✔️ DOLORE | 18 +

Chapter 4

Raphael's pov

Woman, what were my expectations in a woman? What did I, as a man, want to see in a woman? Let me tell you:

A pretty face, a nice body, and subservience.

That was all I wanted in a woman. She didn't have to be educated, no, I didn't need a woman with a smart mouth, I only needed her to keep quiet and do as she was told.

She didn't have to work as I earned enough money to keep good care of her. I'd bring the money home, making sure she led a comfortable life and in return I expected gratitude. In consideration of taking care of her I wanted her to take care of me as her husband as well.

That was also what I wanted to see in my future bride. And guess what? Calina just fit very well with my criterions.

I've seen her sometimes at events, she was beautiful, a natural beauty with her long black hair, pale skin, plump lips and the captivating blue eyes. Besides her beauty, she seemed to be quite shy and quiet by nature, making her very easy to handle and submit to me.

(A\N: That's a sick mindset, but unfortunately such mindsets still exists, seeing women as objects to own, making them dependent.)

Though, I didn't want to settle down by the age of twenty-six, but she was just perfect. Therefore, I agreed to the tempting deal her father offered me as I neither want to lose the opportunity to have a wife who suited well with my criterions nor a deal that would strengthen my connections and make me more powerful in the market.

I knew I was brutal, some people even described me as a monster, but I wasn't inhuman enough to touch her when she was just seventeen, still not an adult. I would wait a year until I would consummate this marriage and make her my wife.

But before that I had to make her mine legally first. And today was the day she'd make her officially my wife. I was standing at the altar, waiting for her to arrive.

Even if this marriage was arranged, she had to get used to me because this marriage wouldn't end until one of us died as I was a man who took marriage very serious, it didn't matter if it was arranged or not.

After all, you were committing yourself to someone, giving promises in the aisle. Until now, I held every promise I gave in life and I would hold the promises I would give to my wife in the aisle too.

Frowning, I came back from my thoughts as the doors of the church opened and Dimitri walked in without my wife. Where was she?

"Raphael ..." he muttered, walking towards me, looking at me dazed. He looked like he was physically here, but mentally somewhere else.

"Where is my future wife? Where is your daughter?" I asked him question after question as he was standing in front of me now.

"Calina ..." he said sadly, paling. I sighed frustrated, getting sick of him starting a sentence but not ending it.

I grabbed the hem of his suit, pulling him closer, shaking him to get him off in whatever trance he was. "Where is Calina?" I asked him harshly.

"She ... she is dead," he muttered, looking like he couldn't believe his own words. "What? What are you talking about? Explain!" I asked him irritated, letting go of his suit, demanding for a more detailed explanation.

"Someone put a bomb in the car. She called me few minutes ago ... she told me there was a bomb in the car ... she said when Adrian would pull his foot from the gas pedal and slow down, they would explode ... she sounded so scared, when she told me Adrian lost the control of the car and drove towards the cliff ... she called for help ... she said dad help me ... before I heard an explosion ..." he explained with his gaze on the ground before looking up in my eyes with a painful expression. "She said dad help me ... and I couldn't help her ... I couldn't save my own flesh and blood."