Beautiful Lies

Chapter Five

Lorena

DANTE: Want to go shopping for your wedding dress?

Laughing, I shake my head. I still can't believe that Dante and I are getting married. He wants to go through with the ceremony as soon as possible. That means by the end of this month I'll be Mrs. Russo. At 23, I'm married to someone I don't know. Maybe we should get to know each other better before the wedding, but I don't know if he and I want to do that, since the whole thing is a charade.

LORENA: No, don't you know that's bad luck, Gattino.

I decided that if he always gives me nicknames, I'll give him one too. Kitten fits perfectly, because he is so nice and loving. I hope the sarcasm came through.

DANTE: Have we decided to give me a nickname. Do you think my men would take me seriously if you called a future mafia boss kitten, principessa.

Reality hits me. I, Lorena Amelia Castio, will marry into the Mafia Famiglia. I ignore Dante's message and go inside the coffee shop. I look around and spot Connor. He waves me over to him. "Glad you could make it." He pulls the chair back for me and I sit down, thanking him. "I hope you don't mind, but I already ordered you a vanilla latte and a blueberry muffin. You still like that, don't you?"

For a while, I thought Connor might want something from me. But this suspicion quickly went away when he introduced me to his girlfriend Daphne. "Thank you for the invitation. This is still my favorite order.", I said while taking a sip of my latte. "Why did you want to meet?", I asked him. "I wanted to talk to you about Tommy. He has come to terms with being in a wheelchair, however he is eight years old and also has aspirations to play with the others like a normal eight year old. I don't want him to fall into depression."

I had to think back to my own trauma. After the bad incident on my eighteenth birthday, I also fell into depression. I no longer had any meaning in my life and only wanted to die. However, I had help and was able to get through the trauma. After that, I had to look for a meaning in life and I came across this center for the disabled. I met many great children, but no child touched me like Tommy. He had fallen from a tree while climbing and had injured his spine. His father did not know that it was not allowed to move him and because of that he lost his mobility in his legs.Since that day, his father has made many self-reproaches.

"Lorena?" says Connor while touching me on the arm. "I'm sorry, I must have gotten caught up in my thoughts. Yes, we should help Tommy, and starting next month, I'll have more time to help out at the center, too." "Ah, why is that?"

How can you say I'm marrying a rich mafia boss who doesn't want me to work without saying so. "I quit my job, it's best not to ask why, it's a long story." "Okay." he says laughing and we continue our conversation.

When we realized that it was getting late, we left the coffee shop. Just as I was about to walk out the door, someone bumped into me and I lost my balance. Connor was able to catch me in time before I would have fallen on the ground.

"Why the fuck are your fucking hands on my wife?", I hear a voice shout. I break away from Connor and see Dante standing in front of his black car. "You're married?", Connor asks me confused. "No, not yet. This is my fiancé Dante, Dante this is my work colleague Connor." "Ah, and why does your workmate Connor have his arms around me?" he snarls.

"Don't make a scene here Dante. If you had gotten out of the car a few seconds earlier, you would have seen that he only caught me because someone ran into me." He takes a few steps toward me and pulls me close. "You need to watch where you're going, mia cara."

The only thing I can focus on is how his lips move. I wonder what kind of lip care he uses. How can his lips look so soft? "Um Lorena, I'm going to go," I hear Connor say. I turn around and smile at him. "I'll see you on Monday and we can work out our plans." He nods and walks down the street. "What plans?", asks Dante. I break away from Dante and look at him in wonder. "Why are you even here? I guess not that you found me here by coincidence."

"If you had looked at your phone, you would have seen that I have left you many messages. Now that you're marrying me you have to always be available, you never know where the next enemy is lurking." "Awww, just say you missed me Gattino," I say while pinching his cheek. He just looks at me speechless and I get into his car. I don't think he's going to let me go home now.

---

Dante drove me to his place and now I sit on the sofa and look at him waiting. "You didn't ask me if I had plans for the evening. Maybe I wanted to go out tonight," I say, crossing my arms. "Ah, and where would you go?" "Dancing at a club." "Over my dead body. So men can stare at you," he growls. I didn't even want to go to a club, but his reaction annoys me. "See, and that's the problem with your species. I want to go to the club to dance and I can't because men can stare at me. Clearly I'm not the problem here."

"You are mine. If you don't want me to kill every man who stares at you, then it would be best if you stay away from clubs. Especially, without me." I was about to laugh, but by the look on his face, he means it. "What exactly do you do for the mafia? What does that actually mean for me?" "What I do for the mafia is none of your business. You're just my wife. You don't talk to my men, you don't look at them. For them you are my wife no more, no less."

"Look I'm just trying to get to know you better and if you can't answer me normally I better go," I say as I stand up. 

"Sit down!", he says.

 "Dante, I have decided to marry you. The reason may be the money, however I will not be disrespected. If I have to accept you as my husband, you will accept me as a human being. I have feelings and I will not sit here and listen to you treat me as an object to be led around."

He sighs and says, "I'm sorry. For better or worse, I have to learn a few things. Can you please sit back down." I slowly sit back down and look at him with anticipation. "You can ask me anything you want, however, for your own safety, you can't ask me anything about my business." "Okay, that's a start."

"You said you wanted to get married at the end of the month. Where are we going to celebrate and do I need to do anything?" 

"You don't have to do anything except stand at the altar in your wedding dress. We're going to take a little trip to Sicily. My father wants us to get married in Italy." 

"Oh, I've never been outside the U.S.," I say excitedly. "What? How can that be?" he asks, surprised. "We never had enough money for a trip like that."

 "Now you have so much money you can go wherever you want, bambina.", he says while lightly stroking my face. 

No, I don't have butterflies in my stomach. Go away.