Chapter 1
Alessandro
I’vefantasizedanunusualnumber of times in my life about confining myself to my wing of the castle—building a wall brick by brick over the main door so that I can’t leave, and more importantly, no one else can enter. Most would suffer under that amount of isolation, but I know I wouldn’t. I have plenty of books and hobbies to keep my mind occupied and I’m sure I can fashion some type of pulley system from the balcony for food and supplies.
In the past, this has been simply an amusing thought. A fleeting mental escape. But now I’m genuinely considering it, seeing that I’m being forced to get married.
A hand snaps in front of my face, jolting me out of my daydream. My adoptive brother, Vincenzo, leans back in his seat in my living room with a look of contempt on his face. Truthfully, I have no idea what he was droning on and on about. Probably patting himself on the back for completing a basic task.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Did you have a stroke just now?” he asks.
The two of us bicker like a couple of old hens, but either of us would kill the other one in a heartbeat, given the opportunity.
“No. I was dissociating.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Sorry, I forgot how limited your vocabulary is. It means staring off into space. Daydreaming. A trauma response—”
“Trauma response.” He snorts. “Yeah, I suppose getting married to the granddaughter of the least influential family would cause that. But between you and me? I think you two are a perfect match, considering your… humble beginnings.”
I ignore his jab, but what he’s saying about the first part may be true—that I’m marrying into the least influential family. I mean, it’s not like we have a leaderboard for this sort of thing, but the Calabreses have to be pretty close to the bottom.
Anyway, I found myself in this situation because my sister, Elena, was supposed to marry Max Calabrese. That was her… ninth betrothal. So, obviously that’s how my family andthe Calabreses ended up with any semblance of a marriage agreement in the first place: every single betrothal involved a lesser and lesser family.
Then Max called that off to marry the love of his life.
Somehow, conversations that I was not a part of occurred, and now I’m to be married to Sofia Calabrese, his sister. She’s fourteen years younger than I am. And what I’ve learned from stalking her Instagram is that I’ll likely hate her.
But nothing personal. I hate most people.
“Is there a reason you came to talk to me, Vincenzo?” I snap.
“Father sent for me to come get you.”
Ah yes,Father. Never in my life have I called that man my father. To me, he’s the boss of this family, and the man who adopted me and made my life miserable. But to Vincenzo, Marco is a saint.
“Did he say what this was regarding?”
“The wedding.” A faint smile forms on his face at my expense.
I grit my teeth. Although maybe this will be good news. For all I know, this sham of a wedding will be called off. But I know our families are supposed to meet this evening, so I doubt they would cancel after Marco made them wait an entire week just for the hell of it.
We step out of the apartment I keep in this castle and walk down the narrow hallways towards Marco’s wing. His living quarters are on the complete opposite side from mine—a choice that I’m sure was on purpose—so I get to have a miniature tour of this historic monstrosity of a building every time. Parts of the castle are updated and modern like the main gathering hall, the kitchens, the gym and training quarters; while other areas were left mostly untouched. Once we get over to Marco’s, we walk through the main room and towards his office.
I’m greeted by the polar bear, the tiger, and other various creatures that Marco had his men kill and display in his home as furniture.
“Alessandro. Come in.” Marco’s gravelly voice greets me as I get to the doorway. He nods at Vincenzo before we each take a seat across from his desk. “A couple of things to prepare for the wedding this weekend.”
I raise my eyebrows, wanting to hurry him up and spit out whatever it is he needs to tell me.
“I scheduled an appointment with a local designer to get your tux fitted. You will bring your sister along to have a woman’s opinion.”
Seriously? I had to walk all the way over here for him to tell me that? And I’m fine with Elena coming along, but I think an up-and-coming fashion designer is more than capable of putting me in a simple suit.
“Also,” Marco clears his throat, “there’s a plan in place to kill John Sr. and Max Calabrese during the reception. After that occurs, I need you to haul the woman to your quarters and make sure she stays in the castle until we figure out what to do next.”
By ‘the woman’ I assume he means Sofia, who will certainly be distraught after her grandfather and brother’s deaths.
