Page 5 of Love Him Like Water

Renzo

You could cut the tension in the church with a fucking knife.

Neither side of the aisle was happy about this arrangement.

The Costas felt like they’d been forced into something, that they had to offer up one of their girls like a sacrificial lamb.

And my family, well, they weren’t exactly thrilled about a Costa in our midst. They’d been enemies of our organization for many years, and no one trusted having one of them in the inner circle.

In the end, though, I was the boss.

This was my decision.

And they had to fall in line.

Only half of my crew was seated, shifting uncomfortably in their suits unlike the Costas who were practically strapped into suits while they were still in diapers.

The rest of my people were standing in the wings, scattered around the cathedral, armed and ready to act if this shit went sideways.

My gaze was on one of my men at the side of the building who was watching something in the crowd that had me on edge as the sounds of The Bridal March drifted up to the high ceilings of the church.

No one stood.

Like we all knew any sudden movement could cause chaos to break out with how tense everyone was about this gathering.

When my man in the wings relaxed, I turned toward the aisle, finally getting a look at my bride as she walked to me.

All the Costa women were gorgeous, so I hadn’t even bothered to look into which one they’d decided to have me marry.

And she was that.

Gorgeous.

She was short and slight, so small it seemed crazy that the family put the weight of this alliance on her petite shoulders, with long, dark hair, and a sweet, round face dominated by dark blue eyes.

I’d hoped for pretty. And I got it.

What I didn’t expect, though, was how fucking young she was. She couldn’t be older than twenty, twenty-one. A fucking baby, really, to be handed off to a man her family didn’t know from Adam.

The fuck were they thinking?

I’d half-expected to turn to find some eighty-year-old widow walking toward me. And, technically, they’d be within the terms of our agreement to do so.

But no.

Here was my bride.

A kid, really, climbing up the steps to stand beside me, making me all the more aware of how small she was with how I towered over her.

To her family, I had to look like a predator about to devour its prey.

I didn’t hear a fucking thing the priest droned on and on about concerning the sanctity of marriage. There was nothing holy about this union.

I found myself turning toward Lore at the right time, though, looking down and noticing for the first time that her hands were clasped tightly together, not wrapped around a bouquet of flowers.

I’d ordered one, I was sure. There weren’t a lot of details I’d needed to iron out, so I knew what I’d done.

Sent the engagement ring to her house along with cash she’d need to buy a dress.

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