blocking her movement,

A lock of my sister’s hair fall on her eye, Anastasia brushes it away for her and tucks it behind her ears, “Thanks honey.”, Antoinette says out of breath,

“Was it a test?, Did I pass.”, Anastasia asks, “Yeah, You pass with an A plus grade.”, Antoinette chuckles,

She opens her hands wide to hug my soon-to-be wife:” Now, I can say welcome to the family.”, Then, she takes Anastasia’s hand and spins her around, “I think Dante forget to mention that you are so bellicima.”, (beautiful, Italian),

“I have been telling this one to marry for years now, I thought I would never see this day.”, I send her a glare, In return, she sends me the you know I am right look,

The two ladies engage in a conversation and get away from the rest of us, Antoinette says something that makes Anastasia laughs, The two of them seem to hit it off immediately,

Antonio coughs reminding me of his existence, Novio has already excused himself and went to the bar, He is probably now flirting with one of the attendees and I am here stuck with Antonio, “So how is it going with the Russians?”, He asks,

“They threatened with a war twice but I don’t think Ezra is ready for one, I heard his son is giving him a hell of time.”,

I give him a vague information, I don’t trust him enough to talk to him about my problems with them,

“Yeah so I heard, Since two months, they don’t want to give us arms anymore and they prohibited us from trafficking drugs through their territory.”,

I keep silent so he continues:” Now, that we are at peace, I don’t think that will cause a problem for either of us.”,

Actually, I disagree with him, The Russians will now see us as a threat for them more than ever before, Plus, they are one of the most powerful mafias in the world, They will certainly not think twice before trying to make a move on one of us, If not both of us,

As the server passes he gets from the plate two cups of bourbon, He hands me one and says:” Lets drink to this new alliance.”,

I talk further business with him, then I excuse myself, I exit the ball room leaving the loud crowd behind me and head to the garden, I just need some time alone,

I reach for my suit pocket and grab my cigarettes box, I lit one and bring it to my mouth, I inhale deeply, Now, I feel much better,

“That’s a nasty habit, you know.”, A voice behind me says, I turn around to see Anastasia, Her eyes flash in the darkness of the garden, She is standing a few feet away from me,

“What are you doing here?”, I ask after I inhale my cigarette, “This is my home if you forgot?, You are in my garden.”, She crosses her arms,

I throw the cigarette on the ground and crash it with the bottom of my shoe, I put my hands on my pockets and take a step in her direction, There is a slight height difference between us, I like it how she has to lift her head to look at me straight on the eyes,

“May I remind you this will no longer be your home after three weeks?, Your new one will be in Sicily.”,

“This will always remain my home no matter what happens or where I am, The one at Sicily will barely be home.”, Home?, House?, Is there a difference between them because it seems like there is?, Even if there is I don’t seem to get it,

I reach for the pocket inside my suit and pull out a black box, I open it and get the diamond ring out of it, Her eyes widen at the sight of it,

I chose it myself, When the jeweler showed it to me, I knew I had to take it, Its red stone reminded me of the red lipstick she wore at our first meeting, The ring was a pure description of her personality, Boldness, fierce, strength, All of them in just one woman,

I don’t bother with words, I reach for her hand and slide the ring on her finger, It fits perfectly in her finger like it was made for her, She looks at her hand with eyes wide open,

“Look at me.”, I say, as an order, not as a request, “From this moment never get this out of your finger.”, “How romantic!”, She says sarcastically bringing both her joint hands to her chest,

She turns around to go, But, I stop her and I hold her upper arm, She freezes right the moment, She looks down where I place my hand, My fingers are touching her bare flesh,

“Also, never go near that man again, The one named Matteo.”,

“Pardon.”, She says in French,

She takes one step in my direction closing all the space left between us, Our faces are just few inches apart, Our noses barely touching,

“First, he is my friend, Second, you have no right to tell me who the hell I talk to.”, “I am your fiancé I have all the rights to, And I will soon be your husband.”, I say coldly, She looks at me straight in the eyes and she adds:” Let me tell you, I am not like any other woman, You don’t own me and you don’t give me orders, I am your equal, your partner, your ally, Hope you understand this because I am not repeating my words ever again.”,

And with that she turns, This time I don’t stop her, She leaves me standing in the middle of the garden with a smirk on my face,

I have a feeling that I am going to enjoy pushing her buttons,