He opens his mouth, wanting to say more, but then the ceremony starts, and he bites his lip, changing his mind.
I don’t know what he thinks. Maybe he thought I would change my mind and not marry him after seeing him kill someone.I always knew he’s killed people before, and I know he will in the future. But seeing him actually do it, it did change how I view him—just not for the worst.
Maybe that says something about me. I’m just as much of a monster at heart as he is. I have too much of Vincent’s blood in my veins. Maybe Lennox and I are more alike than I first realized.
The rest of the wedding goes by in a blur.
Our vows.
Exchanging rings.
And then it’s over except for one thing.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the officiant says.
I hold my breath as my heart stops. This is the moment I’ve been dreading, where I’ve truly betrayed Kit and my own heart. It’s one thing to be married to a man on paper, but another to be physically intimate with him.
Lennox starts to lean in, and I go rigid. Maybe if I don’t participate I won’t feel like I’m a cheater and I’ve lost control of everything.
I close my eyes, readying my lips for the invasion, when I feel his lips land on the palm of my hand.
My eyes flicker open, and I stare at a smirking Lennox. His eyes tell me the dirty things he really wants to do to me in private when I finally give in to him.
I smile—genuinely for the first time in what feels like forever.
I can feel my father’s eyes staring at us in disapproval, along with the rest of the Corsi family. Lennox took a huge risk in not kissing me like he was supposed to. It’s the smallest act of defiance, the smallest act of making this wedding our own.
And it could lead to the Corsi men seeing it as a flagrant disregard for tradition. That he’s marrying me but won’t really be married to me.
I want to hug Lennox and thank him for trying to protect me, but I know he can’t not touch me in public forever. He’s only brought me a temporary reprieve, but at least it means that when we are physical it will be on our terms and not in front of hundreds of people because it’s what’s expected of us.
The officiant doesn’t seem phased; he just continues on. “And now I’d like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Lennox Corsi.”
Lennox tightens his grip on my hand, and for once, I feel like we are in this together. Then we run down the aisle together like two school-aged kids playing together in the park.
Chapter15
Lennox
It was nevermy intention not to kiss her. I expected to do everything by the book, do nothing to make these people not like me. I know I have to tread carefully if I don’t want to end up dead.
But with one look at Rialta, I wanted to give her this one thing. I didn’t want to kiss her for the first time in front of everyone. I didn’t want to take that from her. If I had my choice, she’d choose when she would kiss me for the first time.
We don’t have a lot of time. I will be expected to kiss her, among other things. Maybe we should have planned ahead and kissed before the wedding so it wouldn’t have felt so big in front of everyone. Maybe I should have just done a quick brush of our lips together and not made a big deal out of it.
If I want to make Rialta fall in love with me, then giving her this gift was the best way to help that, especially after she saw the monster I had to be in the basement.
Still, the look on Corsi’s face told me he wasn’t pleased with my decision. And there were plenty of snickers in the crowd as we ran hand in hand down the aisle that told me I will never be respected as the new mob boss.
I’ll worry about that later, but I knew I wouldn’t have a chance at Rialta’s heart if I took this from her. She was terrified of that kiss, so I know I made the right decision.
I lead Rialta into a room at the back of the church as the others start coming down the aisle. The room gives us a moment of privacy before the reception, a moment to decide on how we are going to tackle it together.
“Thank you,” she says, biting her bottom lip.
“Don’t thank me. I forced you to marry me. And I made a bet with you that I wouldn’t rape you—I’d seduce you.”
“A kiss is far from rape, but still, thank you.”