He’s keeping everything from my brother and he’s convinced my aunt to keep it from Enzo too. This can’t be happening.
“You can begin, Father,” Nico says to the priest.
“I will not marry you,” I announce before the priest can begin.
“Gianna,” Francesca gasps, horrified.
I look Nico in the eye and try to speak with as much bravery as I can. The old Gianna would have let everyone decide her fate for her but this new version of me is going to fight. I have to because I have no one else fighting for me right now.
“I will not marry you,” I repeat. “You’ve treated me terribly and you’re going to do it again after we’re married. You want to control me and I refuse to be controlled.”
“Gianna,” Nico seethes. “Stop being insolent. You will marry me. You already agreed to.”
“Well, I change my mind. I see how bad of a man you are and I will not marry you.”
“And yet, you’d gladly let a hitman fuck you?”
Francesca gasps. “What is he talking about?”
I ignore my aunt. “Will is a better man that you will ever be. He doesn’t want to control me. He wants to give me the freedom I’ve always craved. But you just want to dictate my life. You want to hurt me. And I will not stand back and let that happen.”
Nico turns to the priest. “Begin the ceremony.”
“Well…” The priest hesitates. “If the girl doesn’t want to be married, I can’t force her.”
Nico whips out his gun and aims it at the priest’s head. “You will start the ceremony. Now.”
The priest quickly nods and begins speaking. I drown out his voice in my head. I will not let this happen. I cannot. I have to fight.
I storm away from the dais and down the aisle when Nico tells me to stop. I glance back and see that his gun is pointed at me.
“Nico?” Francesca asks. “That’s my niece. Don’t point a gun at her.”
“You will marry me,” Nico growls. “Or I will shoot you. If I can’t have you, then no one can.”
“Nico!” Francesca gasps.
“Shut up,” he growls at her. “Or I will shoot you too. Now, Gianna, come back here and marry me.”
I can’t let my aunt get killed even if I don’t always like her. With no other choice, I turn back around and stand before Nico, prepared to marry him.
Chapter Eighteen
Will
Iburst into the church to see Gianna standing before Nico at the altar. The priest is reciting their wedding vows. She is really going to marry him. It’s obvious from the expression on her face that she’s miserable.
Gianna isn’t even mine. She is her own person who has the right to make her own decisions. I took that from her when I kidnapped her but now I know I have to let her go to make up her own mind.
But it’s clear that she doesn’t want to marry Nico and I have to save her. Even if she doesn’t choose me in the end.
“Stop!” I shout, storming down the aisle, my gun drawn. The church is empty except for Gianna, her aunt, Nico, and the priest.
Nico spins around, pure shock and fury on his face. “You should have died.” He pulls out his own gun but I fire into the air before he can shoot me. It makes him flinch and drop his gun.
“I will not stand back and watch you force Gianna into a marriage she clearly doesn’t want. Let her go, Nico.”
“She is not yours,” he snarls.