Chapter 6 - A MARRIAGE OF SURVIVAL
The ultimatum was absolute. In the mafia underworld, a wife could not be forced to testify against her husband, nor could she be executed without a formal declaration of war against the entire syndicate.
Marriage was the only thing standing between Harper and a bullet.
“I can’t do this, Dominic!” Harper paced nervously inside the master suite of the Lake Forest estate. “This is crazy! We met less than two weeks ago! I’m an auditor, not a mafia wife!”
Dominic stood near the fireplace, watching her frantic movements with calm intensity. “Carmine is looking for any excuse to start a war and take Chicago. If you refuse, his hitmen will find you, no matter where I hide you. I cannot protect you as an outsider anymore, Harper.”
Harper stopped pacing, looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. “And as your wife?”
Dominic walked toward her, closing the space between them. He reached out, gently lifting her chin so she had no choice but to look into his piercing winter-sky eyes.
“As my wife,” Dominic said softly, his voice thick with raw emotion, “I will burn the entire city to ashes before I let anyone lay a finger on you.”
Her breath caught in her throat. The sheer weight of his conviction terrified her, yet deep inside her chest, a dangerous flame ignited. She had spent her life being invisible, weak, and intimidated by men like Braden. But with Dominic, she felt a terrifying, irresistible power.
“Is this just a business transaction to you, Dominic?” she asked quietly.
Dominic’s thumb softly brushed across her bottom lip, echoing the moment they first met in that dark hotel corridor.
“It started as one,” Dominic whispered, his face dipping close to hers. “But nothing about the way I feel when I look at you is business, tesoro.”
Two days later, a private ceremony took place inside a candlelit chapel on the estate grounds. Harper wore an exquisite lace gown, looking like a tragic angel entering a pact with the devil.
When Dominic slipped a massive canary-diamond ring onto her finger, his hand was steady, but his gaze was fiercely possessive.
“With this ring,” Dominic vowed, his voice echoing in the quiet chapel, “I give you my empire, my protection, and my life.”
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When he leaned down to kiss his bride, it was no longer a frantic distraction in a dark hallway. It was slow, deep, and consumed with a fierce, burning passion that made Harper’s knees go weak. She wrapped her arms around his neck, surrendering entirely to the darkness that claimed her.
The transaction was complete. Harper Hayes was now Mrs. Harper Russo.
