INSTANT BRIDE

Denise had only felt intense fear twice in her life. And they both happened within one day.

The first time had been when she had been kidnapped. The minute someone had grabbed her by the waist, she had been sure that she almost jumped out of her skin before getting drugged.

The second time was now.

“Wh…what do you mean I'm getting married to him?”

She was in her mother's arms, staring at the door that Dominic Dona Pante had left open. The wedding dress was currently getting crushed under her mother's knees. Denise shuddered at the thought of wearing it.

Her mother hugged her tighter and then pulled away, sobbing furiously. “I'm sorry. It's all my fault, Denise. I'm sorry.”

Now, Denise panicked.

She hadn't been totally afraid because her mother was there. After living all twenty-four years of her life with her mom, she had come to see her as a superhero.

And who wouldn't? Bethany had single-handedly raised a loyal, quiet, and gentle daughter despite the notorious nature of the town they lived in. She was indeed a heroine.

But now that her mother looked vulnerable? The situation had to be bad. Very bad.

“Mom, Mom please tell me what is happening,” Denise begged. Her voice had lost the hoarseness it had before.

“I'm sorry honey,” Bethany sniffed, cupping her daughter's face to place a kiss on her forehead. It hurt that she had put her innocent daughter through this. “You have to marry him.”

Denise looked back at her mother with a shattered expression and Bethany felt her heart rip in two. Denise had always been such a good girl. She deserved better than being shackled to Dominic Dona Pante.

Or any of the Pantes for that matter.

“Why do I have to marry him? I don't even know him?” Denise sobbed.

She knew Dominic Dona Pante of course. Everyone in Charly town knew the Pantes. They owned more than half of the town's resources. They owned virtually everything. From the industries to the buildings, to the land. They were known for their famous Vineyard and the wine they produced.

And they were mostly famous for their notoriousness.

The Pante Brothers.

Dominic was the youngest of them all.

And the scariest. While his brothers mostly appeared in the papers for vandalism and looting. He appeared in the papers for beating the crap out of people.

Why would her mother make her marry a cruel man like that?!

“I can't marry him! I won't!” Denise sobbed while her mother untied her hands and legs.

“They'll kill us,” Bethany sniffed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She pressed her forehead to Denise's. “You know I would never ask you to do this if I didn't think it would protect you, right?”

Denise nodded.

Her mother was the one person, the only person she could trust.

“I… I owe the Pantes,” Bethany explained, shame coursing through her veins as she stroked her daughter's cheeks.

More light filtered into the warehouse, bouncing off the dark hair tucked behind Denise's ears.

Bethany stroked the long soft strands with her fingers, recalling how she had brushed them the day before.

Before Denise left for work.

“How much? How much do you owe them?” Denise asked through the tears.

“A lot, honey. This is the only way,” Bethany whispered, drying the tears that stained her daughter's cheeks. “This is the only way I can protect you. The Pantes will kill us and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

Unable to think of anything else, Denise wrapped her arms around her mother, sobbing furiously, accepting what seemed to be reality. She had to do this. For her mother. The wedding dress remained on the floor as mother and daughter held on to each other, trying to console themselves.

At the door, Dominic Dona Pante watched the scene in irritation and turned around to stand by his car. It was a sweet Bentley parked by a tree.

The warehouse was located on a deserted road on the outskirts of town. They hadn't brought Denise and her mother here because they were hiding from the police, however. Why would they? They owned the policemen. They owned every fucking thing.

Dominic had to attend to some business in the area and so when his men had called him, asking where to dump his future wife and mother-in-law, he had given the address of the nearest warehouse to him.

He tossed his cigarette to the ground and stomped on it. He hadn't smoked it. He wasn't a fan of the smoke and only did so when he had an itch he desperately wanted to scratch. He would either smoke or head down to one of his brother's clubs, grab a maid, and slake his lust on her.

He glanced back at the warehouse and scoffed in disgust. How was he supposed to slake his lust on a boring bookkeeper? Dammit, when his father had suggested- more like commanded- that he marry the daughter of Bethany Gravel, he had expected that she would be at least do-able. If he was going to get shackled to a woman, then she had to be fun to fuck.

The woman in the warehouse was anything but fun. She had hair so dark, he had barely seen it in the dim warehouse. And then those eyes…

Fine, he would give it to her. Her eyes were not bad. They were a beautiful hazel color but that wasn't what haunted him. It was the innocent look in them when he walked in. Wide-eyed, round, scared and confused.

The girl hadn't even known who he was.

And when she found out about the rest of him, the rest of who he was- who the Pantes were, she would lose her mind.

That made him chuckle. He glanced down at his watch and ran a hand through his hair, messing up the curls.

Thirty minutes more and he would send his men to haul his wife outside, ready or not.

A car approached, swerving to a halt just inches away from hitting his Bentley. Dominic watched sourly as his father stepped out of the car.

He was quite tall for his age, sixty-six. The only telltale sign that he was that old was the mass of grayish-white hair that filled his scalp. And perhaps a wrinkle here or there. He had Dominic's deep blue eyes and a similar scowl on his face when he approached his son.

“What the hell is taking so long?”

Dominic grunted, rolling his shoulders as if a heavy weight leaned on him. “Ask the woman you got me,”

Dona Pante scoffed, placing his hand on his waist. “You cannot handle a simple woman? A slap here or there and she'll obey immediately.”

“Get off my back will you?” Dominic snapped, throwing his hands in the air. “I'm already going this far to give you what you want. Stop bothering me.”

The older man glared down at his youngest son. His two older sons would not dare talk back to him. No. He had them whipped enough when they were younger.

But with Dominic? Well, he did get his own share of whippings. But instead of being as quietly obedient as his brothers, he lashed out whenever and however he wanted to.

He reminded Dona Pante of his younger self. Stubborn, wild not wanting to be shackled to a woman. Hell, he had three sons from three different mothers and they turned out fine.

“I'm sure she's not ugly,” He told Dominic, patting him hard on the back. “And if she is, there are plenty of other women you can have.”

Dominic shrugged his old man's hand off, a scowl sitting permanently on his face. “I don't care. Let's get this shit over with.”

Dona Pante laughed at his son's petulance and then turned to the henchmen. “Go get the girl, will you? The priest has been waiting at the church for almost an hour. It's hard holding a man of the church down with a pistol, no?”

The men scurried towards the warehouse but stopped in their tracks.

“There's no need,” Denise's voice rang loud and clear.

Dominic turned, surprised at the boldness in her voice.

She was wearing the dress. A white lace that clung to her body like a glove. How on earth had he picked the perfect size for her?

His eyes fell on the dark-as-night hair that spilled over her porcelain shoulders. Her skin was so pale it contrasted beautifully.

He was wrong.

Utterly wrong.

Her hair was not boring. It shone in the sun like obsidian jewels. They made her eyes look enchanting.

And surprise surprise, she wasn't crying. He had expected her to be weeping buckets, the way she had been in the warehouse. Now she just seemed resigned to fate.

Dominic watched his bride-to-be, sticking up her nose in the air proudly, trying to appear confident despite her shaky hands. Her eyes found him and she immediately glanced down at her shoes, face red.

“I'm ready,”