Not my Husband - Dark BWWM Mafia Romance: Greedy Alphas, #5

Chapter 1

Shandee

I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS marriage. I stood in front of everyone, feeling so embarrassed I’d rather be killing myself right now. He stood beside me, with a victorious smile on his chiseled and masculine face.

He knew that he owned me now. I was his trophy. He thought that I was pretty, that my only purpose was to look beautiful to his parents and the rest of his family. They were all here, remaining silent while the priest not more than a couple of feet from us recited his words

He was holding an old book that I didn’t want to look at, but it wasn’t like there were plenty of things to pay attention to at the moment. I could look at the guests. They were all staring at me. Some of them murmured among themselves. Some of them looked friendly enough, but they were all not my family.

My family was here too, in this old but scenic building that looked as if it had been built ages ago. Mom didn’t look happy. My father was sitting on one of the front benches, with a mixture of contentment and regret in his eyes.

I didn’t want to remember why he was making me marry the asshole and murder that was standing beside me, with his hands positioned in front of him. His pepper and salt hair reminded me of his age far too much, and it was one of the many reasons why I didn’t wish to look at his face.

It didn’t matter what came to pass, I wasn’t about to begin calling him my love or something like that. No way that would ever happen. And if he was thinking that he was going to have me ready and willing in his bed, then he had something coming.

I was still living in a country that valued freedom. I was only ‘accepting’ this marriage for one reason only – I didn’t want my father to fall into a spiral of depression. As with any other man his age, he measured his life success on how much money he made and how many people he could charm.

That’s why he accepted his money.

I thought that we were better than this, that we would never accept a Russian’s money. And one more thing that puzzled me too was that he was willing to marry someone like me. I’d heard far too many times about his father not liking people with my skin color.

If he was racist, then fine. I wasn’t going to begin talking to him or anything like that. I was going to forget he even existed, too. I didn’t have time for that kind of person anymore.

I’d had enough of them in high school and college.

I didn’t know what my soon-to-be husband’s reasons were. Did he think that he was going to inherit something by marrying me? Was there any particular reason he chose me over any other woman that fell head over heels for him?

I didn’t know, but his ominous look over the guests told me that he wasn’t the kind of man that worried about what other people thought of him. And that’s something I valued. I hated the man, but that I could admire about him.

I looked and felt exposed. I didn’t think that I’d ever felt like this my whole life. I could almost feel the intensity with which they were judging me now. What the hell does she think she’s doing, marrying a man like Leonid?

And other than the priest reciting his words, everything was silent. There wasn’t even a single bird tweeting outside. The whole environment of the chapel inside his estate was unnerving. It didn’t matter how expensive and luxurious it looked, it was never going to make me feel at home.

If anything, I was already trying to conjure some kind of escape plan to flee this hell. Maybe I should put some poison in his morning coffee. We didn’t talk much yet, but he’d promised that I was going to be his little princess.

He was going to treat me with the respect I deserved. He was going to have other people doing the cooking. I didn’t know how that made me feel. A little more depressed than usual, I guessed. I’d never had other people cook for me before, other than when I went to a restaurant.

But that was beside the point.

I was thinking about the wedding dress. I didn’t have enough time to pick the right one. I didn’t much care for the marriage itself, but I’d still thought that I should make it something that I was going to remember for the rest of my life.

I wanted to make something good out of it.

The priest was getting to the end of the text he was reading, his words coming in through one ear of mine and leaving through the other. I was focusing on one thing only right now. When he told me to put the ring on Leonid’s finger, I was going to do it and then I was going to pretend that I was going to like the kiss.

I was a woman with better self-respect than most people thought I had. They all thought that I was marrying him for his money. That wasn’t it. I had more than I needed at home, and after finishing college, I’d already been pondering the kind of job that I wanted.

I wanted something in an office, where I could dive my head into a screen and forget about life, focusing on spreadsheets and securing business opportunities with CEO’s...

Now, all of that was beyond my reach. I was going to become his. I already was his. His soft smile was more than enough to convince me of that. And it didn’t matter to me how much he was trying to look different – I could see through his deception.

The priest finally said it. The magical words that made Leonid turn to me with an eviler smile on his face. His hand dove into the right pocket of his pants. Out of it, he got the only thing that he was keeping in there.

The marriage ring.

Everything about this wedding had been made to look luxurious. A person that didn’t know wealth, if they came here, would look at this and think that it was all a huge waste of money. They wouldn’t be wrong.

I was thinking the same thing, too. The wine, the flowers, the clothes, and the rest of the decoration – it was all making me wonder how much money Leonid had invested into making sure that everything looked just right for him.

Even the wedding dress – or rather, especially it – looked like the kind of item that I’d see in movies only.

There was a moment of pause as he waited for me to extend my finger to him. I was kind of thinking about dropping the marriage right at this moment, telling everyone that it wasn’t going to happen, but that was before my mind reminded me of why I was doing this.

It wasn’t for my happiness, but for the success of my father. Once the wedding was over, he was going to get all the money he needed. We weren’t living paycheck to paycheck or anything like that, but he did need the extra fund to fulfill his mission.

He’d always talked about it.

A tear rolled down his cheek. Dammit. I wasn’t supposed to be looking sad. I was supposed to be looking like this was everything that I wanted for my life. After all, that was the version of the story that Leonid’s family spoke about among themselves.

They all thought that by marrying Leonid, I was making the most important dream of my life happen.

The touch of his hand was almost too soft when he grabbed mine. I thought that he wasn’t capable of it. I thought that Leonid was the kind of man that only knew pain and was going to make use of this opportunity to assert his dominance over me again.

But no, his fingers were so respectful when he put the ring on my finger. I stared at him without knowing what to think. I couldn’t be misjudging him. This was all nothing more than an act of his to try to fool me.

Tonight, when the marriage was over, he was going to want to see me in his bed. And that’s something that I’d already promised myself I wasn’t going to allow to happen. What did he think I was? Some kind of hooker for him to fuck?

Everything was still so silent while I held the ring that I was going to put on his wedding finger. I took his hand in mine, and it felt so heavy and callous. It was like it spoke everything about his life, about his past.

I didn’t know what to think.

After I finished putting the ring on his finger, his hand fell to the side of his body. His eyes still expressed his coldness and there was something about them I didn’t want to admit. I didn’t want to think that he felt something resembling love.

And now you can kiss the bride, the priest said as my soon-to-be husband took one step toward me.

He was really taking this whole thing seriously. I didn’t know if he thought he was going to live a happy life as a married man, but there was no denying that he wanted to look the part. And he didn’t have to try too hard. His presence alone was enough to make everyone in the chapel look ready to bow to him.

He didn’t say anything as he settled his hands on my cheeks. I could feel his hot breath kissing my face as he leaned in and sealed our lips. His lips touched mine as he sent a jolt of pleasure through my body.

I didn’t know he could kiss so well, and it had only just started.

He didn’t use his tongue as he kept kissing me. His lips were so pleasing that I could feel the world around me dissolving. When my father announced the marriage, I thought that I was going to marry some kind of brute.

And to be honest, that’s what