Chapter 3: Vincenzo Fire

Sienna

I feel physically sick at the display in front of me and turn around again. Peering up at Carmella, I offer her a sad smile.

“He’s a Capo Dei Capi, he can do whatever he wants. Being engaged to a nobody like me shouldn’t change that.” I say sadly, but for some reason, I am hurt.

“Would you like to leave? We could go to The Greenhouse and spend some time with the flowers?” She asks me, and I perk up at the mention of flowers.

My Pappa built the Greenhouse for my 18th birthday. It was a safe haven for me and Carmella as the space brought the both of us calm. Floriculture was my passion and I could easily spend a day amongst the flowers and be happy. If it were up to me, I would own a small cottage in the forest with nothing but flowers surrounding me.

That would be my Nirvana.

I nod and smile at her, then we grab our things and walk towards the door. I pull out my phone to call my Mamma to inform her of our plans. When we reach the front of the restaurant, I turn around to take one last look at Dante, but as I do so, he glances up at me and the smile that was on his face fades when our eyes lock.

“Come, Sienna,” Carmella urges me, and I look away from Dante and his display of lust. From what I could gather from his expression, he did not expect to find me here; oh well, at least I know him showing up was not intentional.

My mamma answers her phone and I tell her that Carmella would bring me home, so she needn’t worry. When I told her she did not leave a bodyguard with me, she freaked out and apologized profusely, saying she was sure she left Milos here with me.

Poor Mamma. She must have a lot on her mind to forget about something as important as security for her own daughter.

When we reach The Greenhouse, I head straight to the sunflowers section. Sunflowers were my favourite flowers and always made me happy. Being in a field of them always brought me pure bliss. We spent about 5 hours there, just chatting and laughing, neither of us bringing up the incident at the restaurant. Something for which I was grateful.

It was 3 pm when we arrived back at the mansion and I am steadily reminded of the impending dinner party at 6 pm. We head to my room, but my little brother, Davide, stops us.

I am uncertain if the word ‘little’ applies to him anymore. He was 15 years old, had light brown hair like me, but blue eyes like my Mamma. Already a Made Man, I used to have this fantasy where I ran away with Davide; far away from the Mafia life, where Papa expected him to kill for the family.

But, alas, he ended up being Made at 12 years old. My Papa said that Davide was the most ruthless soldier he had ever seen and would probably become his Enforcer before taking over as Capo.

“Sienna, you are needed in Papa’s study.” He says, after giving Carmella and me a hug each. Then he walked off again, gesturing to me to follow him.

“Do you know why Papa is calling for me, Davide?” I ask him, but he shakes his head as we reach the study door.

My heart was pounding; I was never allowed in Papa’s study! Davide opens the door and tells me to step in alone, Carmella would wait in my room and she obliged. I stepped inside, and my eyes immediately fell, not on my Pappa, but on the three new figures occupying the room.

I could recognise those intense green eyes in a crowd of a hundred; Dante Dragonetti was regarding me with the same look he had in his eyes when he left my room the other night. Flanking him on either side were men who looked similar to him; raven black hair, green eyes, and prominent facial features. But where the other two were tall and lean, Dante was broadly built and seemed as if he worked out a lot.

“Sienna,” Papa calls and walks towards me with a smile on his face. “You called for me, Papa?” I ask, feeling everyone’s eyes on me, and it sends a shiver up my spine. What were they all doing here?

“Yes, I did. Dante would like to meet with you in private. There are a few things he needs to discuss with you before the wedding.” Papa says and gestures towards Dante behind us. The latter gets up and from the armchair he occupied and walks towards me with his arm outstretched.

“Would you walk with me, Sienna?” He asks in the deep, sultry voice of his that renders me temporarily speechless.

I look up into his cold, green eyes, “I would love to,” I answer him and a smile spreads across his face as he leads me out into our courtyard.

This was my safe space to go to when things were getting too much for me, and now I would bring the source of all my problems here.

The courtyard was like a mini forest, with tall trees and shrubbery surrounding a patch of wild grass. No one could see in or out when you were inside. And the thought of being alone with Dante in a place like that terrified me, but I still follow him.

I remained impassive until we reached the grass patch in the middle of the courtyard, then Dante came to a stop and turned around to face me.

“Your father must trust me with your life; sending you out into a place like this with someone like me. My reputation must have slipped his mind.” He says, and I feel my blood run cold.

Was Dante threatening me?

“You won’t do anything to me, Dante. This is not Dragonetti territory.” I say, amazed at my bravado but all Dante does is chuckle.

“Ah, a woman with fire. This is good. For a minute I thought I would marry a submissive church mouse who has never been kissed.” He says, moving closer to me. He slips his arms around my waist and draws me closer, and I feel momentarily dazed as I take in his rugged scent.

“Tell me, Sienna, are you a submissive church mouse who has never been kissed?” he asks me, and I already have the line imprinted in my head. “I will only be submissive to my husband, Dante.”

My Mamma taught me to never talk back to my husband, unless he was asking a question, and to always be obedient to his needs and wants. I had a feeling that Dante knew the old ways, and would make sure I did as well. He nods at my answer.

“And have you been kissed?” The question itself made me do a double-take, and all I could do was stare at him, but I think this answered the question for him because his eyes widened. He takes my cheek in his hand and strokes it with his thumb, “sposa pura,” he murmurs ‘pure bride’ and brings his face closer to mine.

My heart stopped at that moment; Dante caressed my lips with his and gently ran his tongue over them before pushing it inside and leading me into my first kiss.

How do I describe being kissed for the first time? How does anyone? It was incredibly awkward for me; Dante swirled his tongue around mine and I copied him, following the lead his kiss was going.

He pulled me closer into his arms and fists his hand in the back of my hair - and I found myself kissing him back naturally. The possession behind his kiss, when I reciprocated, gave me a blood rush straight to the head.

He ends the kiss by running his tongue over my lips again, “Hmm, a virgin’s kiss - incredibly sweet and definitely one I will remember.” He says, pinning me with darkened eyes.

How do I respond to something like this? I had just let him kiss me - I allowed him to and now my head was filled with unwanted thoughts of longing that head straight to my core.

My first kiss with the man who scares me half to death and I find myself wanting more.

Dante brushes a lock of hair out of my eye and caresses my cheek.

“I apologize for stealing your first kiss, Sienna.” He says with a smile playing on his lips and I shake my head.

“It is well within your rights to claim me, I am yours,” I tell him and I see the lust filling his eyes. Gosh, I didn’t mean to claim me in that way, you pervert!

I cleared my throat. “Was there a reason you wanted to see me, Dante?” I ask, trying to divert the conversation from my purity, and he nods.

“Ah, yes there was. What you saw this afternoon, I hope you are not expecting me to seize my ways just because we are to be married.” He says, surprising me, but I shake my head again.

“You are Capo Dei Capi, Dante. You can do as you please. Ours will be a marriage of convenience, not love. You may have as many women as you wish.” I say with a robotic tinge to my voice, as if I had spewed these words out before.

Dante regards me with curiosity. “You wouldn’t feel insulted?” He asks me, cocking his head to the side.

“Not at all. Currently, I cannot satisfy your needs as we are not married, but I know you are a man of exotic tastes and do not expect you to change for me.” I respond to him, to which he chuckles out a reply.

“I see,” and takes my hand in his again. He looks down at the ring on my finger, twirling it around, then looks back up at me.

“You are not at all what I expected, Sienna. You have fire and I’m curious to see if being married to me sets it ablaze or snuffs it out.” He says, before leading me back into the mansion.

What exactly did he mean by that?

I look at him out of the corner of my eye and I am not sure why, but my heart started pounding profusely. Dante scared me. No, he PETRIFIED me. The mere thought of marrying him, being alone with him, sharing a bed with him left me with such a sense of trepidation that I was breathless. With that kiss, he claimed me as his, and I could already feel the bondage around my soul.

Thankfully, the rehearsal dinner passed with no issues. I felt all Dante’s stares from across the dinner table but opted to ignore them. This must have pissed him off because he chose to ignore me all evening after that; I don’t think Dante quite enjoys being ignored.

Carmella was quiet all evening, not even looking at me or passing a sarcastic comment during dinner. Was she scared of Dante as well? I have known no one to scare Carmella before; her own father did not even scare her of her father, Papa’s Consigliere Ivano Ruggiero.

I would call her about it later on. Ever since that evening, I have had no peaceful night’s sleep; Dante’s words were on repeat in my mind:

"You have fire and I’m curious to see if being married to me sets it ablaze or snuffs it out."