STOLEN || 18+ (Monsters #3)

.4. Me

"There was once a very great American surgeon named Halsted. He was married to a nurse. He loved her immeasurably. One day Halsted noticed that his wife's hands were chapped and red when she came back from surgery. And so he invented rubber gloves. For her. It is one of the great love stories in medicine. The difference between inspired medicine and uninspired medicine is love.

When I met Ana I knew: I loved her to the point of invention."

- Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House

. . .

Leyla

New York State

I loved weddings. There was something about weddings which made me happy, especially when they were as grand as this one.

There were about a hundred people, most of them looked like they could pull a gun out any moment. I had gone to some wedding of my maternal relatives, and they hand hundreds of people there, but those weddings still did not feel as grand as this one.

And then they were there. The Valentinos, all three of them. Dante Valentino was drinking with women in his arms. Fabiano Valentino and Giovanni Valentino were looking at just one person.

Me.

The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was luxurious. On every table, I saw bottles of most sought-after wines, the whole place looked to have been made with money, yet and the bride and grooms outshone the luxuries just by their presence.

I had never talked to the Creeds, and I hoped I would never have to. They were not known for being kind, and I was the kind of person who cried because of everything.

So, to avoid any interaction which any mafia men, I stayed in the shadows, always near a hiding place. It was a large hall with plenty of places to hide.

Yet, two Valentinos seemed immune to my tricks of self disappearance. Which was a surprise, I wasn't a noticeable girl. I stayed in the shadows, opened my mouth when asked to - unless there was an argument over some part of history, which was highly unlikely because half of the dinners held at home were with mindless politicians.

I looked at my father as I sipped my drink. He had barely kept it together when Leona told him that Olivia refused to have him walk her down the aisle. A good decision for Olivia, who had walked down the aisle with Giovanni, but we were going to suffer the consequences.

My father was smiling and mingling, a good politician. There were many other politicians here, too. I did wonder why the public gave them a chance when they were seen with mafia men. It seemed stupid. It was stupid.

"Such a friendly guy, isn't he?"

I jumped in fright, looking up at Zavier Creed who smiled down at me, leaning against a pillar with a drink in his hand. Zavier Creed was handsome, I did sort of had a crush on him the first time I saw him. His dark hair, dark eyes, tatted and golden skin did attract a lot of women.

"Yeah." I nodded, unsure what else to say.

"I heard about the little arrangement between your father and my friends, Fabi and Gio. A very unusual arrangement, but apparently you agree." He raised his eyebrows at me.

I frowned. "What arrangement?"

"You don't have to pretend."

Olivia appeared, dressed in her wedding dress, looking like a goddess in it.

She smiled at me, linking her arm with Zavier's who bent down to kiss her forehead. "Leyla. What do you think? I spent weeks arranging it."

I smiled. "It's beautiful. You have elegant taste."

"Thank you."

"This is awkward," Zavier said after a moment of silence. "Let's go dance, baby."

Olivia waved at me as she walked away, in the arms of the man who loved her.

Another thing I envied her for. Love. She had so much of it. But she had suffered for it too, from what I knew.

I looked at Gabriella, her eyes were narrowed at some guy who was looking right at her. He looked familiar. He had a scar on his face that went from the corner of his right eye to the base of his jaw.

And then I remembered him.

Nikolai. Russian Monster.

I sighed. What was up with mafia men not knowing how to not stare?

I walked to Gabriella, pulling her to my side.

"I'm going to give him a scar to match with the one he has," she said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, aware of two pairs of eyes on me. "He can kill you like...ten times in ten minutes."

I looked at the dance floor. Olivia was dancing with Giovanni, a small smile on her face. I wondered how the heck was she not scared of him? How was she not scared of the Creeds? Olivia I knew used to play it safe.

People change.

My father certainly did.

Gabriella eventually ditched me for more drinks and I looked around anxiously. I liked weddings, yes, but having the eyes of two very dangerous men on me was not something I was used to.

I heard someone approach me.

I looked up at Dante Valentino and barely managed to not fall on my butt.

He extended his hand towards me, arching an eyebrow. "Care to dance, Miss Campbell?" Dante Valentino was handsome. Tall, blond, and dangerous wrapped in an Armani suit. His green eyes held nothing, not fire or ice like his brothers.

I put my hand into his, not saying anything and not having the guts to say no to him. I was not an idiot. He could pull out his gun and shoot me in the head and no one would do anything to him.

I often wondered what it must feel like to have power like that. That insane amount of power - like monarchs did in history.

He pulled me onto the dancing floor, leading our moments while I looked at his chin. I could not bring myself to look into his eyes. I was frozen, just my legs were moving to follow him.

"They seem eager."

"Huh?"

"My brothers," he said, twirling me around and bringing me back to him. "To dance with you."

"D-Don't-"

The song ended I saw him, Fabiano, as he walked towards us.

He extended his hand towards me, eyes stern. "Dance with me."

"I-"

My eyes somehow fell on my father who was looking right at me. He nodded once. It was clear what he wanted.

I put my trembling hand in Fabiano's and he pulled me impossibly closer to him.

"You look gorgeous tonight, Leyla."

. . .