Prologue
"Do you take Alessandra Giovanni as your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?" the priest asked my father.
"I do," dad looked into Alessand... Mom's eyes as he said his vows. I can literally feel the happiness radiating off of him, even when I'm sitting this far from him.
I had to admit that deep down I'm a little jealous because he will now spend as much time as possible with mom and we'll get to spend less time together. Dad has been the only person who has been around me most of the time and now it hurts a little when I think that he'll be less around me now that he has a wife. That doesn't mean that I'm unhappy about this marriage. I'm happy for him because he deserves to be happy for all he has done.
After all the vows were taken it was now time for them to kiss.
I blushed like a tomato when they kissed each other passionately, not caring about the people who attended the marriage. I wished that the ground would swallow me up when mom cupped his ass in front of everyone.
While I was trying not to show the awkwardness on my face, I heard someone chuckle beside me. It served as a reminder that I'm sitting next to my stepbrother, Federico. I thought that he was chuckling at his mother's behavior but no, he was looking at me and that's when I realized that he saw me blushing. My face scratched further in embarrassment.
Why is he staring at me that intently? It is so freaking awkward. After seeing my face getting redder, his face lit up in amusement. I blushed ever harder seeing his expression.
God, why can't I stop blushing? I questioned myself. I keep making a fool out of myself, though you can't blame me for that when there is a bronze skinned, bulky, handsome hunk sitting beside me. He could make any woman swoon over him with his strong Italian features.
"Glad to know you both are getting along well," mom beamed at us, thinking that we were having a pleasant conversation. That's why I like her. She may be my stepmother but she never made me feel like she is my stepmom. She treats me exactly like dad treats me...with love and care. She fills the void of motherly love in my heart and I love her as much as I would have loved my mom.
I was expecting an evil woman in the name of stepmom when I first heard my dad is dating but she proved me wrong. She treated me with care and I feel like she's my birth mom even when she isn't.
Someone has said it right that sometimes we find our family in strangers. Not that she is just a stranger to me. She has earned my respect and won my heart.
"Yeah, we're getting along fine. Right, Bella?" Federico asked me in his husky voice. I suppressed the shiver that racked through my body. I cursed at my body for reacting to him. I can't possibly get attracted to my stepbrother. He is my stepbrother, for fuck's sake. But my body and my mind weren't in sync today.
It was like my body had detected a possible mate and it was sending a signal to me to mate with him. I wanted to smack my head on my own theory.
We are human not animals
, I screamed at my brain.
Do you think he's a werewolf and we're his mate?
my subconscious chimed in, making me want to smash her head with something hard, which is impossible considering we both are the same person. I'm reading way too many werewolf novels it seems. I should stop reading them if I want my own sanity.
"Bella?" I looked at Federico as he tapped my shoulder. God, he is the most handsome creature I've ever laid my eyes on. I swooned.
"Yes?" I asked and avoided making eye contact with him. I'm afraid he'll see that I'm attracted to him if he does. I'm sure he'll be disgusted by that. He is my brother after all.
Stepbrother.
My subconscious butted in once again. Brother or stepbrother, it's really inappropriate of me to crush on him.
"You looked a little lost there," he commented while looking amused.
Good to know you find me amusing, I sarcastically said it to myself.
"I was thinking about which book I should read after getting out of here," I said whatever came to the forefront of my mind, not caring if he would believe my words or not. It's all okay as long as he doesn't get to know the real reason.
"Okay," he said like he didn't believe my excuse but was letting it go and continued, "mom said that they're leaving for their honeymoon in a bit".
I nodded in acknowledgement and ran away from him after finding my escape ticket. Dad, here I come! Thank you for saving me. Though I wasn't grateful for so long. When I couldn't find him anywhere in the wedding area, I decided to check mom's room. I should call it my parents' bedroom from now on.
"Jax," when I heard mom calling my dad from her room, I assumed he was in the room too and decided to check it myself. The door was slightly ajar and just when I was about to burst into the room I saw dad.
My mouth hung open when I saw the scene in front of me. Dad was behind mom and he was pushing his thing in and out of mom's vagina and she was screaming for him to go faster.
Repulsive and totally astonished, I closed the door quickly, avoiding making any sound.
Goodness Gracious, they could have waited till they reached their honeymoon destination or locked the door if they wanted to do it here!
"Why are you so red again?" I jumped a little when Federico whispered in my ears. I don't know when he crept up behind me or how he managed to get behind me without any noise.
I blushed even more after seeing him behind me, if that's possible.
When he didn't get a reply from me, he took a peek inside. I put my head between my hands and groaned slightly. I can't believe he just peeked in just because I didn't tell him that our parents are having sex.
He took my hands in his and pulled me away from the room. I looked in awe as he took me to the gardens mom had planted by herself.
Before getting married, our partners decided that we should move into mom's mansion so we sold our mansion and moved in here and that was a week ago. In our mansion, we didn't have a garden as we were too busy with our own lives to take care of it and we didn't trust a stranger to manage our gardens so we didn't hire anyone.
When we first moved here, the greenery here was what caught my attention the most. I loved it to the point I made it my mission to explore every inch of the garden here and so for the past week, I have been roaming all around the mansion and spending my time in all the gardens. Yes, there are various gardens here.
It wasn't surprising considering how vast the mansion is. There is bound to be more than one for everything.
Back to the present, Federico led me through the garden while I followed him like an excited child. My eyes lit up when I saw a man-made forest in front of me.
"That's so awesome," I awed as I touched the trees, though the forest made me question a lot of things.
"They're real?" I asked in disbelief when I saw that the trees were real. Call me a fool for all I care but I always thought man-made forests were fake. I have always thought that man-made forests are artificial.
Seeing my baffled expression, Federico laughed out loud.
Why does he make me feel so embarrassed?
"It is," he chuckled. I just pray to God I don't die out of embarrassment. This man has a back for making me embarrassed.
"I...," before I could retaliate, his phone rang, efficiently cutting off my sassy reply. He stepped away from me and muttered something in Italian. Whoever was on the other side either pissed him off or delivered bad news because Federico's whole demeanor changed. He looked thoroughly pissed.
"It's time for me to leave, Bella. We'll meet some other day" he said his goodbye and turned around, signaling for me to follow him.
"Tell mom that I have some emergency so I had to leave," he said. I told him that he doesn't have to worry about it and that I'll inform her.
"It was nice to see you, Bella," he surprised me with a kiss on the cheek. I wouldn't even call it a kiss on the cheek when his lips were almost touching mine. He pulled back after a few seconds and walked away without waiting for me to reply.
"It was nice to meet you too," I stated awkwardly while wrapping my head around the kiss. Even after he left, I stood there for some time thinking the kiss felt nice
This is bad, I'm totally screwed!
~•~
