The Don's Counterfeit Wife

CHAPTER TWO

Leora's POV

“Leora, open this door, now!” My mother was banging her fist against the door of my bathroom. “Your father wants to see you in his study at the moment, and throwing tantrums will only worsen it!!”

I stayed on the floor a little longer to let the bile settle in my stomach before I flushed the toilet and rinsed my mouth with shaking hands. I splashed some water on my face just to look refreshed, but I was certain no one was going to buy it.

“I'm coming, Ma.” I called out shakily before moving to unlock the door, knowing that this could be the day they broke the news to me.

My mother was standing in front of me with an expressionless look on her face. She turned on her heels out of the door, expecting me to follow behind her. I did. We both reached my father's study, and he was sitting behind his dark oak desk with his lips pressed into a thin line. His laptop was open on the table, and by the time I got closer to him, he turned the laptop to face me.

“You know, don't you?” His voice was hard and his eyes cold as he gestured to the screen. It was security footage of me from three weeks ago, standing in the hallway and listening to their conversation.

If the evidence wasn't this glaring, I would have denied overhearing with my entire existence, so I nodded in response.

“Good. That means I don't have much to say again when it comes to the matter on the ground.” He closed the laptop carefully. “The wedding will be in three days' time, and you will be meeting your husband tomorrow. I hope you know how to act like your sister.”

“Father…” I tried to speak, but the rage on his face when I called him told me how much he was disgusted by having me call him that, but I didn't care as I pushed on. “There… there was something you said about being clean.” I let my face fall. “I'm not… I'm not clean, father.”

“What do you mean by that?” It was my mother who snapped at me first.

“Oh, not just a liability to this family, but also a w***e!!” My father burst out behind his desk. “And who have you been opening those legs to, huh? My men? The security? The gardener? Have you no shame, Leora?”

I didn't even have an opportunity to respond when my mother stepped in front of me and landed a slap on my face. “I know you have been a virgin for the longest time, Leora. I am your mother! I watch everything you do, and I know you barely speak to anyone. The only time you snuck out of the house for the first time in your life was the night, three weeks ago. So, it means you did it on purpose, you ungrateful child!!” Another slap landed hard across my face, and I could swear I heard something c***k.

The tears had resurfaced in my eyes, but I willed myself not to cry. Bella lost her virginity since she was fifteen, and father never had this sort of reaction. Bella had more than seven boyfriends since then, and Father never had a problem. But when I, at twenty-four years, lost my virginity, I was called a w***e? I bit my bottom lip to keep myself from crying.

“I will not be marrying Lucian Bellucci for the same reason Bella isn't marrying him.” I tried to keep my voice steady, despite the storm of emotions that was raging inside me. “He will kill—”

“Are you not better off dead?” My father's voice was ice, and I felt my entire body still. Again and again, my father kept wishing me dead, and I still wasn't numb to it. “We kept you from dying all these years, and you think you shouldn't honor us by dying?”

“I'm no longer a virgin, father!!” I tried to yell, but my mother gave me three quick slaps in succession.

“Leave her be, Carla.” My father called out to her. “You wouldn't want to ruin her face when she is presented to Lucian tomorrow. And also, call the doctor at once. I'm sure they will know how to take care of the matter on the ground.”

“The matter on ground…?” I wasn't following.

“Yes, Leora.” Father locked eyes with me. “He will stitch you up to appear clean in front of Lucian. Congratulations, you will be the first to go back to being a virgin after losing it because of your selfishness!” He turned to my mother. “And under no circumstances should anesthesia be used. That's the only way she can learn her lesson.”

My body knew the pain I would be going through, so I had to shut my mind from even thinking about it. How could he? How could he be so cruel to his daughter? And why was my mother just standing here in front of me, without flinching after something horrifying that my father had said.

“That won't be all, honey.” My mother sighed heavily. “I wasn't suspecting anything because I believed she was a virgin, but her recent sickness has been bothering me, and I fear there will be a need for a pregnancy test to be run.”

My heart skipped a beat. This was my main reason for going to the club that night to have a stranger take me. And there were currently three positive tests in my bedroom drawer.

This was my only hope to be able to escape this marriage once and for all; after all, no man would want to marry a woman who was already pregnant with another man's child, especially not an influential mafia don who believed in blood heirs more than anything.

“What if I am?” I asked my parents, my heart thrumming loudly. “What if I'm pregnant with another man's child? The Don wouldn't accept me, especially now the wedding is in two days.”