Chapter 2 - The Bride Who Said No
My father closed the door behind him.
Cassian stayed inside.
Dante didn’t move.
Four people.
One bridal suite.
Twenty minutes before hundreds of guests expected an alliance.
Alaric pointed at Dante.
“Leave.”
Dante glanced at me.
“Do you want me to?”
My father’s face darkened.
“I wasn’t asking her.”
“That’s the problem.”
Cassian stepped between them.
“This is my wedding.”
Dante looked around.
“Interesting. I thought there were supposed to be two people involved.”
“Stay out of this.”
Cassian reached for my wrist.
Dante didn’t threaten him.
He simply said:
“Don’t.”
Cassian stopped.
I noticed it.
So did my father.
Cassian slowly lowered his hand.
“What exactly has she told you?”
“Enough.”
Cassian looked at me.
His voice softened.
“Sofia, come here.”
That tone.
The public tone.
The one he used before hurting me where nobody could see.
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“Sofia.”
“I said no.”
My father stepped closer.
“You are embarrassing this family.”
“You sold me.”
His expression changed.
“Watch yourself.”
“You negotiated my marriage over maps and whiskey.”
Cassian looked toward Alaric.
My father’s eyes flickered.
That tiny reaction told me everything.
“You knew I heard you,” I whispered.
Alaric exhaled.
“This is bigger than your feelings.”
“My entire life is bigger than my feelings to you.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
“The world you were born into.”
I pointed at Cassian.
“By giving me to him?”
Cassian finally lost patience.
“You’re behaving like a child.”
I turned toward him.
“And you’re behaving exactly like the man I’m afraid of.”
Silence.
Cassian laughed once.
“Afraid?”
I reached for my left wrist.
Pulled back the lace glove.
A fading mark remained near my skin.
His smile disappeared.
My father stared.
Cassian immediately spoke.
“She bruises easily.”
Dante’s eyes turned cold.
I almost laughed.
“That’s your defense?”
Cassian stepped toward me.
“You’re emotional.”
“No.”
For the first time, I understood the difference.
“I’m terrified.”
That silenced everyone.
I looked at my father.
“I told you.”
Alaric didn’t answer.
“Three weeks ago, I stood in your study and told you he scared me.”
His jaw tightened.
“You never told me about the bruises.”
“Would it have mattered?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
That hurt worse than an answer.
Dante moved toward the door.
“Sofia.”
I looked at him.
“You have choices.”
Cassian scoffed.
“She has nothing without this family.”
Dante stopped.
Cassian smiled at me.
“Where will you go? Your accounts belong to your father. Your home belongs to him. Your car. Your security. Everything.”
Every word was true.
And he knew it.
Then Dante said:
“She can come with me.”
My father stared at him.
“No.”
Dante raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“You don’t understand what you’re interfering with.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“This marriage prevents a war.”
“No. It postpones one.”
Alaric went still.
Dante continued.
“The Valtieris know about your immunity negotiations.”
Cassian’s head snapped toward my father.
“What?”
There it was.
The first crack.
My father glared at Dante.
“You son of a—”
“You made a deal?”
Cassian demanded.
Alaric ignored him.
Cassian stepped closer.
“With federal prosecutors?”
“I handled a problem.”
“You were going to testify?”
“Lower your voice.”
Cassian laughed.
Not pleasantly.
“My family brought two hundred people here because you promised loyalty.”
“And you promised my daughter would be protected.”
My breath caught.
Cassian stared at him.
My father looked toward my wrist.
Something finally registered in his face.
Too late.
But it registered.
Cassian saw it too.
“Oh, please,” he said. “Don’t suddenly pretend to be her father.”
Alaric turned slowly.
Cassian smiled.
“You put a price on her before I ever touched her.”
My father punched him.
Chaos erupted.
I screamed.
Dante caught Alaric before he could move again.
“Enough!”
Cassian staggered backward, shocked more than hurt.
Dante shoved my father away.
“Not here.”
Cassian straightened his jacket.
“You just destroyed the alliance.”
My father stared at him.
“No.”
Then he looked at me.
“I did that when I stopped listening to my daughter.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Cassian laughed.
“You think you can cancel this?”
I stepped forward.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at me.
I removed my engagement ring.
Cassian watched it fall onto the vanity.
The tiny sound seemed louder than the shouting.
“The wedding is canceled.”
Cassian’s face went completely still.
Then he looked at Dante.
“This isn’t over.”
May you like
Dante opened the door.
“For her, it is.”
