Prologue
Three families
Fight for territory.
When long ago two star crossed lovers
Betrayed all three.
The lovers’ families assumed them dead
The third family never stopped looking.
Nobody betrays the Sovrano’s
And lives to tell the tale.
In her haste she tripped over the hem of her long white dress, the sound of tearing fabric rose to her ears as the beautiful skirt ripped. She didn’t care, she had to run faster. Black mascara streaked down her cheeks. Her hair that earlier was done to perfection by her mother was now messy and falling in mahogany tendrils down her back and sticking to her damp cheeks.
She skidded into a small wooded area, knowing she was nearly at their secret place. He wouldn’t be there, but no-one knew this is where she went. She’d be safe until she worked out what to do next. The sunbaked dirt under her feet seemed to make her footsteps louder, she turned at the right point into the trees, dropping down a natural ledge onto lower ground.
Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the one person she wanted to see. “Demario!” she shouted breathlessly, he looked up from his book. His dark eyebrows coming together in confusion until his handsome face broke out in a smile. He stood just in time for her to launch herself in his chest. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” she sobbed into his light blue shirt, surely leaving her makeup on it.
“Shh,” he cooed, his fingers finding the tips of her hair as he twiddled, brushing against the ivory lace of her wedding dress.
“I don’t want to marry him,” she sobbed.
“I know my love.” He pulled her face to his, laying a tender kiss to her tear-soaked lips.
She pulled him closer to deepen the kiss, their tongues dancing together perfectly “I love you, Rio,” she said pulling her lips away.
He smiled wiping her falling tears with his thumbs, “I love you too Nora, but you have to marry him.”
She pushed Demario away, he stumbled for a step before correcting himself. “How could you say that? He’ll kill me if I do one thing wrong!”
Demario sighed, he hadn’t expected to see Eleonora today, after all, it was her wedding day. “He can’t keep you locked away Nora, we can still see each other even if it’s in sin.”
Anger flashed in her at his words, “I’m not an adulterer Demario!” she hissed menacingly. He hung his head, he knew that, and if she was marrying someone she knew he would never have said it. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling her back flush with his body. She resisted for a second before melting into his warm and safe embrace. She sniffed his familiar smell; mild woodsy cologne, cigars and tainted money, a smell she now associated with love and happiness.
She couldn’t believe her family was making her do this, she loved Demario. Granted their relationship was a secret, they were rivals; enemies. But that had never been a problem for them. They loved each other greatly, they had debated being brave and telling their families. However, that came to nothing on her nineteenth birthday, when her father had told her this ‘amazing’ idea.
“Eleonora…” he said slowly. She hummed in response, “I’ll run away with you,” he offered.
She pulled her head from his chest, searching his blue eyes for if he was serious. “I can’t drag you into this… you’re doing well with the casinos,” she countered gently.
“You already have.” He grinned resting his forehead against hers, his eyes closing “Let’s leave Italy,” he whispered, “I always wanted to see Russia… or maybe Greece?”
“They’ll find us,” she whispered. “Then we’re both dead… they won’t wait for an explanation… they’ll be two bullets with our names on.”
“What was your plan, my love?” Demario asked gently, knowing full well she didn’t have one. “I… I don’t know… I was going to hide here then… maybe it’ll blow over?”
Demario checked his wristwatch. “Well that right now you would be listening to the readings, they know you aren’t there. The Sovrano’s have probably already murdered half your-”
“No! I- Oh what have I done?” she panicked.
Demario rubbed her shoulder as he steered her to sit against the crumbling wall, “I was joking, your father is probably frantic though. He’ll have made an excuse… besides they can’t kill in the house of God… not even them,” he reassured. She sighed resting her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist while her knees rested on his thigh. “I should have swallowed my pride… just done it,” she muttered regretfully.
“No, my love. You should be happy.” He wrapped his hand around her thigh, a hairbreadth away from her round backside, tugging her a little closer. “I don’t know anywhere but here…” she whispered, anxiety and fear evident in her voice.
“Me either, but it can’t be that different?”
“What’s the closest country?” she muttered, nuzzling gently into his shirt.
“Not sure… I think going east is the best idea. The quickest we’re out of Italy the better?” It came out as a question, although he didn’t mean it to. She nodded against him. “We’ll need money,” she whispered, trying to think of anything that could foil this terrifying plan. “We both have savings… we’ll move, we’ll keep moving. We’ll change our names.”
“You’ve thought about this haven’t you?” she asked gently,
“Yes, the day you came saying your father said you had no choice,” his voice was hard and serious. “Stay here, I’ll be back in two hours. Did you hide your money like I told you?” His professional persona coming out to play. Eleonora nodded and pointed to the base of the lemon tree, he looked and smiled “Good girl.” He pecked her sweet lips before running from their hiding place.
She watched his foot disappear over the ledge before resting her head back, eyes closed. She couldn’t believe she ran. Her parents would kill her. She was probably already dead to them. She’d made her choice. How could they have expected her to marry without meeting the man? Her father had told her he knew what she looked like, he had to agree of course… she wasn’t given the choice. She’d begged, she’d screamed, she’d cried.
He refused to budge.
She let a lone tear streak down her face for her brothers and sister, she’d miss them. She was closest with her younger brother, Matteo, with only a year difference; they were the closest siblings; best friends. She couldn’t believe she’d never see him again. To disappear would mean she would never even be able to ring him, he was too close to their father.
She moved from the wall to the lemon tree, the small green lemons would be ripe in a few months. She picked up a stick and dug at the base of the tree until the stick hit something solid. She dug around until she could pull the metal box from the ground. She peeked in just in case, seeing it full of Lira notes.
She closed the box then realised what she was still wearing. She sighed thinking they would need to stop to pick something up on the way to the east coast. She couldn’t wander around in a wedding dress, with her puffed satin sleeves and now ripped train, she’d definitely draw attention to herself.
True to his word, Demario dropped down into their hiding place two hours after he left. “All set, I’ve got the car and as much money as I could get my hands on. Hope you don’t mind, I stole some of my sister’s clothes… you’re similar in size.”
“Thank you… are you sure about this?” He nodded definitively,
“Without a doubt.” He reached his hand out which Eleonora took, getting back to her feet. “Are you ready to start your new life?” he asked, she sealed the deal with a kiss.
