Becoming Mrs Bonnucci - 2

My feet were frozen to the concrete pathway by the sound of gentle violin songs and the ferocious blare of trumpets.

Timothy's eyes were fixed on me, and I could sense his presence there at my side, waiting for me to move forward.

"Isabella?"

The driver's deep, low voice was heard. The same voice that every afternoon when Dad stopped by to pick me up from school would call out to me.

That identical voice welcomed me into the hall, putting me in the arms of a man I had never met before.

"What's wrong?"

What's not wrong?

Everything, Timothy! Everything is wrong!

To start with, even the grounds knew about the Bonnuccis' business, and I was going to be shipped off into a house full of criminals. I'll spare you the subtlety.

I thought those companies they all owned, dispersed around the nation, served only as fronts.

Everybody knew Aldo Bonnucci as the guy who butted heads with the government and won.

Please explain to me how someone can survive when all of the nation is against them. Nevertheless, all that constituted a malefactor was Aldo Bonnucci. And it was that same man, with whose son I was going to enter into matrimony.

To whence did my happiness vanish?

"Bella!"

The voice had abruptly snapped me to reverie, my eyes focusing on the person who was suddenly in front of me.

I could see the tension that would undoubtedly follow in that gaze—the wrath. And the scowl tugging at the corners of her lips could not be concealed by the twenty pounds of makeup applied to her face.

"Have one thing done right, and you seem to fail at it!"

I heard Aunt Corrine's voice next.

"Bella, get moving. There are people waiting for you"

And with that, she'd shoved me forward, her voice calling behind my figure.

It happened so quickly; maybe the weight on my heart was numbing my legs, but at Aunt Corrine's prodding, I started to stumble and trip over my own feet.

And with a splat, I moved, kissing the footprints of a thousand people who had happened to walk this road.

"Bella, Christ!. Are you alright?"

As soon as Timothy arrived at my side, he assisted me in standing up, and I could see what was about to happen from the horrified expression in his eyes.

I didn't require clarification on its exact nature.

I could personally feel the breeze caressing the back of my garment and hear the rip.

How splendid! Even though she is a designer, I couldn't have chosen finer tailors to fit my wedding gown.

Though it didn't really matter to me, if you are going to put your smallest daughter into the welcoming arms of a miscreant, show some decency and take everything seriously.

"Kill me, already"

I could hear Aunt Corrine's stiletto clicking closer as she hastened to me.

"Bella, this is not good. This is not good." I noticed the fear that shot through her words, her eyes containing pure terror.

You could make me walk down the aisle nude, Aunty, and I wouldn't care less.

Right then, David was the only thing on my mind, the one thing that hurt my heart.

The news that the girl he had just spent hours in bed with was getting married to a man in three days had undoubtedly disappointed him as he turned the pages of Suntimes daily.

How could I tell him that it was nothing like what the media had painted it as? I could not be in love with any other man but the one I adore, so how could I tell him that those headlines weren't what they looked to be?

David's father had cut off all communication, so how could I get in touch with him?

That's simply what he had made my life into; I had no idea why.

"Oh my God. Nothing could possibly destroy this.

Aunt Corinne was worried.

As thousands of people sat in that hall waiting for the union, I noticed the terror radiating from her and realised that she had unintentionally caused a havoc.

But I assured her all was well, cause with a look into those eyes, that smile gracing my lips. The same one veiling my pains, I planted a kiss onto her forehead, pushing on my stance, and waddling to the doorway.

This was it.

The beginning of my trip, the beginning of my suffering.

I became aware of the rumblings that filled the room. Many bewildered looks filled the room as people saw it was thirty minutes over the start time and wondered why the bride still hadn't arrived.

However, their heads had snapped to face me at the entryway, staring at the person stationed there with wide eyes.

A variety of sensations followed those eyes. Disdain? Repulsive? Inquisitiveness? Fury? Whatever it may be, my legs were going to get tired from those stares, for sure.

I heard the subsequent whispers right then. The murmurs that dawned on me that, yes, I was still wearing this torn dress and that I was going to walk down the aisle and swear allegiance to a guy.

However, the person on the altar didn't appear to participate in whatever entertainment the audience was interfering with while those close examinations scrutinised me and watched as father guided me down the aisle.

I was only denied the opportunity to get a closer look at that profile because, as it happened, it was my first encounter with Luca Bonnucci, the guy I would eventually marry.

His eyes never strayed from mine, and judging from the way he looked, he resembled his father almost exactly. He had the same slender build, identical nose, and those sharp eyes. The ones on his father's face when I entered were glowing, but his were dead.

If I were to be left out, he was the only one who seemed uninterested in the activity that was going to happen in the room.

Maybe the only thing we had in common was our hatred for one another.

Well, I couldn't really say that I hated him. Ultimately, it was merely my initial encounter with him. I hardly knew him at all.

However, I was unable to say the same of the young man who appeared as though he would shoot daggers at me any minute.

His eyes would undoubtedly stay fixed on my shape, and as I moved closer, I saw them follow me until I was directly in front of him.

The priest's remarks would have reached me sooner if I hadn't been so engrossed in that profile, even though those eyes had the softest grey I had ever seen.

"Isabella?"

I wasn't startled till Father Mathew spoke, and in that moment, the words "It's time to hold hands" came to my ears.

We just stayed there for a long minute, staring into one other's eyes, not wanting to move, and although the quietude was certain to envelop our forms, Luca's eyes taunted me to flinch.

Father Mathew followed with a "A-hem" and a "Please, join hands"

And then, in an instant, the first peace I'd felt since the morning had found its way to me.

The way those hands slid into mine, I swear I felt a twinge in my own fingers and my heart constrict, but I managed to hold onto his hold just fine, and as the priest's words seemed to drag on forever, I wondered what Luca was thinking about right then, just about to be shackled to a woman he had just met, for eternity.

I recalled Thalia, the head cook, saying, "Luca Bonnucci is everything one would wish for in a man," when she approached me last night and put the same dish in front of me that I refused to eat. I opted to pout because, as my father would say, I wasn't in the correct frame of mind.

"Luca Bonnucci is every dame's choice" I could really still hear their words. And even as I stared at the face in front of me, I could see the evidence supporting those words.

He compensated for it. With high cheekbones, ruffled locks, straight brows, and the lord's features, he was even more attractive than the press had described him.

Lord protect whoever those eyes of his lingered on, for all they did was have my eyes falter at that pressing star he bore. Those eyes that never stopped examining every inch of me.

"Do you Isabella Campbell take Luca Bonnucci to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to be faithful to him for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish him until death do you part?" It was Father Mathew who spoke.

My own eyes, however, were vacant as I stared at that body.

That was it. I could walk away from this right now and put an end to it all, but I knew deep down that the trauma would be my only exposure if I took any other action.

But nobody gave a damn about.

"I do" I Uttered.

"Do you Luca Bonnucci take Isabella Campbell to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to be faithful to him for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish him until death do you part?"

My eyes were fixed on that body in the hush that ensued.

I could only find his inspection boring and difficult to read.

Was he indignant? Did the sight of me do so much having him appalled.

I could care less if he went to hell. In any case, I never wanted to be married to him. As much as it annoyed him, it annoyed me more, and there was nothing more I could have asked for than to turn around and return to the man my heart was longing to be with.

I only wanted to be in David's embrace.

"I do"

His statement had caused the room to fill with collective sighs.

I briefly sensed him tightening his hold on my hands and his gaze refusing to leave mine.

"...And now, I pronounce you Husband and Wife"

And that dear reader, marked our Genesis.