10. First Dance
1235 Words
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"Calm down, darling." Alessandro chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Eden's waist. She did not resist but the touch still felt unfamiliar. She guessed that was how every arranged marriage felt.
She continued to glare at her mother shamelessly dancing with Pedro Abarca, one of her father-in-law's Latin business associates. Their hands were all over each other and it was no secret that Pedro was married with six adult children.
"I am about to have an aneurysm." Eden bit out.
Alessandro squeezed her waist, letting out an affectionate laugh even though a glint of fury passed through his wild eyes at Aria's blatant disregard for his and his family's reputation. "Are you going to make me a widower before our wedding night?" He winked down at her.
A tint of pink touched Eden's cheeks.
Wedding night?
She was so busy trying to get through the wedding day that she had not even thought about the wedding night.
Of course, Andria had thought about it all in advance, the result of which Eden wore under her gorgeous gown. For a woman who wore such a conservative dress for the day, Eden was sure that Alessandro would freak out at her choice of underwear for their wedding chamber.
She felt insecure. She wondered if her husband would appreciate the outfit or would he think she was a slut like her mother.
All of a sudden, she had every urge to make sure that Alessandro didn't see what was underneath.
As she watched her mother make a fool of herself and Eden and her new family, she made up her mind that she would not give her newlywed husband any chance to think that she was anything at all like her mother.
Luigi limped towards them. He was still recovering from a knee replacement surgery.
"Eden, my daughter, I know your father is not here for the first dance. But please, if you deem me worthy, let me do the honors." Luigi smiled ever so lovingly at his daughter-in-law.
Eden looked over at Alessandro as if asking for reassurance, which he gave with a smile.
She looked back at Luigi with watery eyes and took his hand.
As they walked away, Luigi looked back at Alessandro with a smirk. Alessandro suppressed his own.
Everything was going according to plan. It helped that Aria was such a mess. It would be easy to take over Jeff's empire without a hitch at this rate because Eden was playing right into their hands.
They could have always used force. But penetrating into the US without alerting the American Mob was a task that not everyone could pull off. But if Luigi and Alessandro wanted to become the most powerful Italian mafia to ever exist, they had to play this game.
Sure, one would call it cowardly. But they thought it as merely guerrilla warfare.
"It helps that she is pleasant to the eyes, doesn't it?"
Alessandro stiffened as soon as he heard Ricardo's voice, as the old creep walked over to his side and joined him in watching Eden move awkwardly to accommodate Luigi's bad knee.
"I think I already warned you, Ricardo. Stay out of my business." Alessandro grunted in his thick Italian accent.
"Oh, so you still possess your accent. I thought you left it home along with your balls when you started wagging your tail around her like a lovesick puppy."
Alessandro smirked. If he had convinced Ricardo that he was smitten with her, then he had fooled every single person in the room. Including Eden Wellington.
That would mean that Aria Wellington would believe the same if she was lucky enough to be spared alive when Mrs. Abarca found out about the stunt she pulled with Pedro Abarca. And if Aria believed it, then she would be surely under the misconception that she could have her way with the Grettos and she would play all her cards without any reservation.
That was going to be the downfall of Aria Wellington.
He looked over at Eden, ever so thoughtful of his father.
The few days that he had known her, Alessandro had come to appreciate that Eden indeed was a decent woman. But that did not mean that he was going to melt for her.
She would be the collateral damage in the game he and his father were playing with Aria Wellington.
But if she behaved well and stayed out of his business, then she would be taken care of. She could pretend to still control Robertson Inc. which he would throw at her like a bone to play with, and then he would busy her further with a child or two on her hips.
Alessandro did not see how they could not have a pretty amicable marriage if everything went right.
Ricardo nudged him out of his thoughts, reminding him that it was his turn to dance with his bride.
With a renewed smile, he sauntered over to his father and his wife.
"May I have this dance with my bride?" He asked in his well-practiced American accent.
Luigi nodded at Eden with a smile as he placed her hand on his son's palm. "Treat her right, Alex." He pretended to be the best father-figure. "Or I will show your white-washed ass what a true Italian's wrath looks like." He winked at his son and limped away.
The rest of the guests cleared out of the dance floor to leave it to the newlyweds.
Eden looked around.
Aria was nowhere in sight.
Nor was Pedro Abarca.
She had a really bad feeling about it.
"Hey hey, what's with the frown?" Alessandro asked as he pulled her flush against his chest.
She shook her head, not wanting to ruin his mood as well. It was embarrassing enough to have a mother as hers. She did not want Alessandro to feel conscious as well.
"Then smile and enjoy the night, my beautiful bride. This dance and the cake-cutting. That's all you have to endure more. Then we will be off to our honeymoon suite." He winked suggestively.
Eden gulped.
She did not want to have s*x with him.
Not because she did not want to.
But she did not have the courage to.
At least not tonight.
How was she supposed to make him understand that?
The lingerie was a bad bad BAD idea and she should not have let Andria talk her into putting it on.
As they started to sway to the slow music, all she could think of were ways she could get rid of the scandalous lingerie and maybe put on something more boring and conservative before he saw her in them.
"Relax."
She looked up at Alessandro, realizing that her man was jumping to conclusions without knowing what her actual dilemma was.
"You are my wife now. I will take care of you. You should never worry again. It will hurt my Italian pride if I let a frown invade your gorgeous face again."
Eden's heart swell.
How could he be so sweet?
She tried to relax her features and smiled.
She decided that she would worry about it when she got there.
Alessandro leaned down, his lips inches from hers as the crowd clinked their glasses with spoons for them to kiss.
Just as his lips grazed her lips, a gun went off.
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- Writer
