Chapter 7

Seven

Elena

My eyes skim the contract Romeo gave me a few days ago for the hundredth time, not wanting to process what my own family has written.

He’s bound to protect her.

He’s bound his life to hers to have me.

He’s bound to marry her if I leave him.

He’s bound to divorce me if she dies.

I’m supposed to be getting ready to go to my sister's early birthday party, a party I don’t even want to go to, but my mind is on this stupid contract, which means we’re running late.

It all seems too easy, you know, to believe what he’s saying, and what’s in the contract, but I just can’t.

I frown, my finger lightly tracing Romeo’s signature. All the looks they’ve given each other, the times I’ve stumbled on them, forcing them to jump a part suspiciously.

The fact he still signed the contract….

I just can’t understand why he’s trying to convince me this is why he’s always with her. I mean, it’s been four years; surely a don like my husband, who is extremely powerful, forceful, and damn right scary when he wants to be, could have found a way around this contract by now.

Something seems…off. I just can’t figure out what.

“ Farfalla , you’re not ready yet?” Romeo rasps from behind me.

I don’t take my eyes off the contract as I hum nonchalantly, and he sighs before I feel him come up behind me where I’m sitting in front of my vanity mirror. He gently rests his hands on my shoulders, making me tense at his touch, and he sighs, before slowly moving my hair to one side.

“I think you should wear your hair down today,” he murmurs, pressing his lips to my head.

Without thinking, I instantly scoff, “Why so my sister can try and cut it again? No thanks,” but soon regret it when he squeezes my shoulders hard.

I don’t need him knowing how difficult it was to be raised with Liliya. The bitch always wanted the attention, and if it came to me for just a second, she ensured it turned negative the next day.

She accused me of trying to cut my own hair, and Mama ended up hitting me with the belt five times.

Growing up, I thought it was normal, until I went to school and saw how the parents were with their children, and how siblings acted—it was an eye-opener, that’s for sure.

Taking my eyes off the contract, I grab my brush, and put my hair in a neat bun, ensuring I don’t tangle the necklace Mamma Russo gave me in the brush. This causes Romeo to take a step back. He doesn’t say anything, he just watches my every move, and I don’t say anything to him.

What is there to say?

He apparently wanted me from the moment he saw me, or that’s what it states in the contract, and I’ve re-read that thing more times than I can count over the past few days, and yet something doesn’t feel right, or maybe it was the phone call from my precious sister yesterday that has my back up, her words ringing through as always.

“You don’t deserve him, Elena. You need to divorce him so he and I can finally be together like we were supposed to be years ago.”

I blink, gently wrapping a hair tie around the bun.

“He loves me, Elena. Mama and Papa are still punishing me for straying all those years ago, but he’s mine, not yours. Why else would he buy the exact same choker necklace on your wedding day, but in black, hmm?”

I tried to tell her to back off, saying she needed to grow up and leave my husband alone. A part of me believed the contract, still holding onto hope that my marriage wasn’t loveless, but she shot that down instantly.

“If I wasn’t fucking him, then how would I know he has a reverse Prince Albert?” She sighs. “Just do the right thing, Elena, for me and my love. You're just being selfish….”

I guess that’s why I feel like something is off with this contract. I mean, how else would she know about his piercing?

Swallowing hard, I look in the mirror one last time, hating the sadness that shows all over my face. I mutter, “Let’s get this over with,” without making eye contact. I stand, the dark blue dress flowing to the floor.

Romeo takes me in, but I walk past him, not looking his way.

I wonder how he’d like it if I spent the evening with another man, rubbing it in his face like he does with my sister….

Guess it’s not the same, though, because I’m just his pretty property….

Forty minutes later, we’re walking into Luis’, my sister’s favorite restaurant, that costs an arm and a leg, and all eyes come our way, making me feel uncomfortable.

God, I don’t even know why we’re doing this. I mean, who celebrates a month before their actual birthday?

I look down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. Romeo has his arm around my waist protectively, keeping me close, ensuring everyone knows I’m his property. I have tried to knock his arm off a few times, but he gives me a death glare, yet he doesn’t say one word.

Even in the car, he barely glanced at me. Guess his phone was more important.

“Oh my God, Romeo, you’re finally here,” my sister gasps as she rushes our way, her breasts nearly popping out of her tight white corset, her skirt—if you can call it that—showing her butt, before throwing herself into my husband’s arms, knocking me out of the way, causing me to tumble in front of everyone. My cousin, Maxim, just catches me, and I send him a small smile in thanks while gripping his black button-down shirt, but his glare is on Liliya, so instead, I lean on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek, mumbling, “Thank you, dvoyurodnyy brat ,” hoping to distract him.

My sister doesn’t want him taking over from my father, knowing he’ll cut her off, and she will use anything against him.

He looks down at me, giving me a loving smile, before squeezing my waist and muttering, “Anything for my favorite cousin,” making me giggle as his dark green eyes look behind me. They darken with anger. “Come, El, you can sit with me.” He says, and I nod, allowing him to mauver me away from the show my sister is trying to put on with my husband.

Guess now everyone can see the affair they’ve been having.

I look their way one last time to see Rome’s hands on her hips, not pushing her body off his, and tears start to build. Quickly looking away, I place myself deeper into my cousin’s warmth, happy he’s here.

He takes me three tables away from the main one in the room where my parents are sitting, and I mutter, “Maxim, when are you going to grow your hair back, the lights keep bouncing off your head,” to distract me from my pain. His wife, Valerie, snorts into her drink, causing it to go everywhere.

I grin, as Maxim squeezes my hip, whispering, “Little she-devil.” My grin goes wider as he pulls my chair out and states, “Sit your ass down, dvoyurodnyy brat, before I feed you to the wolves.”

I smile as I sit, and mutter, “You’d never do that; you love me too much,” as the stunning blonde with light blue eyes leans over and kisses my cheek.

“That he does, El,” Valerie agrees, and I give her a soft look.

She and Maxim were high school sweethearts.

He married her as soon as they hit eighteen, and knocked her up before my father could find him a suitable bride for the future Pakhan. When he heard about Maxim’s elopement, he was furious, but when Maxim swore to leave the organization for Valerie, who was a civilian, my father was impressed by his love for her and what he was willing to give up. It helped when he learned they were having a boy, an heir.

Their love is something for the storybooks, and something I don’t think I’ll ever have.

“Follow me, Romeo. I saved you a seat,” my sister says loudly, getting our attention. Valerie growls, Maxim scoffs, and I, well, I just watch as he willingly takes hold of her hand and follows her to the main table, where, not so shockingly, there’s no seat for me.

He doesn’t even look around the room to see where I’ve gone, and this is why I don’t believe that contract or his pleas for me to listen.

Shaking my head, I look toward Valerie and give her a sad smile as she grabs my hand, squeezing it all while I want to crawl into the shadows. I can feel the eyes on me because my husband is sitting next to his sister-in-law, allowing her to be all over him.

He’s made me into the embarrassment, and doesn’t have the decency to care.

I spend all evening on my own after Maxim and Valerie are called to do the rounds with the Made Men and family members.

No one comes my way, not even my husband; instead, I watch as my sister hangs off Romeo’s arm while he lets her, breaking my heart.

“I think it’s time you let that man go.” I jump at the voice, and turn to see my mother’s sister, Agy, my sister’s biggest supporter, looking me up and down like I’m dirt beneath her shoe.

Another woman who is mad I wasn’t born a boy.

I raise a brow. “You think I should let my husband go, a husband I was forced to marry when my sister couldn’t keep her legs shut?”

Her nostrils flare, but she doesn’t back down. "Yes. He was always supposed to be with Liliya. It’s been four years, Elena, and you haven’t fulfilled the contract, giving Romeo an heir. Right now, all you are doing is keeping two people in love apart….”

With that said, she walks away, leaving me speechless as my eyes go to the man who slowly stole my heart, and my sister who treated me like crap growing up. They’re talking to my father.

Romeo’s back is to me, but his arm is around my sister protectively. She has a big grin, her body leaning against Romeo’s.

My whole family is here with my father’s men, and he’s claiming her like I’m not even in the room.

My eyes tear up as I grab my purse, adamant about leaving, when a loud crash and bang echo in the room. Screams and shouts fill me as I watch in horror as my husband dives for my sister, covering her body with his, before sharp, searing pains shoot down my leg, and I cry in shock, my legs giving out.

I fall to the floor with a thump as another shot rings out past my shoulder, skimming it, and I scream, tears falling. My eyes return to the room's other side to see men running around. My father is protecting my mother, shooting toward the backdoor, my husband is still on top of my screaming sister, all while I’m unprotected.

I sob.

He saved her but didn’t even look around the room to see if I was okay. It’s like he’s forgotten I’m even here.

Dizziness hits me suddenly, and pain throbs in my leg, causing me to look down, my eyes going to my blood-soaked dress, and I realize….

Oh God, I’ve been shot….

My heart pounds and I look around the room again.

Chaos is everywhere, but everyone’s attention is on my screaming sister, checking to make sure she isn’t hurt with how much she is crying, while Maxim is ordering the men around, with Valerie tucked under his arm.

“Romeo!” my sister wails, and my blurry eyes go their way, only for bile to rise.

Her arms are wrapped around his neck, his around her waist, and their lips are locked.

Everything in me shuts down, Agy’s words hitting me again….

“All you're doing is keeping two people in love a part….”

And she’s right. I don’t know why Romeo was adamant about me reading the contract, but right now, he and Liliya are getting what they want because I’m out.

I’m done.

Drowsiness hits me hard, and I know I need to get out of here. No one knows I’m hurt; no one cares….

Trying to breathe through the nausea and dizziness, I slowly crawl toward the main entrance.

A waiter runs past me, stomping on my hand, making me cry. He flinches but keeps on running, and I sob as the pain tears through my body as I crawl out the shattered door.

Vomit builds, and I fall to my side, weakness taking over.

“Miss?” a bystander gasps in shock and quickly bends down, lifting me bridal style. I cry out, and the man winces as he shouts, “I need some help here!”

That’s the last thing I hear, before the world fades away.