OWNED BY THE DON

002

~JEMMA~

I shuddered in fear when he pulled away and my hatred for him increased.

After the Priest dismissed us, he held my hand which surprisingly felt good but I shook the feeling aside.

I was now his prisoner, this marriage was just a formality.

My family walked up to us. My step-brother, Rocco, stepped forward wanting to shake hands with Roman but Roman scoffed.

“Know your place, boy,” He spat coldly, making Rocco retract his hands and clear his throat in a bid to hide his embarrassment.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your wedding with my sister,” Rocco said.

I scoffed. Oh so now I was his sister? But all those nights when he raped me, I wasn't his sister, right?

All those nights, I detested my body and always fantasized about killing the bastard myself.

I hated him with everything in me and I secretly dreamed of getting my revenge for every time he would secretly come into my room, threaten me with a gun, and force himself on me.

“So does this mean we are even now? I don’t owe you anymore right?” My Dad asked Roman.

“That’s the thing, Mr Lucchesi. I call the shots. I get to tell when we are even. Not you,” Roman calmly, yet his gaze looked dangerous.

My Dad’s face darkened with fear, and he couldn't even look Roman in the eye anymore. None of them could.

Roman then scoffed and held my hand, leading me out of the chapel while I looked back at my Dad for the last time.

My stepmother, Isabelle, and Rocco smirked as they watched me leave. I knew they were happy to see me in misery. They had always been.

I only pitied my Dad because our family had once been a powerful mafia family. But by the time I turned fifteen and my Dad met Isabelle, our family went into ruins.

My Dad made enemies on every side, through his arrogance and failed deals.

Normally, every female from a mafia family was taught how to shoot guns and fight to protect themselves in case an enemy attacked, but my Dad taught me nothing.

He said he wanted me to be a failure because in a way I still didn't know and understand he felt I was the one who made his wife, my late Mom, die.

He claimed I took her away from him. He always reminded me of that.

He said he hoped I would die when an enemy attacked us. That is why he refused to teach me how to defend myself.

Since I was a child he never gave me attention. I felt alone all my life until I met Valentina, my best friend in elementary school.

All this was why when I heard what Roman said to my Dad, a part of me felt that he deserved it.

He sold me to Roman thinking his debt would be paid off but it turned out Roman wasn’t done with him yet.

Reaching outside the chapel, I saw that Valentina was still there.

“Roman, please—”

I was abruptly interrupted by Roman.

“Rule number one, Amore. Never call me by my name. No one is allowed to. They all call me Don. But since you are my wife, call me Maritó,” He instructed me.

I swallowed hard but nodded in understanding because this man was intimidating even without trying.

Maritò means husband in Italian. So it was understandable why he would want me to call him that, after all, we were indeed husband and wife now.

“Please Maritò, can I say goodbye to my best friend?” I asked him.

He turned and looked at Valentina with a bored look on his face.

Then he turned to me. “You have 10 seconds,” Was all he said.

I rushed to Valentina and hugged her. At that moment I let all the tears I had been holding fall.

“I’ll try to keep in touch. I’ll find a way to reason with your husband to allow me to always visit you, even though it's twice a week okay? I won’t give up on you. I won’t give up on our friendship. So don’t cry because we’ll see each other again,” Valentina patted my back while sobbing too.

She pulled away from me and then placed her hands on my shoulders. “Be strong, Jemma Lucchesi. You are stronger than you know.”

Then Valentina began to wipe the blood stains on my face.

When she was done she smiled at me. “Go. You don’t keep a Don waiting,” She said as tears began streaming down her eyes again.

I nodded and wiped my tears before I walked back to Roman who was already standing by the car.

I got into the backseat and he entered after me.

The drive to Roman’s house was silent for a while.

I began to think of how all my life I had been weak and always did as I was told.

Then I thought of where that had brought me and I tried not to scoff.

I should have ran away from home since, but no, I was waiting for my Dad to finally love me and treat me like his daughter.

At first, it was bearable because Malissa, my step-sister, was nice to me even though her mom, Isabelle, and Rocco weren't.

But then she mistakenly died because of me and that made Isabelle and Rocco hate me more, including my own Dad.

“Rule number two, Amore, I own you now so whenever we go to public events, you only speak when I permit you to. Understood? ” Roman broke the silence bringing me back from my train of thought.

“Why? Why me? Why are you doing this to me?” I asked as I broke down in tears.

He instantly leaned close to me and wiped my tears. He looked angry. “Rule number three, Amore, never cry. Not because of me and not because of anyone else. You are a Moretti now. And Moretti's don’t cry. But if anyone makes you cry aside from me, tell me and I’ll make the person pay.”

“Answer me, Maritò. Why choose me out of all the women in the world?” I asked him again.

“Because, Amore, your family needs to pay for the crimes of your father. He doesn’t know that I know what he did yet. He thinks all this is happening simply because he owes me money but it's far deeper than that. And by the time I’m done with everything I have planned…” He trailed off.

He purposely didn’t want to complete what he wanted to say.

I began to wonder what my Dad did to anger the most ruthless man in the world. Of all men he could mess with, he chose ROMAN MORETTI?

And now I was going to also pay for his crimes? So many thoughts began to run through my mind.

Thoughts like, what the hell did my Dad do? And what did Roman have planned?