Dominic’s Wife

CHAPTER4

~Danielle

The whole church had gone utterly still as my father approach the alter. With each step towards me, I shrinked into myself. Every insinsict told me to run and hide, like I used to do when I was younger. He always found me and made me pay and today would be no different.

"You cunning little b***h," He spat when he was near.

I flinched with each syllable. "Father…"

"Shut it!" He yelled. He was not a small man, unlike men his age, he was tall and muscled the best way a fifty seven year old man could be. That was another reason he scared me because he always used his size and power to his advantage. No one could stop him, when was set on maiming you. "You choose to get married without letting the man who served all his life know. You let a stupid stranger walk you down the aisle. After all the lessions I taught you, you have still not yet learnt."

All his lessons had been the same. An hour of him turning me into a human pulp. I was not left with merely bruises but deep seated wounds that would never heal. The fact that he was bringing up in front of all this people showed just how psychotic he was.

He did not spare a glance at my groom, his red eyes were boring through only me.

"Father…"

"We are going back home."

His words turned my blood to ice. His house was not my home, it was my dungeon and he knew it. A sick smile twisted his mouth, he missed torturing me. How could he be this way in front of all these people? Yet, how would they perseive me knowing I had not let my father know I was getting married. They probably believed I deserved this.

He gripped my hand and his touch made my skin crawl. He pulled me but my sheer will I did not move my feet. This was not the first time, I had resisted. The first time, I had dared to I had ruptured an ovary. But I would tempt death to make sure I never stepped foot in the house that made up most of my nightmares.

He turned to look at me when he realized what I was doing, his sneer deepening and I could see the steams that came out his ears. He let my hand go and I knew what would come next. He raised not a palm but a fist and I shut my eyes and waited for him to land it.

It did not come and when I opened my eyes, they widened. Dominic was holding my father fist, his expression was stormy.

The most astonished person was my father, whose eyes were bulging out of his skull at the intrusion. No one had ever done it. The few that tried ever succeed and they only received injuries themselves.

"You f*****g son of a b***h…" He swung a fist but he did not make it far as Dominic's men easily came and subdued him. He is taken out, screaming and cursing, his huge frame twisting and turning in his grip.

They took him out of the church but I can still hear his screaming and ranting unti it fades away. My ears are ringing as all eyes turn on me and I feel that urge to hide away from their scrutiny. The tension is so palpable that I could taste it's bitterness on my tongue.

"Can you blame him?" A voice rings out of the crowd. It's a voice that like knives warpped in silk. One that I remember well. I turn to face the owner of the voice. It's Vera's mother.

"After her own mother could not take it anymore and left her. I and my husband stood by her."

Her blue eyes are lit with a malevolent flame. I was so distracted that I had not caught sight of her before and beside her is Vera.

"We feed, her clothed, her guided her, yet the ungrateful wh…"

"You'd better watch your tongue if you are wise." Dominic's voice cut through hers.

She glared at him but he looked anything but impressed by her theatrics.

"You dare speak to your bride's mother like that?" She snapped.

"You are not her mother." He stated.

"So?" She said, "A step mother cannot calm her step child as hers?"

"Last I heard, Mr Foyer never wedded you. Even after twenty-two years, you are still nothing but his mistress."

A gasp reverberated through the crowd and some even laughed.

For the first time in all the while that I have known her, she is speechless. She blanched completely. I watch the formerly grinning Vera squirming uncomfortably in her seat. She would not dare speak now.

Finally Dominic turned to face me fully, the ice in his gaze melting as he looked at me with something I cannot decipher.

"Are you ready?" He asked, taking my still shaking hand.

I nod.

The wedding continued without any interruption. At the end of it I became Mrs Lancaster.

________________

"Her things are to be transported to the mansion today after you drop her off." He ordered my driver. "I am leaving." He turns away without glancing once at me. He is back to being cold and detached.

I am returned to the car and the driver takes to my apartment. My mind is a flurry of thoughts and emotions that I cannot fully process. Yet, something sticks with me. The fact that he had defended me. Or maybe it was another show like the one he had performed for Vera and Liam. Reading Dominic Lancaster was like trying to decifer a weathered latin scroll.

My phone rang and the called ID revealed that it was an private number. I answered.

"Hello?"

"My little mouse."

His voice twisted my gut. I was tempted to throw my phone out the window.

"Congratulations on your wedding." Every word was laced with a cheeriness that filled me with dread. "Though it will not last."

"You…" It was all I could manage to say.

"This is a reminder," His anger was not fully concealed as he said. "You still belong to me. I paid for you a long time ago. I will get my money's worth. Even if it means putting a bullet in that bastard's head and making you a widow."