A Treacherous Matrimony

2

s e r a f i n a

“Lorenzo, I need a minute, please.” The tears fall down my eyes as I get up from where I am seated—in the midst of a room full of heartless men that do not give a f**k about the fact that my father is dead. This man literally died a couple of days ago and now, here I am in Florence, Italy, signing a contract that he should have signed if he were alive. The looks on their faces just lets me know that they don’t care. They never cared. It has always been business. Nothing else.

“Yes, you can take as long as you need, Serafina. I know that this is so hard for you. I am here for you. Do you want to go anywhere?” He asks me and I nod, wiping the tears that are trickling down my eyes with the sleeve of my suit. Honestly, the last thing that I give a f**k about right now is this outfit that I am putting on.

“Okay, listen to me. The men in here are very heartless men and they would do anything to jeopardize this deal. The last thing that they want is for a woman to be handling this business. I have to remain here until all is said and done. You have done your part and that is signing the deal.” He tells me, holding my hands in a loving way. The last couple of days, Lorenzo has been so supportive but that still does not change the fact that I do not know him at all and my father just threw him in my face because he thought he was best fit for me.

Lorenzo pulls out his phone and makes a call. In no time, his body guard strides into the boardroom, staring at me. The beastly one with the tattoos and the scar that scares the s**t out of me.

“Take her somewhere that she can relax and calm her mind.” The body guard nods and leads me out of the room.

I have seen him around Lorenzo a lot of times but that does not change the fact that I think he still looks very terrifying. His presence is one that I do not think that I can get used to.

“Do you have any place in mind that we could head to?” He asks as we make our way to the car.

“I don’t know.” I tell him because I don’t think I want to talk to him. I really just want to be by myself now.

“I have a place we can go. I’m Adonis, by the way. I know I never really introduced myself.” I stare at him and roll my eyes at him. I didn’t know we were doing introductions.

“I am so sorry about your father’s death. Seeing you like this just breaks my heart.” He tells me. Those words of his just makes the dam of tears in my eyes burst open for the umpteenth time today. I sniff in and stare out the window. I wonder when all of this is going to end.

I feel rough fingers on my shoulders. Adonis squeezes lightly.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry again. I’m sorry.”

“Can we just go?” I turn to stare at him as he starts the ignition and zooms off.

All through the ride, he tries to talk to me but I am the least interested person in what he has to say.

My initial thought was that he was taking me home but he has been driving for thirty minutes and it does not seem as though we are going to Rome.

“Where the f**k are you taking me, Adonis?”

“Relax, I am not going to harm you, trust me.” Is all he tells me.

I have been in this car, on this ride with this stranger for more than an hour and the end of it does not seem near. I am so scared right now.

“We are almost there, I promise.” He rest assures me. I don’t respond.

In about five minutes, he parks the car and I look around. There is a sign post that says ‘Welcome to Isola del Gilglio’. I want to argue an ask him what the f**k we are doing on an Island but my head is hurting really bad and I’m tired of picking offense in whatever he does. I just have to pray that he does not hurt me.

“You are going to love it here, I promise.” He rest assures me for the second time and this time around, I nod.

We get into the Island and a wave of serenity hits me. The place does seem peaceful.

Adonis leads me into a bar. In front, an Italian band is playing some music and some girls are dancing.

I order a negroni while Adonis orders a Hugo Spritz.

“How did you know about this place?” I ask, sipping from my glass of cocktail.

“My dad used to bring me here as a kid.” He tells me.

We chat for about thirty minutes while we sip slowly from our drink.

Adonis checks the time on his watch and he gets up immediately.

“Where are we going?”

“We need to head out now if we want to go on the boat cruise.”

Wait what? What boat cruise?

I follow his lead, anyways.

“Stand here and wait for me.” He instructs and he goes to meet a man to talk to him. They talk for about five minutes before he walks up to me.

“Take off your clothes.” He tells me in a commanding tone and I stare at him as though he is crazy.

“Calm down, I just paid for a boat cruise. I am not trying to see you naked or anything like that. Do you think I am that crazy?”

“I swear to God, I am not coming anywhere else with you.” I tell him as the both of us peel off layers of our clothes in tandem.

He is down to his boxers while I am down to my matching lingerie set. Maybe if I knew that I would be stripping in front of strangers, I would have put on something a little decent. You know what? f**k it.

He stares at me from top to bottom before swallowing a lump in his throat. He mutters something to himself before turning around and heading to where the boats are.

I can’t help but stare at the tattoos on his back and he powers his way through.

He gets into the boat and then he helps me get in. He heads to the steering wheel and taps the seat next to it for me to come and sit. I obey him and he begins to drive.

I remain there in silence, just observing and enjoying the scene.

“Just tell me when you are sick of this and we can leave, yeah?” He asks and I do not even respond. He laughs at my little attitude.

It has been more than an hour since we have been cruising. It is beginning to get dark.

The sound of someone clearing their throat on a megaphone is heard. I stare at Adonis who is so engrossed in driving that he seems to have forgotten what is happening.

“There is about to be a storm. I urge everyone on the boats to please get off now!” The person says.

There is pandemonium everywhere. Boats are colliding and everyone is trying to park and get off. In all of this, Adonis is really calm. As for me, I am scared to death and I believe that tonight is the night that I am going to die. Did I mention that I am very scared of storms? My heartrate triples and I think I am about to faint.

Adonis parks the boats and jumps out, all the while, I am hallucinating. He picks me up like my weight is nothing and he begins to run.

“Calm down, alright?”

“I want to go home.” I cry in his arms but he is still running.

We get into a building and he places me on a chair and makes sure I am seated properly before heading to the front desk. He discusses with someone for a while before he heads over to where I am seated. I am still shaking.

He helps me to get up while I am still shaking. I follow him blindly because honest-to-God, I can’t argue.

We make our way into a room and that is when it dawns on me that he booked a room.

“I would have booked separate rooms but everywhere is filled up.”

“Why did you not tell me before you booked the room. I don’t want to be here!”

“When they announced that there was a storm, you were shaking. If you think that I am about to go out there when it is not safe to drive, then I think you should think again. We are stuck here.”

“Then tell Lorenzo to come and pick us up.”

“Have you ever experienced a storm and there was signal?” I sit on the bed and just begin to think about all of the decisions that I have made up until now.

I take a look at my body. I do not have clothes for tonight and neither does Adonis.

“Do you want to take a shower?” He asks me and I shake my head, no.

He peels off his boxers and I am in shock as I stare at the man’s butt. I thought he was at least going to get in the shower first. He honestly could care less. I saw his ass. So what?

I hear the sound of the water hitting his body and I figure that I could take a shower myself. I take my clothes off and join him in the shower.

I stare at his naked back and the intricate tattoos on his flesh and he looks so good. I want to touch him. I really should not be looking at my fiancé’s body guard this way but f**k it. I decide to throw caution to the wind and just do what my body wants.

Since the death of my father, I have felt like s**t. I think doing this would make me feel good.

I wrap my arms around his back and sniff in the scent of his body. He smells warm. I want him to cuddle with me all night long and tell me that everything is going to be alright.

“What are you doing, Serafina?” He asks me.

“Shh. Don’t say a word.” I press my index finger against my lips, shutting him up.

I get on my tiptoes and try to kiss him but he is just too tall and he is not even helping me. I decide to touch his c**k and it pulses in my hands. I turn around so that my back is pressed against it. It is so f*****g big and I want it in me.

You shouldn’t be doing this, Serafina.” He tells me and I turn around so that I am facing him.

“I want you to f**k me so good that it hurts, please. I want it so bad.” I look at him with pleading eyes. That is the only thing that is going to get my mind off of thinking.

He pulls me close to him, wraps a hand around my waist and he uses the other to cup my cheeks before pressing an aggressive kiss against my lips. He gives me his tongue. He is not gentle at all and this is what I want.

He f***s me against the bathroom wall and I am a mess. I want more.

We go again and again until my legs give out and he has to pick me up and take me to the bed. I beg him to keep going and he does.

...

It does not just end with that night.

Five weeks down the line and Adonis has become my safe space. I have found comfort in his arms and I do not want him to ever leave.

…

Lorenzo is out of town and so is Adonis. I feel so sick to my stomach because I have not seen him in three days and I miss him so much.

Today is the rehearsal dinner for my engagement party. As soon as Lorenzo gets back from his business trip, the engagement is going to be official. My father stated it that he wanted me to be engaged by the time he was going to be buried—that is happening next week.

“You have to smile at all the guests. I know that it is hard for you but we are preparing you for when you become Lorenzo’s wife. You need to be able to function in tough situations.” A woman that I have not seen in my life says to me and I just nod in response. Honestly, I just want all of this to be over.

I woke up feeling so nauseous and tired. I texted Lorenzo, telling him about it but he has yet to respond. He is probably busy.

I put on my dress for the rehearsal dinner and the artist does my makeup.

As soon as I am in the presence of all these people, I feel like I am going to faint. I really don’t know what is going on with my body.

“I just want to thank you all for coming tonight.” I begin my speech and my head starts spinning. It feels as though I drank so much but I have not had alcohol in a while.

I need somewhere to sit, else, my legs are going to give out.

I’ll try to speed up my speech and head out.

I open my mouth to talk and nothing comes out. I feel myself falling to the ground before everything fades to black.

…

“You are a very big disgrace to your lineage. Your father has not even been buried. You are not even engaged ” Massimo spits before landing a harsh slap across my face. My cheeks burn so bad as drops of tears fall down my left eye. His men are scrutinizing me so badly. Acting as though I have committed a heinous crime.

“You could not even keep your legs together until you were married. At least, the pregnancy will speed up the process. You and Lorenzo have to get married by next week to prevent the media from suspecting anything. I can’t believe you and Lorenzo have been sleeping around when we clearly told the both of you to wait till marriage. You young people have no form of self-control. What a shame!” Another of his men says.

I have a lot of things to say but where do I start from? I clear my throat

“What do you have to say? It better be a good explanation as to why you are pregnant.

“I am sorry but the man I am pregnant for isn’t my fiancé, Lorenzo.” I tell them, tears welling down my eyes already. I look up at each of them and see the look of disappointment on their faces.

“I love him so much and I do not regret it at all. I am sorry.”