Page 36

Valentina

My heart pounds in my skull so hard, I fear my eyes will pop out if it doesn’t calm down, but Camilla refuses to take the heavy bundle of flowers back, ratcheting my panic higher.

I did not just catch her bridal bouquet while Mario Luciano, the man my father once trusted above all others, sits in the pew beside me with his hand on my thigh and the muzzle of his handgun digging into my side through his coat.

He was my childhood crush ten years ago, but then he betrayed my father and abandoned me to a fate worse than death.

Now he’s back again, and I don’t know what he wants.

He squeezes my thigh before releasing my leg to push my arms down so the bouquet rests in my lap. I swallow my disappointment as Camilla continues down the aisle with her stepdaughter in her arms.

She looks so happy. So does her stepdaughter.

Why can’t I have one person who loves me like that?

I push my despair down deep in my chest and wring the stem of the bouquet in my hands. The bundle is so big it sticks out into the aisle and covers half of Mario’s lap.

Which hides his hand as he slips it higher up my thigh. I jump and scowl at him despite the gun pressed against my side as he brushes his pinky over my pussy.

When he leans down to place his lips near my ear, his weight nearly crushes me. He’s too big. Too powerful. Too conniving.

I can’t make a scene here and he knows it. My father would kill me.

“I warned you fate was on my side, paperotta . Now open your legs and let me touch my future wife,” he whispers in my ear.

Heat flashes through me. My insides clench. His warm cologne and gravelly voice fill me with yearning.

I once dreamed of having him as my safe place.

Not anymore.

I lift my chin and meet his devilishly handsome green eyes with a glare of my own.

“I’ll never be yours, traitor. Get your hand off me,” I hiss.

His smirk steals the pew from under me.

I’m so fucking screwed.

Continue reading Stolen Vows (Vicious Mafia Kings Book 6) .