My wife. My Cora.
What the fuck had I just gotten myself into?
“It is my pleasure to present to you all Mr. and Mrs. Reid Marino.”
The church went wild as everyone stood and applauded. Hedeon clapped me on the back and I walked down the center aisle with my new wife. I kept a hand on her lower back and she moved stiffly like I held a gun against her head. I grinned and winked at a few guys, and I thought I saw some jealousy in their stares—everyone thought I’d been given the shit job, but instead I landed a pretty wife. I felt like I was in heaven, and I couldn’t be happier.
Once we left the chapel and stood in a vestibule before stepping outside, she pulled away from my hand, turned to face me, and slapped me hard across the face. I stood there in complete shock for several beats as her jaw clenches and she breathed hard, glaring pure death at me.
“What the fuck?” I touched my cheek and stared at her, eyes wide. It hurt, but the pain was not big deal. It was the abrupt viciousness of the act and the wild, raging hate in her eyes as she stared at me like she wanted to do more than hit me once.
“Let’s get something straight,” she said. “Don’t you ever touch me like that again. And this whole marriage? It’s bullshit.”
I worked my jaw and stared at her for a long moment. All the elation I felt melted away as I took stock of her.
She was barely over five foot four and looked like she wanted to murder me. I could throw her over my shoulder and carry her off to my marriage bed at any second, and there’d be nothing she could do about it. I wanted to show her who had control in this situation—but I knew that was the wrong play.
She was a Leone. I couldn’t use brute strength here.
I dropped my fingers from my face and gave her my best smile.
“You’re damn right it’s bullshit.”
That seemed to knock her off balance. “Then good. We’re in agreement. We’re doing this for show and because our families want it, but there’s nothing real here. As soon as we can, we’re getting a divorce.”
I snorted and shrugged. “Fine with me.”
“Good.” She crossed her arms and tried another glare, but she’d lost the fire.
I stepped closer to her, leaning forward slightly. I met her eyes and let my smile linger for a few seconds.
“But let’s get something else straight. If you hit me again, you won’t like what happens.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Test me. Find out.”
I knew what was coming. This girl was pissed, and she wanted to take it out on someone—and since I was the man she got hitched to, she probably felt like I was a perfectly fine target.
Bad move.
I caught her wrist as she whipped her hand toward me. She took a sharp breath and I stepped forward, pinning her back against the wall. She stared up at me with loathing in her eyes and struggled, but I pushed a knee between her legs and used my body to hold her against the tile.
“I told you not to do that again.”
“Let me go, asshole.”
“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to be civil.” I leaned forward, inches from her face. Goddamn, I wanted to kiss her. “You need to be on your best behavior.”
“Then you need to let me go.”
We stood like that, my knee between her legs, my hand pinning one of her wrists above her head, when the door to the chapel opened.
Hedeon came out first, followed by Vincent Leone. They stood and stared at us without saying a word until Hedeon let out a sigh and shook his head.
“I swear, Vincent. He’s usually so well behaved.”
Vincent’s smile could have melted ice. “Unfortunately, she’s not.”
“Fuck you, Vince.” Cora’s eyes flashed to him. “You gonna do anything about this?”
“I assume there’s a good reason you’re in this situation.” Vincent’s head tilted to the side. “Maybe that handprint on his face?”
I grunted a laugh and released her. She steadied herself, fixed her dress, and tore the veil out of her hair. She tossed it on the ground and turned to her cousin, barely controlling her anger.
“I told you I’d go through with it, but I never said anything about being nice.”
“That’s fair. And I never said anything about holding your hand.”
“You’re seriously going to let him treat me like that?”
Vincent stepped toward his cousin. “Cora, I know you’re angry. But this is your situation now, and you’re going to have to get used to it.”
She stood there and the small vestibule was tense with silence. Hedeon caught my eye and I could tell he wasn’t happy about this, but fuck him—he hadn’t seen the way she glared death at me.
I knew I couldn’t let her hit me again. I let her connect a second time, and I’d lose her respect, and that was it, we were finished. I liked the girl, I truly did, and not only because she was hot as sin. I liked the fire and the anger, I liked the spark in her, but that didn’t mean I could let her roll all over me.
I watched as she composed herself. I had to admit, it was pretty impressive. She took a deep breath, stood up straight, and lifted her chin ever so slightly as she looked at her cousin in the eye.
“All right,” she said. “I lost my temper. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Vincent grunted and held up a hand. “It’s fine. Reid, you’re fine?”
“I’m all good,” I said. “I deserved the first slap.”
“First one?” Hedeon asked.
“She went for two.” I shrugged. “Girl knows what she wants.”
She glared at me. “I don’t need your help.”
“Fine, go ahead and handle your cousin.” I gestured at Vincent.
He rubbed his eyes. “Listen, Cora. We have a deal, and I swear I’ll uphold my end of it. You need to play along for a while, and when things in the city settle down, we’ll revisit alternative arrangements.”
“That means divorce, in case you’re not aware,” I said.
She shot me a look then took a breath and turned back to Vincent. “All right. I shouldn’t have lost it like that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He clapped his hands together. “Now, shall we go to the reception and get blind drunk?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Hedeon said and walked past them. He stopped at my side and gave me a look then leaned in close. “You better make this work.”
I nodded at him, face serious. He turned and left the vestibule and more people began to filter out of the chapel. Vincent walked after Hedeon, stopping only to smile, shake my hand, and congratulate me.
I turned back to Cora. She glared at me, but there was less malice in her eyes. Some older members of her family filtered past and she plastered a smile on her face to accept their congratulations and kisses. I shook hands, kissed cheeks, and drifted over to my new wife. She hesitated, stared up at me, then slipped a hand through my arm and let me lead her outside.
A photographer stopped us and started snapping photos as people filtered out of the church and into a pair of enormous high-end luxury buses that had been rented for the sole purpose of ferrying people from the church to the venue, then from the venue back to the hotels.