Kidnapping the Wrong Bride

Gabriela

“Gabriela, meet your fiancé, Dario. He’s to be your husband in the coming fall.”

I sat there with a stiff spine, unable to say a word. The only thing I could do was smile tightly at the young man that sat across from me. He doesn’t smile back, in fact, he just stares with a cold gaze as if telling me he didn’t want this anymore than I did.

An arranged marriage between two wealthy families since the day I was born. It was decided once they discovered the gender of my birth. It was the sole reason my mother packed up and took me far away from this horrific lifestyle.

If she hadn’t passed away from cancer six months ago, then I wouldn’t be in this mess. Nearing my twenty-first birthday you would think I had the freedom to choose my own life. But I didn’t. Because as sad as it was, I made a deal with my father, a man that I haven’t seen or heard from all my childhood life, to pay the hospital bills that stacked up against my mother and I over the two years she was receiving treatment.

He had stopped paying child support the day I turned eighteen. Demanding for us to return now that we couldn’t survive without his income. My mother refused and started working on her own just to fall in a heap at the restaurant she was waitressing in and not wake up for another three days.

It was discovered she had stage three cancer that we didn’t see coming. Once the bills started coming in, I didn’t know what else to do other than to call the man that sired me. He refused to help with anything unless I agreed to his demands.

What else was I to do other than follow through with them? And one of them was to be married off to this man Dario Moretti. Here we all were at this high-class expensive restaurant eating dinner as if we all were the best of friends.

I have never seen such finery. The clothes I was wearing alone could pay an entire medical bill that I received for her first treatment. It was uncomfortable to say the least and even though the jewelry that graced my person could more than likely pay my apartment’s rent for an entire year, I did my best to act the part that he wanted me too.

I didn’t even have time to grieve my mother’s death before he came rushing in and taking me away from the only town I have ever known. No sad goodbyes, no mourning reprieves. Once the service was done, we went straight to the airport right from the cemetery. I didn’t get to pack her belongings, didn’t get to keep any sentimental values I wanted to take along for the journey.

All I got was, “I hired people to do all that for you. I’ll set everything in a storage and only after you’re married can you go back and do whatever you want with it.”

It was such a cold reply against a woman who had given birth to your only child. I wasn’t sure if he ever loved her, but from the stories my mother used to tell me was that she once believed he did. Until he had to join the world of the Russo’s that he turned his back on us.

Not once did she ever resent or blame him for it either. And I never understood why until I became a part of this family.

“It’s finally nice to meet you, Gabriela. You’re more beautiful than your father claims. And the pictures just don’t do you justice my dear.” Dario’s mother gushes happily.

She was a beautiful woman if any of the drastic plastic surgeries could go by. I was sure she spent more time under the knife than she did on being a wife and mother. But I guess if it was what made her happy…or husband anyway.

I politely smiled at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Moretti. Your words are too kind.” My voice was timid, yet graceful, just as I was taught by the woman who sat on my other side.

“Oh nonsense, love! You’re soon to become a part of the family. Call me mom, after all, you’re to be my daughter in law soon.” She continues gushing, as if by doing that she was convincing everyone just how joyous this occasion truly was.

She was doing a horrible job.

“It is a blessing. To think we finally get to call this young handsome man our son.” My stepmother, Elena, graciously replied, softly looking at Dario as if she already adores him.

More like eyeballing eye candy she can manipulate and control to do her bidding. She had that gift I soon learned living under their roof the first week I was there. Everyone, even my father. The only time I ever heard him put his foot down was when it concerned me.

He doesn’t allow anyone, even Elena, to control my life and what happens in it. At least I had that. But because of it, she became the meanest, rudest, vicious stepmother to ever walk on the face of this earth. And she wasn’t afraid to show it either.

“Enough with all the flattery, lets talk business, Russo.” The stout man that held the hugest belly I have ever seen barks out rudely as he wipes his mouth from the mouthful he just ate.

“Honey, do we really need to discuss this now? We’re in the presence of his family, after all.” She smiles tightly at him.

The man glares at her. “I will damn well please talk about this right now if I want to. We all know this marriage is a sham. Now shut your mouth and talk amongst you females about doing your hair, makeup or whatever the hell it is you women do all damn day while the men talk about the important matters.”

I stared at him in shock. I knew some of these men were disrespectful to their wives and daughters, but to blatantly show it in front of others was downright appalling. I look to Dario to see what he thought of his father disrespecting his mother in such a way, but all he seemed was bored and unfazed by the interaction.

Was this what I was subjected to in the future with this man? If he thought he was going to ever treat me in a way that his father did with his wife, then we were going to have major issues from the start of this so-called fake relationship. Because this wasn’t a relationship, this was domination.

And I refused to be dominated by anyone for the rest of my life. My father may have me in the palm of his hand for now, but that was only because I bargained for my mother’s life. A life that didn’t last more than two years with the treatment he helped provide.

He wanted their assets. Fine, I’ll give them to him by what this man called a sham of a marriage. But the contract was to be married for five years. Five years I have to force to give up on, but once it’s over I’m gone and out of their lives for good.

“As you were saying, John. Shall we get down to business then?” My father states just as coldly.

For the next hour I sat there listening to the men talk about money and shares while my stepmother and Mrs. Moretti talk gossip of some woman I had no idea who. I sat there quietly, picking at the food that was ordered for me. According to Elena, I weighed more than I should. But I was five foot seven and my weight was only a hundred and thirty pounds. Average according to my doctor.

I take a peek at her physic. She was thin, maybe a little too thin in my opinion. The portion of the salad she ordered was smaller than my own. How did she not starve? Wasn’t she hungry all the time? I loved food and as an Italian woman it was a specialty to eat heartedly.

But around her, I had to eat like a bird. It was only when I was alone or when she wasn’t around that I ate to my heart’s content.

I hear a sudden small gasp. “No!” Mrs. Moretti whispers in a feverish tone, catching my attention.

She leaned closer to Elena, who held a catlike smile on her face. They both completely ignored me but they both quickly glanced at their husbands and Dario, who were completely engrossed with whatever they were talking about.

“Yes, my dear. I thought it was very risky of him. But there he was in the flesh, an aura about him like he didn’t have a care in the world. Imagine my shock that my darling girl was in the presence of such a man.” Elena’s features turned into one of concern and I wanted to gag.

If you must know she wasn’t talking about me. First off, I had no idea who ‘he’ was, second, it was her daughter Ivy she was referring to. My stepsister was the exact same age as me. My father married Elena when Ivy was just eleven years old. My mother told me he had married and that I had a new stepsister.

I had always wanted to meet her, thinking that we could have been the best of friends but with us never visiting there was never a chance for that to happen. Be even so, it never would have anyways. Ivy was the splitting image of her mother. Both in appearances and personalities. If Elena was a viper, then Ivy was the rattlesnake. Two halves of a whole.

And Ivy loved to make my life difficult.

“So, what was he like?” Dario’s mother leaned in even closer, her eyes shining brightly with excitement.

“The ladies weren’t kidding about him. A sex God couldn’t even begin to describe his good looks and body structure. If I was just a bit younger, I would have that snack on top of me within seconds.”

They both giggle like middle school girls.

“Oh sweetheart, you don’t need to be younger, boys his age want you as you are now. He will be no exception to that.”

A sizzle of small rage starts to build up within me. I may not be close to my father, but sitting here listening to this crap was absolutely disrespectful. My father was literally sitting right there at the table with us, and she had no qualms talking about another man like she wasn’t married herself!

They kept going on wondering how big his ‘package’ was that it got to a point that I couldn’t take anymore. I suddenly stand up, causing a slight ruckus of the chair. Everyone stops talking as they all turn to me.

“Excuse me, please. I need to use the restroom.”

I don’t bother to wait for a response as I quickly get the hell away from that table. I felt like I was suffocating. Dealing with my family as they are, was difficult enough, but to deal with a man that may turn out just like his father was just too much.

How was I going to survive for the next five years? How was I going to stand the constant sneers and jabs that Elena and Ivy threw at me at every turn? My father ignores me most of the time and I felt like I was the loneliest person alive. My mother was gone. The one person who had always been there for me. Who had had my back and caught me whenever I fell.

I was supposed to be in college right now. But that was thrown out the window when I had to quit and get a job just to pay the bills that we couldn’t even afford. I felt like everything was ripped from me, everything I loved and held dear.

Now there was nothing left but a big gaping hole that was empty and hollow.

I felt the tears sting my eyelids and I refused to let them fall. I cried long enough. My tears weren’t going to fix or help with anything. I walk down the long empty hallway to slip into the bathroom and straight to the sink. Turning on the spout I splash the cold water onto my face, not caring about the makeup I was forced to endure for tonight.

I just stood there in front of the mirror looking down at the expensive porcelain bowl that was considered a sink. Taking deep calming breaths, I gently dab my face and neck dry, then square my shoulders to head back out into the lion’s den of greedy gluttons for money and power.

When I step out, however, I don’t make it past the doorframe when someone throws some sort of blanket or sack over my body, encasing my vision in total darkness. I go to scream out when something heavy slams against my mouth and nose and before I knew what was happening, a heavy sleep overcomes me, and complete blackness takes over.