Page 14 of Darkest Desire

“I know. I will make sure I’m careful. I will make sure my men are careful. I promised I would save your family and this is me keeping that end of the bargain.”

I lean into him, letting his strength seep into me. “All right. If this is our only way, we’ll do it. She can’t marry Nico. She just can’t.”

Sasha

The large church doors stare back at me as I stand outside, willing my legs to move but unable to get them to listen. My wedding dress is beautiful. My mom styled my hair in perfect pretty curls. I should feel like a princess.

But all I feel is like a prisoner.

Denis grabs my arm. “Let’s go in.”

My sisters and mom trail behind me, all in their best dresses. Denis wouldn’t stand for anything less. This is a marriage between his niece and the king of the Italian mafia. No expenses can be spared.

We enter into the front room before the church itself.

“Go on in,” Denis tells my family.

Ana opens her mouth to say something but Denis gives her a hard look, so Irina takes her hand and tugs her along.

Mom gives me another hug. She was never this open with affection when I was growing up. I guess I’ll take what I can get but it saddens me that it took to this moment for my mom to be more affectionate.

“Go, Tatiana,” Denis says in a hard voice.

She shoots him a glare. “I’m going to hug my daughter and you can’t stop me.” She makes a point of holding onto me for a long moment. Denis taps his foot but that doesn’t speed my mom up at all. She’s never given in to Denis and she won’t start now. I wish I had that kind of power. It comes from having been married to a high ranking Bratva member for so many years.

In time, I’ll become like her through my marriage to Nico. That’s the only good that will come out of this. Assuming Nico doesn’t beat me down until I’m a shell of myself.

Finally, Mom lets me go. A tear slips down her face, which is unusual for her. She’s never been one for crying. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Enough,” Denis growls. “Go.”

She finally leaves me alone with Denis, who grabs my arm again, tightening his hold slowly, like a snake does its prey.

“You’re going to cut off blood supply to my arm,” I say.

“It’s so you can’t run. You’ve done it before. I don’t trust you to not do it again. You are going to marry Nico and you will smile and you will be grateful for it.”

“You can’t just force someone into feeling how you want them to feel. That’s not how this works.”

“It does in my world. Because I can go in there and hurt either Irina or Ana and there’s nothing you can do about it. Will that get you in line?”

All the fight in me evaporates. What kind of sister am I if I let them get hurt so I can save myself?

“I’ll marry Nico,” I grumble.

“And?”

“And smile.”

“And?”

I sigh. “And be grateful.”

“Good. Now, lets go.” He pushes the doors open and I’m confronted with the large church before me with it’s many pews and stained glass windows. It’s fairly empty since we changed the wedding last minute so only my family and a few guards are here. Nico waits at the end of the aisle, looking handsome in a navy suit. I hate that he’s so good looking. This would all be so much simpler if he weren’t.

Denis quickly walks down the aisle, probably making sure this actually happens. If we take too long then who knows what could get in the way?