Chapter 142 - But A Bride

Carina was sitting on the couch in the living room when she saw Sophia returning home. She recognised in a single glance that she was not being herself. 

"Sophia! Wait!"

Sophia turned her head to find Carina sitting on the couch with a magazine in her hand. 

"Mom! Not now!" Sophia said in a weak voice. "If you have any questions, ask Randy." 

Carina opened her mouth to say something but when she saw that Sophia didn't leave to wait for him to complete her sentence, she sighed before slapping the magazine on the table. 

It was only now that she saw Randy, Sophia's bodyguard coming with his head down. 

"What happened, Randy?" questioned Carina with her eyes narrowed. 

Randy paused for a minute before uttering the truth without leaving anything behind. 

Carina simply nodded in the end. "Don't tell anything to Mr Marino if he doesn't ask you. As for Nico… I will talk to him myself." 

… 

The Wedding Day

Santiago was standing before the mirror, dressed in his black tuxedo, looking not less like the groom that he was. He turned only when he felt someone patting his back. 

"Olev," Santiago called out the older man's name in a monotone voice. 

"Lad, you are going to marry. Yet I can't see a smile on your face," Oleg said in a thick Russian accent. Seeing Santiago's indifferent face, he burst out laughing. A look of approval clearly visible on his face. "Good. Good. You must not look like you are desperate to marry that bastard's girl. Still, I can't see what's so good about his daughter?"

Old Man Oleg was the father of the current leader of the Russian Mafia. He had known Santiago for a few years now. Since they were all in the same business, they knew each other more than others or that's what Old Man Oleg thought. 

It wasn't hidden from Santiago too that Oleg wanted him to marry one of his granddaughter and when he said he was going to marry Marino girl, he was enraged but when he got to know that he was doing what he was doing, for easing the cooperation between Bratva and Italian families, he reluctantly agreed. 

Although Oleg came to show his sincerity in cooperation, he still wasn't going to attend the marriage as the wedding ceremony was extremely private. No one else from the intimate family will be attending the ceremony. 

"Whether there is anything good about his daughters or not, it doesn't have anything to do with the wedding," Santiago replied sincerely. He pired drinks for both of them and raised the glass. 

Oleg smiled widely before clinking the glass with his. "Good good. As long as you know what you are doing." After a sip, he paused in his movement and hesitated before asking the next question. "I'm still in a dilemma as to how you convinced Edward Kingsley. He and Marino had been at loggerhead for so long, making others struggle with them" 

"I might have leaked the information that he seemed to have been looking for some time," Santiago replied mysteriously. 

"You know your methods the best,"Oleg said. " Did you talk to your King? Last time, he promised us that he would find us to find our lost contraband." 

"About that…"Santiago paused with a smile. He was not going to tell the old man that he and his men were the same people who stole them in the first place on the Maisean sea route months ago. He continued with a very kind smile. It was so kind that any person who knew him in actuality would find it fake. But it was a pity only a few people knew the true face of him and Oleg surely wasn't one of them." His Majesty has always been kind and rational with his friends. Since you chose to assist him, he will certainly return your kindness with kindness. He sent the words that there are words that someone he is close with has most probably stolen the contraband and he is still in the middle of the negotiation." 

Oleg smiled and nodded. 

After another drink with Santiago, he returned home. 

…

"You don't look too good, Percy," Sophia whispered as she once again looked at her pale and robotic sister. 

Her sister had been behaving oddly since this morning. Thinking that it had something to do with this cursed church and the memories associated with it, Sophia didn't insist on telling her the reason. 

"I'm okay," Persephone whispered for the nth time this morning. She was feeling nauseous not due to morning sickness but due to anxiety. She had thrown up too many times this morning that she found herself lethargic. She didn't even have the energy to stand beside her sister as the maid of honor. 

Right now, she was wearing that maroon dress that she tried on the day she met Santiago in the mall. Again, that wicked man! Why can't she get him out of her mind? 

"I hate him so much,"She whispered and in the mirror, Sophia found her teary-eyed whispering to herself. 

"Are you sure that you are okay?"Sophia, who was standing in a beautiful wedding gown, asked her in utter concern. 

Persephone nodded. She was okay, but she wasn't fine at all. 

Something wasn't right with her. 

A moment later, Carina and Alessandro came inside the bridal room to take Sophia out. 

… 

"What is it?" Santiago asked Sophia with a heavy look.

Whoever said that this church was jinxed was truly right. It wasn't true who was more jinxed, church or the Marino kids who were about to wed. 

Sophia looked at him in utter embarrassment. Tears were flowing down her beautiful delicate face. She found herself lost at words. What could she say at this time? 

"I'm sorry," She uttered in the end. 

Don Marino, who was still standing beside Sophia, took the lead from Santiago's hand. As his gaze fell on the pictures showing at the screen, his jaw hardened, his eyes turned ferocious. His proud posture stiffened. There were ripples in his eyes while meeting Santiago's. 

"What's happening?" Carina questioned. She still couldn't understand why the wedding stopped all of a sudden. It was fine a moment ago, when Sophia was walking down the aisle with her father...but what changed on reaching the aisle?

She was confused, bewildered and most of all worried. 

"If you didn't wish to marry me, you could have just said it to me," Santiago said while performing his million dollars script. "I'm not a traditional man who can't accept the truth. I would have said no if I knew that you were always in love with someone." He heaved out a long such before saying, "I can accept anything...but cheating… How can I accept the woman as my wife who cheated on me just one day before the wedding. I'm sorry. I can't do this." 

His last words were directed at Don Marino.

It was only now that Persephone spoke when she saw Nico, Sophia, Carina and Alessandro looking horrified. Salvatore and Isabelle were still in big confusion. 

"What do you mean by your words?" Persephone seemed to have grown extra energy inside her when she heard that Santiago refused to marry Sophia. 

"You should see this too, Miss Marino," Santiago said as his gaze passed on Nico and Sophia, a sneer present on his face. "See why your fiance has been too busy for you these days that he didn't have time to accompany you." 

Persephone glanced at Nico and Sophia with furrowed brows. She walked ahead slowly and took the iPad from Santiago' hand. As her gaze fell on Sophia and Nico's indecent picture, the iPad fell from her hand in shock. 

No, she wasn't sad, just shocked by the events. 

She looked at Nico and Sophia asking for an explanation, both closed their eyes and hung their heads down. Nico just stood there with his head low and Sophia, she burst into tears. 

"You must be too shocked to accept the truth," Santiago said in a voice filled with grievance. "However, it's the truth. We have been deceived by our respective partners." 

Persephone looked up to meet his gaze to see what he was playing at. No, she didn't think that these pictures had been sent to him. It was a planned conspiracy and no one else but this man was the conspirator. 

"Don Marino, don't you think I have been taken advantage of by you people," Santiago met his gaze. 

Alessandro Marino knew better than anyone else what his words meant. Their cooperation would end with the wedding. He would never let his offspring cause him so much loss. Never. 

"You can ask me for anything, Mr. Vitello," Alessandro spoke. He never sounded so desperate. 

"I didn't lack anything but a bride…"He scoffed. " But look at you...can't even give one thing that you promised…." 

"However, there is something you still can do to keep the cooperation going…." 

"And that is?"

"The hand of your other daughter…."