Idon't check the time.
I don't need to.
The weight of the air presses down. The church is packed, bodies filling every pew, voices low and controlled, conversations bleeding into a dull hum that never quite reaches me.
Everyone who's anyone from the five families is here. Her mother sits in the front row next to Rosa. As it turned out, they'd once had a friendship they lost—now they're making up for lost time.
Everything looks perfect. Everyone seems happy to be a part of this union. A debt, finally being paid, a bride finally being delivered. Many wanted Marco dead, but have accepted a replacement bride as collateral. They wait, watching.
None of it matters.
My focus stays locked on one place.
The door.
If she walks through it, she chose me.
If she doesn't… I don't allow the thought to finish.
I stand at the front, shoulders relaxed, hands loose at my sides, every inch of me composed in a way that's been built and refined over years. To anyone watching, I'm exactly what I've always been. Calm, controlled, and untouchable.
But beneath that stillness, every muscle is coiled tight, locked like a wire pulled to its breaking point.
For the first time in my life, the outcome of something this important isn't in my hands.
It's in hers.
Raffaele stands a few feet behind me, silent and watchful. My brothers are scattered throughout the room, blending into the crowd with the ease of men who've learned to disappear in plain sight, their presence felt even when unseen. Everything is in place. Every angle covered. Every possible threat accounted for.
Everything, except her.
A chair shifts somewhere in the crowd. A quiet cough breaks the silence, then vanishes just as quickly. The officiant glances at me, cautious, like he's unsure whether to begin or wait.
I don't look at him.
I don't look at anyone.
I keep my eyes on the door.
Because that's the only thing that matters.
Seconds stretch. Time becomes elastic, warping around each heartbeat.
Then the music begins.
Soft at first, barely a whisper of sound, then swelling to fill the space, wrapping around the room and settling into something undeniable, something inevitable.
My lungs constrict.
Because now…
There's no more waiting.
Either she's here or I'm about to find out she isn't.
The day we met in the library, the way her body went still when I stepped into her space. The way her words failed her, like even her voice understood who I was. What we were. The way her eyes kept finding me, betraying her long before she ever said a word. The way she smiled… soft, unaware… like she didn't realize she was already mine.
We were never a coincidence, Valentina.
