Keeping his bride

Selina

A SOFT KNOCK comes at my door late on a Saturday night. I open it, thinking Nico is going to be on the other side, but I’m stunned to see his sister standing there. Aria is dressed up like she’s getting ready to go to a party in a short, gold, sequin mini dress, matching high heels and a full face of makeup.

“Bored?” Aria asks me with a Cheshire cat grin.

“Very,” I confess. Nico was with his father the entire day, and we barely got to see each other. I’m sure they were doing important business, so I can’t complain. Nico was so tired when he got home that he just wanted to go to bed and promised he’d make it up to me tomorrow. And I’ve just been sitting here thinking about all the ways he’ll probably be making it up to me…

“Want to go out?” Aria asks, snapping me back to the present. “My friend is DJing at a club tonight, and I’m dying to see her do her thing.”

Hesitating, I glance down the hall to Nico’s closed bedroom door. “Uh…”

“Don’t worry. My brother doesn’t have to know shit. It will be just us girls.”

A nervous smile forms on my lips. I really want Aria to like me, and this might be my ticket into getting to know her better. She’s just like her brother – a closed book until you really put the time and effort in. “Okay, sure,” I tell her with a nod.

She glances down at my pajamas and asks, “Got anything to wear?”

I look down at my attire, suddenly embarrassed. “No?” I say, and it sounds like a question more than an answer.

“Don’t worry. I have plenty in my closet. Come with me.” She holds out her hand, and I take it, the smile never dropping from my lips as she leads me through the compound and to her room.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Aria is shorter than me, so finding something that actually fits is quite a daunting task. We spend about twenty minutes raiding her closet until we finally find a dress that doesn’t show my ass cheeks.

“I love that dress on you,” Aria tells me when I step out of her bathroom.

I glance down at the flowy silver dress and smile.

“I have a pair of kitten heels that might fit you,” she suggests.

I slip into the pair. “They’re a little tight, but I think they’ll work for tonight.”

“Perfect.”

We make our way downstairs and into the garage where there’s a car waiting. I’m expecting to see a few carloads of bodyguards, like how it normally is when Nico and I venture out, but I’m surprised to see only a driver in the front seat and no guards in the back.

“We don’t need more guards?” I ask Aria, trying to keep the tremor of fear out of my voice.

She simply smiles and waves my concerns away in the wind. “We’ll be fine. There are going to be tons of people there. Nothing is going to happen.”

Anxiety gnaws in the back of my mind on the way to the club, and I can’t stop sawing my bottom lip between my teeth in nervousness. I know Nico wouldn’t like this. If he finds out about us going out, he’s going to be pissed. And angry Nico is never a good thing.

When the driver pulls up to the large industrial-looking building, he tells us, “I’ll be parked a few blocks away. Just text when you’re ready to leave.”

“Thank you, Marco,” Aria calls when she jumps out of the back of the car, turning and waiting for me to join her.

Steeling my nerves, I climb out and stand beside her, looking around. God, I wish I had a cell phone so that I could at least text Nico to let him know what we’re doing and where we’re going, but then I remember the control room. Aldo probably knows that we left and already told him. I mean, I hope so anyway. I don’t know exactly how that all works when one of the family members leaves the compound. I don’t know how much of a leash Aria is on, but at the moment I’m hoping it’s extremely short.

Aria grabs my hand and pulls me towards the entrance. There is a long line of people wrapped clear around the block, but Aria goes to the guard at the front and says her name. The big, burly guy with a bald head checks his list and then steps aside for us to go through the front door.

Inside, it’s loud and bright with numerous neon-colored lights moving in various patterns across a huge dance floor. The club is packed to the brim with people drinking, dancing, and talking.

We go to the bar first, ordering and downing a few shots of tequila while we sit on uncomfortable stools, waiting for our sexes on the beach to be made all while simultaneously warding off a few cocky guys who approach us, looking to score.

After Aria tells yet another guy to get lost, she turns to me and says, “You need to relax, Selina.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been able to relax in my entire life now that I think of it. Nodding, I try to force my body to stop being so wound tightly. It, unfortunately, doesn’t work. After being on high alert for so many years, afraid of what will come next, my body has been conditioned into a state of constant awareness and anxiety.

Our drinks arrive a few minutes later just as an upbeat song begins to play over the speakers. Aria jumps up and grabs my hand. “Let’s dance!” she shouts over the music.

With the liquor coursing through my veins and making me feel bold, I follow her onto the dancefloor. Just her presence alone makes the crowd part like the Red Sea. She’s beautiful, strong, and confident, and I wish I could be like her for even just a minute. She commands the room, all eyes on her, and I just dance beside her in wonderment.

She moves her body to the music, her long, chocolate brown hair swaying to the movement. And when she asks me to join in, I put my arms up in the air and move in sync along with her.

“Hell yeah!” Aria calls out with a big grin.

With the alcohol giving me liquid courage, I dance my heart out, never having felt more alive…and normal. I give in to the music, close my eyes and let it take over my body and soul. It feels so liberating, just being able to drink and dance like a regular twenty-something. So many things people just take for granted. After having been locked away in a cage for most of my life, I’ll never take anything for granted again. And I’ll remember this night for the rest of my life as the first of what I hope are many good times to come.

I open my eyes to turn around to thank Aria for taking me out tonight, but my vision somehow locks on a dark figure on the second floor. Most of him is hidden by the shadows, but his hands and how they grip the handrails in front of him have me paralyzed. Those hands. I would recognize those hands anywhere.

Suddenly, my drink slips out of my hand and splatters onto the dance floor.

“Whoa!” Aria calls out, bumping into me and stealing my attention away from the man. “Okay, you’re cut off!” she jokes. But when she sees my face, she sobers quickly. “What? Selina, what’s wrong?”

I look away from her and back to where I saw the man, but he’s no longer there. “Constantine is here!” I say in a panic. My eyes frantically dart around the second floor, desperate to catch another glimpse to be certain, but I can’t find him again.

“Are you sure it was him?” she demands, grabbing my arm and shaking me.

“Yes! No!” I shake my head, wishing now that I was stone-cold sober. “I’m not a hundred-percent sure, but I think it was him.”

“Shit!” Aria mutters under her breath as she pulls her cell phone from her clutch. “I’m going to call Renato just in case. He’ll know what to do.”

She takes my hand and leads me to the corner of the club. We’re in the shadows, hidden from the neon lights, and I can’t stop searching for him.

“Renato, it’s me,” Aria says into the phone. “Listen, don’t freak out, but we’re at the club.”

“Damn it, Aria! Which club?” I can hear him yelling from the other end of the call.

“Liquid Lounge,” she responds. Renato must have some choice words with her, because she pulls the phone away from her ear and rolls her eyes. “I don’t need your shit right now, Renato. I need your help.” She swallows hard before saying, “Selina thinks she just saw Constantine Carbone here.”

I watch Aria’s face morph from merely concerned into pure panic. Now she knows exactly how I’m feeling.

“He said we need to get out of here. I’ll text the driver to come pick us up. He’s only a few blocks away. Then we can -.”

She never gets to finish that sentence. A loud, deafening boom sounds, and the music suddenly cuts off.

Pop, pop, pop, pop!

I pull Aria down to her knees, sheltering her as the gunfire goes off. The crowd of people erupts into panic, many screaming as they start running for the exits. I push Aria under a table so that we don’t get trampled to death as the shooting continues to explode through the entire club. Dead bodies begin to fall around us until the place looks like something out of a war movie.