Page 58 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

“We have to make an appearance here, but if you’d like to leave early, we don’t have to stay long,” Dominic said, placing his hand over mine. It was the first time he’d touched me since the kiss in the chapel.

I sighed as a wave of gratitude washed over me, but it was short-lived. After the wedding reception came the wedding night. Was Dominic expecting me to put out just because we were married now? It irked me that part of me was more than happy with that plan.

This was supposed to be an arranged marriage—a marriage of convenience—but nothing I felt for him was convenient. Not the anger or resentment, not the gratitude or the attraction. But then, no one had been concerned with what wasconvenientfor me or else we wouldn’t have been here in the first place.

Before I could respond, the door opened, and I could see Maria standing just outside the car. She waited while Dominic and I got out. Then she took my hand and led me off to a small dressing room inside the hall with a garment bag over her arm.

She dropped the bag the moment she closed the door then turned and wrapped her arms around me.

“You did wonderfully,cara mia,”she whispered against my shoulder, squeezing me tighter. “Welcome to my family.”

A tear escaped and slipped down my cheek. I was sad. I was mourning the loss of the life I should have lived. And yet, something sparked to life inside me hearing her words. Whether I wanted it or not, I was part of something now. I was part of Maria’s family. I was a Luca.

And then, in what I was coming to see as usual-Maria fashion, she leaned away, picked up the garment bag, and did what needed to be done.

“We have to get you changed in a hurry,” she said, maneuvering me around so she could unfasten the long row of tiny pearl buttons down my back.

The woman could have been a quick-change artist. I was out of my gown and into a long, white sheath with a slit all the way up the thigh in two minutes flat.

She stepped back and looked me over.

“Bellissima,” she exclaimed before returning me to the doors outside the hall where Dominic waited, talking in quiet tones with Vincent.

Following Maria and Vincent, we walked inside the hall to an uproar of applause. Again, I wanted to cover my ears, but I focused on the sage green and light terracotta décor instead. The earthy colors were broken up by a veritable sea of white flowers. Lilies, I realized—the same flowers Dominic had given me after our disastrous date.

I stared at the flowers as Dominic held out a chair, laden in silk, for me at the head table. I wondered what would have happened that day if I’d rejected the flowers and sent him on his way. Would that have been the end of it? Somehow, I doubted it. Still, it made no sense that he’d bothered with all those dates if this was going to be the outcome no matter what.

He was trying to make this easier for you, a voice whispered inside my head, but was that right? It was true he could have just dragged me down the aisle the day we’d met. I had a feeling the priest would have been no more help than he’d been today.

I looked over at him. He sat next to me, conversing in Italian with a middle-aged man and the twenty-something pretty brunette that hung off the man’s arm. I tried to wait patiently, fiddling with the ring that was wrapped around my finger. I could feel the weight of it, the strange pressure against my skin, but it didn’t feel quite like the noose I’d expected. Constricting, but not strangling.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he said as the couple wandered away, leaning in so that his lips brushed my ear.

A warm shiver rushed through me.

“Why did you wait?” I blurted out.

Dominic leaned back and raised a brow at me, waiting for me to explain.

“If this was going to be the outcome all along, why did you bother with those dates? It doesn’t make sense.”

He shrugged.

“I thought we’d have more time. There was no reason to rush you if there was any chance it could have gone more smoothly.” His words were spoken lightly, but it felt like they’d been chosen carefully.

“Would you like to dance,limone?” he asked, standing up and effectively putting an end to the conversation.

He offered his hand, and I took it, pausing to look around. There were already couples dancing on the pale wood dance floor. It seemed there would be no official first dance for husband and wife, for which I was grateful. I’d had enough of strangers staring at me for one day.

“Satisfied?” he asked with a quirk of his brow and a smile playing at the corners of his lips.Cocky mind reader.

I let him pull me up, and he kept my hand in his as he led me around the head table and out to the dance floor.

Once there, he kept my hand in his and placed his free hand on the small of my back, leading me into an easy waltz.

We floated across the lacquered dance floor like we were weightless. Around and around we went, as though each movement had been meticulously choreographed.

Fuck.He was good at this.

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