Page 8 of Forsaken Promises

No matter the cost.

As I’m about to leave my father’s study, a sudden thought occurs to me. I turn back to face my parents, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Papa, when… when is the wedding supposed to take place?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. “Surely, we’ll need time to plan, to make arrangements…”

I’ll drag this fucking thing out as long as possible. I’ll try to find a venue that has a two-year waiting list. I know my father said he doesn’t have much time left, but doctors get that wrong all the time.

My father exchanges a glance with my mother before looking back at me, his expression grave. “The wedding will take place within the week, Sofia.”

I feel like the air has been sucked out of the room. Within the week? That’s… that’s too soon. I’m not ready. I can’t possibly prepare myself to marry Dominico in such a short amount of time.

“A week?” I repeat, my voice barely above a whisper. “But Papa, that’s… that’s not enough time. I need… I need more…”

“I’m sorry, Sofia,” my father says, his tone firm but not unkind, “but the decision has been made. With the amount of time I potentially have left and the Sicuras eager to formalize the alliance, we must act quickly to ensure the stability of both our Families.”

I feel like I’m going to be sick. The room is spinning around me, black spots dancing before my eyes. This can’t be happening. It’s too much, too fast.

“Sofia? Sofia, are you alright?” My mother’s concerned voice sounds far away, like she’s speaking to me from underwater.

I try to answer her, to tell her no, I’m not alright. That I can’t possibly go through with this. But before I can form the words, the world tilts on its axis and everything goes black.

The next thing I know, I’m lying on the couch in my father’s study, my mother’s worried face hovering over me. “Sofia, darling, can you hear me?”

I blink, trying to clear the fog from my mind. “What… what happened?”

“You fainted,” my father says, his brow furrowed with concern. “Are you feeling alright?”

I sit up slowly, my head spinning. “I… I don’t know. It’s just… a week, Papa. It’s so soon.”

He sighs, reaching out to take my hand. “I know it’s sudden, Sofia, and I know it’s not what you wanted. But this is for the good of our family. You must be strong now, for all of us.”

I swallow hard, blinking back the tears that threaten to fall. He’s right. I have to be strong. I have to put my own feelings aside and do what’s best for the Marino name.

Even if it means marrying a man I despise. Even if it means sentencing myself to a lifetime of misery.

“I understand, Papa,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll do what I have to do.”

My mother hugs me tightly, her own tears falling onto my shoulder. “My brave girl. I’m so proud of you.”

But as I sit there, wrapped in my mother’s embrace, all I feel is a sense of hopelessness.

A week. In just seven short days, I’ll be Dominico Sicura’s wife.

And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

My fate is sealed, my future decided. All I can do now is try to find a way to survive the hand I’ve been dealt.

But deep down, I know that a part of me will always belong to the girl I used to be. The girl who believed in love, in happiness, in the possibility of a better life.

The girl who died the day Dominico Sicura broke her heart.

Now, all that’s left is a shadow. A ghost. A woman trapped in a gilded cage of her own making.

And I have no one to blame but myself.

4

DOMINICO

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