Page 62 of Forbidden Sins

“Ah, Estella.” My father smiles as I approach. “There you are. Are you ready? Vito is eager to announce your engagement.”

Of course he is. I press my lips together, nodding tightly. “Of course. Whenever you want.”

Vito beams at me, stepping forward to take my hand and lift it to his lips. His gaze sweeps over me, taking in every inch of my body in a blatant show of looking me over. I’m shocked that he’s willing to let my father see him look at me so lasciviously, but maybe it doesn’t matter. I doubt my father would be willing to blow this entire business deal apart over a look, at this point.

As for what might happen after… Vito will make sure I have reason to keep it to myself. He’ll hold whatever he can over my head to ensure that I don’t say anything I shouldn’t about what he demands of me.

Which is the reason Sebastian needs to leave. Without him, Vito will have so much less to threaten me with.

“You’re breathtaking tonight,bella,” Vito murmurs, drawing me closer. “Come, Estella. Let’s give the people what they came here to see tonight.”

A waiter passes with a tray of champagne flutes, and Vito plucks two of them from the tray, handing me one to replace my empty glass as he holds the other, setting his and my empty glasses on the tray before the waiter moves off into the crowd. He leads me to the front of the room, motioning for the orchestra to quiet as he raises his glass. The murmur of the crowd hushes as they all turn to face us, and I feel an uncomfortable squirming in my stomach as I stand there with all of those eyes on me.

Somewhere in the crowd, Sebastian is watching. I don’t look for him; I can’t bear to, but I know he’s there. I feel as if I’dknow if he’d already left. Like my chest will be hollowed out once he’s gone, my heart in his hands forever, no matter where in the world he flees to.

Just go,I think, begging him to somehow hear me. While everyone is focused on me and Vito, he could get away. It might be his only chance.

“Friends, family, honored guests,” Vito begins, his voice loud and commanding, booming out across the room. I’m reminded that next to me is the former underboss of Boston’s mafia, a powerful man in his own right, one who commanded attention, loyalty, and fear.

A man who believes that he all but owns me entirely now. The thought is terrifying, making the champagne in my stomach swirl dangerously as I stand there with my hand in Vito’s. Even that much skin-to-skin contact with him makes my skin crawl; I don’t know how I’ll ever bear more.

“Tonight,” he continues, “we celebrate both an engagement and a new beginning for the joined names of Gallo and Bianchi. We bring together two families with long-standing ties to the old world of Sicily, ushering in an era of peace and prosperity that will bind us ever closer. I am pleased beyond words to accept Estella Gallo as my bride, and to fill the place of heir to the Gallo name, an empire that Antony Gallo has built with his own blood and sweat, and that I will strive to maintain and make greater than ever before.”

A murmur of approval sweeps through the room. I catch a glimpse of Dimitri Yashkov, his eyes narrowed as he watches, but he doesn’t look displeased, only as if he’s listening carefully. Vito is known to the other heads of families in the city, of course, and I can’t imagine that my father would have chosen him if there was bad blood. He picked him to help the transition forward, not to hinder it.

“Estella Gallo—” Vito turns to face me, slipping one hand into his suit jacket to pull out a velvet box. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

He doesn’t go down on one knee. I didn’t expect him to. A man like Vito Bianchi doesn’t put himself in a subservient position to a woman, even to ask her to marry him. The question is for show only anyway, a gesture that everyone here must know has a foregone conclusion.

The papers are signed already, in front of a priest. There’s no going back. I watch numbly as he opens the box, revealing a glittering oval solitaire diamond on a platinum band, and I wonder for one brief, rebellious moment what would happen if I saidno.

I hold out my hand, seeing it tremble under the bright light of the chandelier. “Yes,” I whisper hollowly.

My eyes burn as Vito smiles victoriously, sliding the ring onto my left hand as the crowd of guests cheer and clap. The diamond sparkles with a thousand shards of sparkling light as he slips it onto my finger, large and ostentatious, a show of the wealth and power that he’s offered my father in exchange for me.

I feel like I’m outside my body as I go through the motions of what comes next—clinking my glass against his as he toasts to our future, taking a bitter sip of champagne as I look over the gathered crowd and see the smiles. It all feels so fake. Everyone here knows they aren’t celebrating love; they’re celebrating a successful business transaction, a shift in power that everyone around me has decided is for the greater good.

I catch one single glimpse of Sebastian standing at the edge of the crowd, his jaw tense and his eyes dark. Even from here, I can see an emotion in them that I can’t—won’t put a name to. If I did, right now, I feel like I might shatter into a thousand pieces.

Vito’s hand wraps around mine tightly, demanding my attention. I snap my gaze back to him, wondering how muchhe saw of where my eyes wandered, and he looks at me with an expression of possessive satisfaction that makes my stomach churn.

The orchestra strikes up again, and the crowd parts as Vito leads me out to the middle of the dance floor. “Our first dance as an engaged couple,” he murmurs as he pulls me in, his hands making my skin crawl as the space between our bodies shrinks to nothing. I want to pull away, to run from him, but I can’t. I can’t fight off his touch forever.

His hand on my waist is firm, the other wrapped around my hand tightly enough that his grip makes me think of a shackle. He moves confidently across the dance floor with me, leading with the self-assuredness of a man accustomed to commanding every room that he enters. This space is no different; it might still belong to my father, but he’s well aware that eventually, it will belong to him.

Just as I do, now.

The dance feels as if it goes on forever. I feel Vito’s fingers slide across my waist to the small of my back, his hand moving to just above my ass as he guides me across the ballroom floor. I want desperately to look for Sebastian, but I know better. Vito is demanding all of my attention right now, and he’ll notice if he loses even a shred of it.

The room feels hot, too crowded, closing in on me. I feel a wave of dizziness wash over me, and the ring on my finger suddenly feels as if it’s weighing my hand down. As if the rock sitting there is around my neck instead, dragging me into the deepest water to drown.

I pull free of Vito’s grip, my chest tightening until I feel like I can’t breathe. I’m going to have a panic attack if I don’t get out of this room, I know that.

“I need some air,” I murmur, stepping back unsteadily. “I’ll just—I’ll just be a minute, I promise. Please excuse me.”

Vito opens his mouth, but whether he’s going to refuse me or not, I don’t wait to find out. I spin on my heel, making my way through the crowd as quickly as I can toward the garden doors.

The fresh air outside, warm as it is on a summer night, feels like heaven. I suck in gulps of it, one hand pressed just below my ribs as I walk down the garden path, my heart beating hard behind my ribs. The thought of going back into that room feels impossible, but I know I’ll have to. In a minute… just a minute, I tell myself. I can have a moment out here, alone, where I feel like I can breathe again.

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