Chapter 9; A Pact With The Devil

It is said that one's wedding day is the best moment of their lives, the day they voice their vows of being together for better or for worse, on sickness or in death, and till death did them apart.

But for Eleanorah, she felt as if she was being forced to the altar to accept a fate she had never in her life imagined she would have to live.

Staring at the Mafia don who stood in front of her facing her and with blood stained suit, she couldn't help but imagine whom he had killed and how many of the people he had killed for him to be stained with blood, and for him also not to bother about changing his suit before arriving at his fortress.

Her gaze drifted to the priest who seemed more scared than she was.

He seemed to be in a a haste and was reading the Chapters of the Bible with speed as if someone had been chasing him.

"Do you Vincent Vincenzo, take Eleanorah Cortessi as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to..... "he wanted to complete but stopped immediately when he saw the Mafia Lord cast an angry glow at him.

" I do and you know that. If I didn't, she wouldn't be here today and you wouldn't be here either" he floated at him and then turned to face Eleanorah.

" I do accept to take you as my wife for a year, Eleanorah Cortessi. My lawfully wedded wife" he added with a sinister smirk at the end of his lips.

" Do you Eleanorah Cortessi, accept to take Vincent Vincenzo as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you two apart?" The priest went at her, completing the statement Vincenzo had not allowed him do at his own then earlier.

Her mind wandered off. Marriage was a sacred sacrament, her father had always told her that. Even her mother did before her death. They had been conservative Christians attending all activities organized by their local church before they had backslidden due to the way they were always unavailable as they had to work long hours to be able to afford their basic needs.

Would her mother be happy she entered into the sacred sacrament as a contract, as a captive, as a pet of a Mafia Lord regardless of the conservative childhood she had been raised in.

But then her father and sister, she thought. If she didn't do this for them, they risked being attacked. This was the only way out of their dilemma. This was their only solution.

"Miss Eleanorah Cortessi?" The priest called out to her, distracting her from her daydream.

"I do" she muttered, barely staring at any of them.

"I now pronounce you too as husband and wife" he added and proceeded to make a sign of the cross.

" You're forgetting one thing" Vincenzo's voice came.

" You are to command us to kiss each other"

"I'm sorry Vincenzo, I almost forgot" the priests voice came again.

He had knowingly skipped that part because he had thought the Mafia boss would hate the part. He was infamous for what he did to women who tried their luck kissing him or seeking sexual favours from him.

He found it odd that he recalled he had to kiss his new bride.

" You may kiss your bride" he said and made the sign of the cross again.

Eleanorah adjusted her hands and closed her eyes waiting for him to kiss her lips but minutes later she figured out that he was not doing so, and neither did she see his towering figure enclosing the little space they had in between them.

She opened her eyes and saw him standing and staring at her.

"Is that how much you crave to be kissed by me, wife?" She heard him say sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes at him and felt like punching them, but she could do nothing other than roll them.

She was a victim anyway, his captive and had less powers than he did. In the new world she found herself in, he was at the top while she was at the underneath bottom.

Her legs had continued to pain her by now but she still tried her best to stand and endure the pains. They were just physical pains and not up to the emotional pains she had to go through when life began throwing lemonades at her from her childhood.

Vincenzo gave the priest who still stood waiting for them to kiss and he took it as a cue to leave the ballroom.

He had had encounters with the Mafia don before, he had seen what happened to those who disobeyed him, he had seen how deep his ruthlessness was. Staying out of his trouble was what he was sure would keep him and the others members of his cathedral safe.

When he left, Eleanorah found herself thrown into the memories of the night she had dreaded. The night that was soon becoming her nightmares whenever she heard about the don nor saw his face.

He must be handsome, she could tell from some parts of his face that she had seen beneath the hat he wore and had worn the other night.she couldn't deny it. He had a chiseled jawline and a nose that accentuated it.

His nose bridge was raised which made him have a pointed nose as well. And his lips looked like Cheries, red and plumpy which has her wondering why someone like him chose the path of ruthlessness like he did.

"Wife" she heard him call. Mockery and sarcasm laced all over his voice.

She looked up at him once more, barely seeing his eyes nor the colour of his hair because of the hat he had on, trying her best to put up an indignant face above the pains she felt in her ankles and leg.

"I chose you" he began.

"Do not think otherwise. You are my captive. You are my slave. Do not think of escaping. You have a year to do your job as my pet carefully. A mistake from you might cost you your life or that of your precious sister or father" he continued.

Her heart sank. True to Dmitri's words, he had all the information about where her family were and any disobedience from her part would cost her any of them.

" Yes think. Look at the marble floor you're standing on. Do you know how many people k had killed here? Do you know how many people begged me to spare them at the position to stand?"

His voice was scaring her, and so we're the threatening stories he had begun to tell her.

She felt her feet wobbling but she still stood straight. She was never going to give in to cowardice especially in front of him.

In one way or the other, she was going to find an escape route or she would draft an escape plan after finding out the exact location of her family. She would escape after rescuing them and run away from him. It's not as if he would chase them, they were of no use to him anyway.

She wasn't that weak that she'd give in to him and all his rules without trying to survive and escape.

"I have my men watching you, wife" he spoke up again, adding inexistent syllables to the wife word while pronouncing it.

"Don't try anything stupid" he said and began to walk out, without higher the kiss she had thought he would.

Somehow she felt relieved. She wouldn't want him to put his lips on hers especially if he were a smoker or a drunkard.

He was a Mafia Lord. Mafia Lord's were known to be heavy drunkards and smokers, she couldn't take the chances of being the third wheel of his immorality spree.

Hearing the doors close before her, she fell to her knees, her legs so swollen and the dress she wore too tight that she could not bend to remove them from her legs.

Then she felt a hand helping her take off the shoes.

She turned and saw Dimitri. She had been so engrossed in the pain she felt that she did not notice him come in.

He seemed like her angel in human form. The guardian angel that has been sent from above to always help her in times of difficulties.

Removing the shoes from her leg, he went ahead to loosen the right corset that had been tied at her back.

She heaved a sigh of relief that made her feel as if it had been ages since she breathed in air.

"Thank you Dmitri" she muttered to his hearing.

"Always at your service, Signorina" he replied her and bowed his head while picking up her shoes and putting forward his hand to help raise her to her feet.

The hand become swollen and were turning red due to the tension from the tight heel she had had to stand on.

"Signorina?" He retorted and he did not waste time in knowing that she did not know the meaning of the word he had always been using for her.

"Madam." He replied.

"It means madam, Signorina" be said again.

She smiled. "I did not take up Italia as my linguist course at highschool, but I did graduate from highschool. It's just college that I did not attend" she said in her defense as she felt embarrassed she had not known the meaning of the word.

" I know Signorina. I know everything about you. I am your security, it is my duty to know everything about you for the Don, Signorina"

She barely looked at him as he walked in front of her as slowly as he could, waiting for her to walk up to him at each step because of the pain he must have known she felt at her feet.

Was that how the mafia's men behaved. She thought. It looked creepy to her that he would know everything about her. In less than a day, he must have done a background check on her , she concluded in her mind.

Afterall, the mafia's enemies were able to tell the time of the night he had returned to his fortress and attacked him, who was she that they would not be able to find out things about in less than a day then.