The Don's Bride 2

As they walked, with Carlo to Vincenzo’s left and Maxwell to his right, they spoke.

“What do you need?” Carlo asked his Don.

“Clean cloths and cold water.” Vincenzo replied as he carried her along headed upstairs.

“I’m on it.” Carlo agreed, then disappearing to complete his task.

Maxwell on the other hand continued alongside Vincenzo as they turned into the next hallway and headed towards the twin doors down the end.

Vincenzo’s bedroom.

Maxwell reached in and opened the bedroom door and Vincenzo walked inside, with Natalia draped over his muscular arms as he reached the bed and then gently lay her head down on the pillow, and her body over the mattress.

He then sat himself down on the edge of the bed beside her.

“Help me get this thing off her.” he instructed his friend.

Maxwell crawled across the bed and then worked to help unclip the veil from Natalia’s hair, as did Vincenzo.

Once it was removed, Vincenzo lifted her upright to sit and pulled the veil out of the way, tossing it onto the floor before then laying her back down onto the pillow.

Maxwell then moved down the length of the bed and began removing Natalia’s heels one by one.

“What are you doing?” Vincenzo enquired, looking to him in question.

“She’s not wearing heels to bed, right?” Maxwell pointed out.

Vincenzo merely nodded in agreement.

Not long afterwards, Carlo entered the room carrying a cold bottle of water and several clean white handtowels.

He handed them to Vincenzo who then worked to wet the towel and then squeeze it out onto the floor before then gently patting the cool cloth over Natalia’s forehead and neck.

All three men surrounded her, watching on with worry.

“I’d say it’s the chloroform still in her system.” Maxwell spoke his thoughts aloud.

Upon hearing this, Vincenzo frowned, turning to Maxwell in outrage.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.

“What chloroform?”

Maxwell only then recalled that he hadn’t informed his boss about what had happened to Natalia during her attempted kidnapping.

As far as Vincenzo knew, the Rossi’s had tried to kidnap her, but that was all he knew.

Maxwell looked worried now as he tried to diffuse the situation.

“Well, you see… the Rossi’s kinda drugged her last night when they attempted to kidnap her.” he nervously explained.

“They used chloroform on her and her friend-”

“-What! Why am I only hearing about this now?” Vincenzo sounded furious as he looked between them with an angered expression.

Carlo averted his gaze submissively, unsure of what to say.

“We kinda… forgot to tell you.” he worriedly admitted.

Vincenzo clenched his fists tightly as he closed his eyes and growled angrily.

Both Maxwell and Carlo knew they had made a mistake, and normally the old Vince would have brushed it aside and forgotten all about it.

But ever since he had become Don, Vincenzo had drastically changed his personality; become much darker, angrier and filled with loathing fury.

“Both of you out.” he commanded in an eerily calm tone of voice.

“Boss, we’re sorry-” Maxwell tried to apologise, but he wouldn’t get to finish.

“-OUT!” Vincenzo snapped angrily, refusing to meet their gazes as he waited for them to leave as ordered.

With a sigh, both Maxwell and Carlo exited the bedroom, closing the door behind themselves and leaving the Don with his new Donna.

Vincenzo wasn’t exactly angry at Maxwell or Carlo.

He was angry at himself… for allowing the kidnapping attempt to have even happened in the first place.

He knew Elio would try something last night; he should have sent more men to protect their mansion.

He should have done a better job.

Vincenzo was always far too judgemental of himself.

Standing himself up he sighed and then made his way over towards the massive window overlooking one of the mansion’s lagoon-sized pools.

As he stood staring out at the crystal blue water down below, he felt himself reminded of the waves back at the beaches in Sicily.

He missed the freedom he had there.

While he continued staring outside in silence, Natalia slowly opened her eyes, blinking until her vision returned to normal and then looking around the room that she was now in.

She frowned in confusion, scanning the room with her warm chocolate brown eyes until they locked on his figure by the window at the far side of the room.

He still had his back to her.

Natalia sat herself upright, holding her head as her vision continued to blotch and fade in and out of focus.

She wondered what was wrong with her.

Why she was feeling this way.

As she moved, the bed creaked, alerting Vincenzo to turn around and notice her moving off the bed to stand.

He panicked, jogging across the room towards her as he called out, “Whoa, hold on. Don’t try to stand.”

She looked up at him as he came to stop in front of where she now sat on the edge of the bed, with her legs and bottom of her gown out over the edge.

Vincenzo then crouched down to her level and looked her in the eye, reaching out his hand and cupping the side of her face as he searched for any signs that she might possibly faint again.

As soon as his hand touched her face, she felt a warm tingling sensation radiating outwards from it and felt the need to lean into it, though she resisted doing so.

She was still so confused.

“How are you feeling?” Vincenzo enquired with a look of concern.

“Ok.” she replied simply, while meeting his warm gaze.

“You had me a little worried there.” he mused with a small smile.

“Not every bride faints at her wedding.”

Natalia then remembered about fainting and immediately feared what her parents might have thought; what they might still be thinking even now.

“Oh my god… my parents are gonna kill me.” she spoke with concern.

“Relax, no one’s going to kill you.” he declared, standing himself up and then moving to sit down on the edge of the bed beside her.

“And your parents are fine. They know you’re ok. They’re down at the reception now.”

“Still… I can’t believe I fainted. I ruined the whole thing-” she insisted.

“-What are you talking about?” he countered with a frown.

“Everything went perfectly… well, besides the kiss.”

Natalia frowned, slapping her hand over her face in shame.

“I’m such a dope. I have no idea why I did that.” she insisted.

“Well, I’d say it was more than likely the chloroform you ingested last night.” Vincenzo explained.

She frowned, confused as she turned to look him in the eye.

“How do you know about that?” she asked him.

He smiled, “I have my ways. There’s not a lot that happens in L.A without me knowing.”

Natalia then realised something; the reception.

“Wait, aren’t we gonna get in trouble for missing out on the reception? They’re probably all waiting for us.” she pointed out.

He smiled at her, shrugging carelessly, “They can wait. Your health is more important.”

“But I’m fine now.” she insisted, quickly moving to stand.

“Look, see? Totally fine.”

Vincenzo remained sitting on the edge of the bed as he stared up into her warm brown eyes with an expression of intrigue.

He had so many questions for her.

So much he wanted to know, needed to learn.

“Come on, we should go.” she urged him.

Vincenzo stood to his full height, towering over her as he stepped in to close the space between them while staring her directly in the eye.

Natalia felt herself somewhat turned on by the power and authority his presence demanded.

He was in every way and Don now.

Gone was the carefree surfer from Sicily.

“We’re really not going to talk about this?” he questioned.

“About us?”

Natalia knew what he wanted to discuss and she lowered her gaze submissively, apparently unwilling to discuss such a raw subject.

“We should really get going…” she spoke with her gaze lowered, clearly nervous about being in such a close proximity to the enticing Don.

“We’ve been neglecting our guests and as good hosts we really shouldn’t-”

Cutting her off mid-sentence, Vincenzo leaned in and pressed his lips up against hers, kissing her softly in a sweet and tender kiss.

Their first kiss ever as man and wife.

As their lips parted and their eyes slowly opened, Natalia peered up into those glowing amber eyes of his and found herself totally lost in them.

She couldn’t control herself and before she knew what she was doing, this time she leaned in and crashed her lips up against his, igniting a raw and passionate kiss which, as it progressed, became increasingly dominant.

Their hands roamed all over one another’s bodies, causing excitement shared between the two as Natalia found her hands moving as if by instinct to begin removing his clothing, but she quickly stopped herself, clenching her hands into fists.

She also pulled away from their kiss, panting heavy breaths as she looked up into his eyes.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“If we keep going, I won’t be able to stop myself.” she admitted shyly.

He smiled, cupping both sides of her face with his large hands as he stared deeply into her all too familiar warm brown eyes.

“Fuck I’ve missed you.” he declared in his deep, smooth toned voice.

She furrowed her brows inwards.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you… Vince.” Natalia proclaimed.

He then pulled her into his warm, muscular embrace, hugging her and holding her in safety and security from the dangerous world surrounding them.

And it was there that Natalia truly felt the true meaning of safety.

Within his arms.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” he whispered down into her hair as he held her lovingly.

She opened her eyes and lifted her head up as she spoke her response to his comment.

“That’ll make it a bit hard to go to the toilet.” she pointed out with a smile.

Vincenzo chuckled; his deep voice rumbled from within his chest.

She pulled out of his embrace with a smile.

“Come on, we really should make an appearance. Even if only for a little while.” Natalia suggested, this time in all seriousness.

Vincenzo nodded in agreement.

“As my wife commands.” he declared.