AMPHITRITE His Redemption

Adriano looked at the girl sleeping beside him and was disgusted. Not because he thought she was ugly, no, she was breathtakingly beautiful, she was in every sense perfect and that was the problem. Why had he agreed to this union in the first place? She was perfect, sweet and innocent. She was not supposed to be married to a man like him. But now, they were joined in this union ‘till death do them part’. It wasn’t just a vow; it was how things worked in their world. Divorce was not an option and running away from your marriage was probably the worst mistake you could ever make as a woman.

It was a death sentence. The only thing that could break a marital union was death. This sweet, precious girl was bound to him forever till either of them died.

****

ISMERALDA

Most girls her age would be thinking about graduating and going to college in two years and were most probably planning out their future and their careers. Ismeralda Romano had known that getting married was inevitable. That was how things worked in their world. Every girl was supposed to have been married before they turned twenty and they were to be engaged before they were eighteen. Ismeralda was sixteen and it hadn’t taken her father long to find a husband for her.

Ismeralda stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had been looking at herself for almost ten minutes. She was dressed and made up properly in a navy-blue dinner dress that was super long. She was wearing a diamond necklace around her neck that was a bit too heavy but her mother had insisted that she wear it. Thankfully, the diamond earrings she had on were not so heavy and they would be bearable for the evening. Her mother had allowed her to wear flat shoes because she knew that if she wore high-heeled shoes, she would fall and make a fool of herself because although she hated to admit it, Ismeralda was hopelessly clumsy.

The make-up on her face made her look way older than she was. It was probably for the best since her fiancé was over 5 years older than her.

The reason for all the dress-up was because today was the official engagement party for her and her soon-to-be husband, Adriano Ferrari who was also the capo of the Lato Oscuro mafia organization.

Adriano was every girl’s dream and, in all honesty, Ismeralda too had developed a crush on him when she had first seen him at a party at his house a year ago so she wasn’t all that annoyed at the fact that she was getting married so young.

Adriano was incredibly handsome. He had nice, thick, black hair. Thick, curly brows, piercing, dark grey eyes, and nice tanned skin. He was six foot and five inches and obviously from his body structure, you could tell that he worked out a lot.

He was quiet a lot and didn’t say much of anything. Even during parties, he tried not to mingle with people but she knew he wasn’t shy because he had an air of confidence around him. Everybody knew it and that was why nobody ever dared to cross him.

She wondered how a girl like him could ever survive in a house with a guy like him.

She had once heard her father complaining that he was a control freak and that he hated to relinquish control to anyone. If he could be controlling with her father who was his consigliere, then there was no reason why he wouldn’t control her. And nothing upset her more than someone trying to control her. She could hardly even tolerate it from her father.

“Mom told me to tell you that Adriano is here and that you should come down now.” Her little sister Sienna said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“Okay, tell her I’ll be right there.” She replied without taking her eyes away from the mirror.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She hoped her hands would still by the time she got downstairs because she felt really shaky. Again, thank God she wasn’t wearing heels.

With one last glance at herself in the mirror, she turned around and left the room.

When she got to the staircase, she saw that her parents were already deep in conversation with Adriano. They were probably telling him all the sweet things about her and most of what they were probably saying were exaggerations.

She descended the staircase slowly and her movement probably caught his attention because Adriano looked up at her immediately. She was hoping to get some form of reaction from him but all she was met with were cold grey eyes. But his face wasn’t hardened, she’d just have to console herself with that.

When she was one step away from them, he brought his hand out to her in invitation. He was being a gentleman because courtesy demanded that he be one.

“Good evening, Ismeralda.” He greeted her in a soft voice. She was surprised by the sound of his voice because she had expected his voice to be cold like his face.