1. VAMPIRE

SELINE

"She is mute. She can't host parties like a wife should. She can't entertain the other wives while you are dealing with their husbands. You don't know the sign language. She is unfit for this marriage. They gave us damaged goods, which is quite disrespectful. Go for Aria. I think she is the best fit for you."

Those are the exact words of my would-be cousin-in-law, even if he can be called as that.

He is the cousin of my fiancé, Luca Marcellous.

The wedding date was set.

The wedding gown was bought.

The wedding cake was decided.

Now, my cousin-in-law has second thoughts about me.

Not that I cared, except I did. Because he was the Enforcer of the Marcellous clan. If he declared me unfit because I was mute, everyone would believe him.

There is a possibility that the wedding will be cancelled, and I will be stuck in this gilded nightmare of a house forever.

The Duforts' mansion, my home.

And if I did, I might just throw away my carefully curated plan to destroy the Duforts one by one and simply kill them all in a storm of rage.

Now, I can't have that.

I agree. I wasn't the bride they wanted.

Aria, my cousin, was supposed to marry Luca.

But she was caught in a rather compromising position with her so-called best friend.

So, I was the chosen one, the offering Duforts made to settle "things" with the Marcellous.

"Damaged goods." That's what he called me.

I was called worse. Normally, I wouldn't have cared.

But this man has the final say on my marriage.

I desperately need to get married to Luca.

He wasn't exactly husband material.

Neither am I wife material.

But he will do.

He has to.

Peeking through the peephole and eavesdropping on my future in-laws' discussion is not a wise thing to do.

What can I say?

I was never the wise one.

So, I continued as Luca, my fiancé cleared his throat.

"Aren't you thinking a lot about this, little brother. She will be my wife. And you will give her your respect as the wife of the future don of the Marecllous clan. And what if she is mute?"

Right. You tell him, Luca. I lack —

"She can't moan or scream like others when I fuck her raw," Luca laughed, and for a split second, I saw my future cousin-in-law's jaw flex.

"Luca," This is Kai, who warned him. "Show her some respect." The wedding is yet to happen.

"She is, after all, a girl." Luca reasoned. "She is nothing before me. Like Kade said, she is damaged goods. But Aria is not a virgin. She is."

I winced, shutting one eye. Then Kade’s gaze lifted and locked with mine straight through the peephole.

My body jolted back. Not from fear, at least, it shouldn’t have been fear. But the way he looked up without moving his head, pinning me with eyes that felt like they saw everything, sent a chill crawling down my spine.

He did it like he knew I was there.

Quickly, I hurried back to the stairs so that I could go down and attend my engagement party.

Ten steps to the stairs.

Five steps to the stairs.

Three...

Two...

Damn! I was caught.

A hard chest, taut beneath a black shirt, blocked me.

One calloused hand rested on the pillar, the other buried in his pocket.

“Going somewhere, little ghost?” My future cousin-in-law’s voice slid over me like smoke.

How the hell had he outpaced me? He really was the ghost they called him. And now he was calling me that.

He was in the room.

How the fuck did he outdo me and stand before me?

I licked my lips out of my carefully curated habit and fidgeted with my fingers.

A trace of whiskey clung to him, heady and intoxicating, as though power itself had a scent.

I never felt this for Luca.

Did my fiancé ever smell like power?

Never, my inner self answered.

Slowly, I raised my head to find those deep-set honey eyes, scanning through me as if he might peel back my thoughts, and if he looked any deeper, he might find them.

A thick scar ran down the left side of his face, cruel and uneven. From his temple down to the corner of his mouth, cutting through the stubble and splitting his features like a knife through flesh.

Somehow that made him look more handsome, more annoying, and even more interesting.

Fucking Great.

Everyone I thought was interesting turned out to be a bad idea.

We stood locked like that, me small and cornered, him towering over me, until his gaze fell to my neck.

His eyes darkened. His jaw tensed. The veins along his forearm flexed against the pillar.

Why is he looking at my neck?

That's exactly what I signed with my hands, knowing that he could never understand.

"Why are you staring at my neck? Are you a vampire?"

His heated gaze travelled from my hands to my eyes and back to my hands.

I heard footsteps approaching, and I slowly took a step back, walking past him.

My nerves didn't calm down yet.

I have seen dangerous men, born and grew up with them and going to marry one.

But Luca is predictable.

He thinks with his dick, and he is just a man-child with the ego the size of an elephant.

But his cousin, Kade, gives nothing away.

Even his smile feels like a death warning.

And he always hides in the shadows.

When I looked back, Kai and Luca greeted me, but Kade was nowhere to be found.

He was gone.

Just like that.

And he rejoined the party when two men started to fight as if it was his duty to clean the mess.

One of the men fighting is a Dufort's bodyguard, and the other is a Marcellous's soldier.

"You are a low worm," The bodyguard spat. "You don't get to tell me what I can do and what I can't."

"And you are a fucking kid. Go back to school. This isn't the place for you."

Most of the guests, the sophisticated ones from the Duforts' side, watched everything happening in horror, while the guests from my fiancé's family cheered and encouraged them to fight.

"You don't know who I am." The bodyguard snapped.

"You don't know who I have."

At this, Kade stepped in, out of nowhere and pulled his soldier back.

When the bodyguard raised his hand, clutching a whisky bottle, Kade just glared at him.

Cold, condescending, -I-will-kill-you-if-you-move kinda glare.

The bodyguard really froze for a few seconds before he lowered his hand.

"See, Kade will chew you out." The soldier snapped.

"Why would I?" Kade asked calmly in a deep, controlling voice. "I am not a vampire."

My breath hitched.

My heart skipped a beat.

I froze where I stood.

I don't have to see him to tell that he was watching me.

Because I felt it at the back of my neck, throughout my spine.