Page 22 of Claimed by The Italian

But as I wait now in my silk white dress for the ceremony to begin, I’m anxiously scanning the crowd for a familiar face. Bianca received her invite first, I made sure of it, and yet she’s the only one who never responded to our invitation. I was hoping she’d show up here today to try and make amends with Lorenzo, but since I have no idea whether she even read the invite, my hopes aren’t high of her showing up.

And I can see that it’s bothering Lorenzo too. He’s standing back at the hotel, texting someone on his phone. Since the wedding isn’t due to start for another ten minutes, I have time to go over to him and see if he’s okay. Hitching up my dress, I walk barefoot along the sand to go and speak to him.

He looks up and smiles at me as I approach. His hands grab my waist and he pulls me in close. He growls as he leans in to kiss me.

“Isn’t it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?” he says, kissing my neck. I giggle.

“I don’t think bad luck applies to us. We’ve made it here against all the odds.”

It’s true. I know a lot of people expected us to crash and burn. My parents were wary of him at first, though they’ve grown to love him now. Obviously Bianca is somewhere on the other side of Italy silently disapproving of our relationship. But we’ve shown everyone that we’re perfect together, and we’ll keep showing them for the rest of our lives.

“Who were you texting?” I ask. He smiles playfully at me.

“Are you worried I’m texting my other woman?”

I roll my eyes with a smirk. If there’s one thing I’m not concerned about, it’s him leaving me for someone else. When we make love every single day, our bodies pressed together in the height of ecstasy, I know for sure that this bond between us is unbreakable. He’s not going to abandon me now or ever.

“You know I’m not. Are you trying to get in touch with Bianca?”

Lorenzo sighs. “I thought I’d give it one last shot, it feels wrong her not being here. She’s the only real family I have left. Apart from you, of course. But my Mother and Father, they would have hated to see us like this. Bianca and I have always been close. We’ve lived together our whole lives and now after two months apart, it feels wrong.”

I reach up to cup his cheek. “You know, we don’t have to do this. Get married today, I mean.”

“What?” he growls. I brush my thumb over his jawline.

“I just mean, we can wait. You know, our lives are perfect regardless. If you don’t want to get married without your sister here, then we can wait. It might derail our plans a little…”

“No,” Lorenzo growls, cupping my cheeks. “I want to marry you right this second. I’ve waited long enough for this to happen. You’re the love of my life, my one, and only. If she can’t understand that, if she doesn’t want to be here to celebrate with us, then she doesn’t deserve to be here anyway. I tried to get hold of her. We made the effort to invite her even after everything she put us through and she’s thrown it back in our faces. No call, no nothing. It’s obvious how she feels and I’m done trying to change her mind.”

I cock my head to the side as I spot something out of the corner of my eye. “You don’t want to give her one more chance?”

“No.”

“Not even if she’s right behind you?”

Lorenzo turns to see Bianca standing in the shade. She looks as beautiful as ever in a white suit and a large sun hat that no one but her could pull off. Her red lipstick coats her pursed lips and she looks vaguely irritated, but I’m starting to believe that’s just her permanent state. She takes off her sunglasses to look Lorenzo in the eyes.

“Hello, little brother.”Lorenzo

It’s hard to believe that she’s actually here. I’d completely convinced myself that she wouldn’t show up. After all, she didn’t bother to call or message or reply to the invitation to let us know she was coming. Then again, Bianca does like to make an entrance.

“What are you doing here?” I growl. She frowns, taking the invitation out of her suit pocket and examining it.

“Well this is the wedding of Lydia and Lorenzo, isn’t it?” she drawls sarcastically. “I didn’t think it was unusual to turn up to an event one has been invited to.”

“Not normally it isn’t,” I growl. “But you show up here, after two months of ignoring my calls, you gave no warning that you’d be here, you practically disowned me for following my heart to Lydia. So I’ll ask you again. Why. Are. You. Here.”

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