Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t speak.
The bastard was going to make sure my eyes stayed on his.
“I, Sienna Luciano, take thee, Crucifixio Martinez, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”
If I reiterated those vows I didn’t mean, I wouldn’t be any better than the man who just professed them to me. More sins in the name of La Famiglia, except these would be mine to bear.
In my heart.
My soul.
I’d be a sinner too.
I refused.
I opened my mouth to shout, to tell him, “No!” However, my lips wouldn’t move. I just stood there in a state of pure panic unable to do anything but dread this moment in time where I was seconds away from becoming a mafia wife.
No! I. Can’t. Do. This!
“Sienna…” the priest coaxed. “Do you take Crucifixio Martinez as your husband?”
I shook my head. “I…I…”
“Princesa…” Cruz warned in a voice I didn’t appreciate. Swiftly reminding me of who he was and what he stood for. In that “do as I say” stern mafioso tone I’d heard out of my father’s throat one too many times.
I scowled, spitting fire, “I do—”
“There,” Cruz interrupted in a harsh pitch that echoed across the vaulted ceilings and stained glass of the cathedral. “She said, ‘I do.’ Go on.”
I jerked back, hearing those two words over-and-over again, sprinting rapidly through my mind. They vibrated into every bone in my body, crushing my spirit, my independence, my resolve.
It shattered all around me, tumbling down like a house of cards made of saints and angels. Chaining my life, my future, my death, to this gangster.
Once again, I found my voice. Expressing, “I do—”
“How many times do I need to repeat myself, Father? Continue on, now.”
“Cruz, please…” she whispered. “I’m begging you. Let me go.”
The priest did what he was ordered to do. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss—”
A deep growl within my newlywed husband’s torso erupted before he forcefully gripped onto the nook of my neck. I stumbled forward as he yanked me toward him, trying to catch my footing but my hands fell upon his solid chest.
The devil didn’t even meet me half way.
In less than a second, his mouth crashed onto mine with a sudden passion I wasn’t anticipating. Molding us into one person. My head whooshed back from the unexpected impact, blown away by his actions and unashamed boldness.
Instantly, my lips burned as he kissed me. Shoving his tongue into my mouth, he devoured every last inch of my lips like we weren’t in front of my father or in a church filled to the brim with family and friends.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Reporters, photographers, all lost their shit. This was their money shot. What they’d been waiting for, and Cruz didn’t let them down.
With a fierce grip, his hand dug into my hair, and I inadvertently yelped from the offence on my scalp. Angling my head, he positioned it where he could prolong his assault and deepen his attack against my swollen mouth.
This wasn’t a kiss.
This was all claim.
Primal.
Heady.
Dominant in every way.
This wasn’t for me.
It. Was. For. Him.
And I was no one’s property.
No one’s.
I did what any respectful woman would do if she suddenly found herself in this situation
I bit down on his tongue as hard as I fucking could.
Until I tasted…
Blood.
PART III
Chapter 21
—Cruz—
Don’t fuck with me.
Her soft tongue.
Her scent.
Her body pressed up against mine.
I loudly groaned, feeling her for the first time. I didn’t give a shit we were in a church among family, friends, or her father.
El Capo.
She was mine now.
I could do as I pleased without anyone’s approval or opinion, and I was barely getting started. She was the taste of the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden.
Sienna Contessa Martinez was my sweetest goddamn sin.
Longing for some sort of connection to her, I claimed her lips the only way I knew how. By kissing her as if my life depended on it.
Urgent.
Powerful.
Intense as fuck.
It was everything.
She was everything.
The water I needed to survive, the air I needed to breathe, the love I craved more than anything. The unity of our marriage was set in stone and there was nothing she could do about it.
Her past ended the instant she became my wife.
Our future was all that mattered, and she’d quickly learn how to march in line and accept her fate which was tied to mine now. Digging my hands into her scalp, I sucked on her tongue, savoring her indescribable taste. It wasn’t until I heard her yelp, that I was prepared for the repercussions of my brazen actions.
She bit down, hard.
The taste of my metallic blood instantly flooded through our mouths. My cock twitched knowing she just swallowed my blood like she would my cum. Call it sick or fucking twisted, but I didn’t give a damn.