A knock at my door pulls me from my spiraling thoughts.
My heart stutters. Is it him? Is he here to walk me through this day, to stand beside me as we sign our lives away to each other?
"Come in."
A woman in a crisp grey uniform enters carrying a garment bag and a small tray with tea and toast. Her smile is warm, professional, and entirely non-threatening.
Disappointment sinks through my chest like a stone dropped in still water. I hate that I wanted it to be him. Hate the hollow ache his absence leaves behind.
"Good morning, Mrs. Valentina."
Chills race down my spine and my heart thuds hard against my ribs. That name. His name. Wrapped around mine like a chain I never asked to wear.
"Mr. Valentina asked me to bring your dress for today's ceremony. He also requested I inform you that the car will be ready in two hours."
She lays the garment bag across the foot of my bed with careful reverence, sets the tray on the nightstand, and disappears before I can form a coherent response.
Mrs. Valentina. I'm not even married yet and the household already calls me by his name.
I stare at the garment bag for a long moment before curiosity wins over resentment.
The covers fall away as I swing my legs over the side of the bed, my bare feet finding the cool hardwood. I strip out of the pajamas I found yesterday in Luca's closet, exactly where he said they would be. Soft cotton in pale blue, tags still attached, purchased for a wife he hadn't yet claimed. I'd taken the pajamas but refused the room. This guest room, three doors down from his, was the one small act of control I could cling to. A tiny rebellion in a life suddenly stripped of choices.
I leave the discarded pajamas folded on the edge of the bed and cross to the garment bag.
The zipper parts to reveal white silk that catches the morning light like captured moonbeams. Simple but stunning. A sheath dress that will skim my curves without clinging, with delicate lace at the neckline and a hem that falls just below my knees.
No train. No veil. No fantasy of a fairy tale wedding.
But it's beautiful. Exactly the kind of dress I would have chosen for myself if I'd been given the choice.
Another thing I hate how much I love it.
Two hours later, I stand in a courthouse that smells like old paper and institutional coffee, wearing a dress that fits like it was sewn onto my body and shoes that Luca apparently had custom made because of course he did. My hair is loose around my shoulders, the blue tips on display for the first time in months. Luna helped me get ready via video call, her grey eyes soft with concern even as she assured me I looked gorgeous.
The ceremony takes less than fifteen minutes.
A judge with kind eyes and a perfunctory manner. Drake and Katriana, whom I just met, stand as witnesses on one side. Kon, another brother I just met, is a silent mountain on the other.
There’s no music. No flowers. No walking down an aisle toward a future I chose.
Just words and signatures and the cold finality of law.
"Do you, Luca Valentina, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
His answer comes without hesitation. No pause. No flicker of doubt. Just two words delivered with the weight of an oath sworn in blood.
"I do."
The certainty in his voice makes my stomach flip. He says it like he means it. Like this isn't a trap he set or a contract he's enforcing. Like he's been waiting his whole life to speak those words to me.
The judge turns to me.
"Do you, Ilona Marchetti, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
I look at Luca. Really look at him, past the expensive suit and the commanding presence and the infuriating arrogance that got us here. Past the blackmail and the lies and the trap closing around me.
He stands perfectly still, his dark eyes locked on mine with an intensity that steals my breath. Long hair pulled back with that damn leather cord I want to pluck from his hair just to see all those waves tumble loose. His beard is trimmed close to his jaw. Ink I've traced with my fingers and tongue peeks out from his collar. And there on his right hand, the viper coils across his skin, ruby eyes glinting in the fluorescent light.