GELÜBDE DES GRAUSAMEN

 Beside me, my father, Victor Rossi, tightened his hand around my left arm. His fingers pressed hard into the delicate fabric of my dress, sending a clear warning without him saying a word.  "Smile, Elena," he murmured, his lips barely moving as he stared straight ahead at the altar. "The whole town is watching. Give them their dutiful daughter."  I didn't turn my head. "I'm going down the corridor to the man who murdered my brother. Isn't my presence dutiful enough for you, Father?"  “Your brother was reckless,” Victor replied, his voice icy and emotionless. “Julian made decisions that cost him his life. Today, you are making decisions that will keep this family alive. Stand tall, or I will drag you up these marble steps myself.”  A familiar pain tightened in my chest, but I closed my eyes for a moment, refusing to let a tear ruin my makeup.  Julian.  My big brother. My safe place.  He had laughed until his eyes were almost closed, and he had promised to always protect me from the darkness in our father's empire.  Eighteen months ago, Julian was found dead in a cold, rain-soaked alley near Fourth Street. He had been shot twice.  And according to every rumor in the underworld, the man responsible was now at the front of the church, waiting to marry me.  Victor pushed me forward, and I began to walk towards the altar.  The corridor felt endless. Every head in the cathedral turned to track my progress—glances full of suspicion, false smiles, and calculating greed. To my left sat the capos of the Rossi family, their dark suits concealing weapons; to my right sat the DeLuca elites, their cold, calculating eyes scrutinizing me like a captured package.  And then I saw him.  Caelen DeLuca stood on the raised altar beneath the large stained-glass window of the Virgin Mary.  At twenty-eight, Caelen was the new Don of the DeLuca syndicate. He seemed less like a groom and more like a man who had come straight out of a nightmare.  His black suit fit perfectly on his broad shoulders and powerful build. He looked neither at my dress nor into my eyes.  Instead, his gaze slowly slid to my right arm.  When we reached the altar steps, Victor took my hand and placed it in Caelens.  "Your hand is cold, little Rossi," he murmured. I held my breath, staring up at him through the silk tulle, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "It'll be even colder before the night is over."  Caelen's mouth twitched slightly. It wasn't a smile. It was the look of a man who had recognized the trap and wasn't afraid of it.  Without letting go of my hand, he turned to the archbishop.  All I could hear was the frantic pounding of my own blood in my ears, counting down the seconds.  Two bullets in the chest.  A bloody handkerchief that had been sent to my mother in a cardboard box.  A funeral with an empty coffin, because the police had kept the body as evidence.  “Do you, Caelen DeLuca, take this woman to be your lawful wife…”  “Yes,” said Caelen. His voice echoed through the arched ceilings of Santa Maria, heavy and absolute. The archbishop turned his pale, trembling hands toward me. “And do you take, Elena Rossi…”  I felt my father's burning gaze on the back of my neck from the first bench. I looked into Caelen's impenetrable grey eyes.  “Yes,” I said.  Caelen stepped closer and raised his hands to lift my veil. As the thin silk was swept back over my head, my face was bathed in light. He leaned forward, the scent of sandalwood and rain enveloping me completely, and his warm lips brushed the highest point of my cheekbone.  "Congratulations, wife." As his hand rested on my hip, his fingers deliberately traced the outline of the hidden velvet sheath in my sleeve.  I froze.  Caelen didn't back down. He kept his arm tightly around me, leaned forward so far that his mouth grazed my earlobe, and his voice dropped to a razor-sharp whisper that sent a shiver down my spine.  “A word of advice before our wedding night, Elena,” Caelen said calmly. “If you’re hiding a dagger up your sleeve, at least make sure the hilt doesn’t catch the light when you exchange your vows.”