ADRIANO 
2 YEARS LATER... 
He looked exactly the groom he was; he was dressed in his black three-piece suite, a white shirt, navy blue tie, black oxfords and his hair was styled in a neat side part.  
He looked perfect, he looked good but he didn’t feel good. He felt like crap. He was anything but happy about his marriage but he had to pretend to be the happy groom that he was not. It was a good thing that he was good at masking his emotions.  
“Are you ready?” His brother Julio asked. 
He didn’t know how to answer that question. Would he ever be ready for this marriage? Would he ever feel right about getting married to Ismeralda? He had had two years to prepare for this marriage, two years to enjoy being a bachelor, two years to convince himself that the marriage might not be as bad as he thought it would be but he was finding it hard to convince himself now.  
“Yes, I am. Let’s go.” Adriano said with more confidence and conviction than he felt.  
When they got to the church, the place was already filled up. That was one disadvantage of being a Capo, everybody wanted to be at the wedding because everybody wanted to be on your good side. One thing they didn’t know was that he couldn’t care less about any of them. He only wanted to keep everybody in check and make sure that nobody messed up.  
He was ushered to the front of the church with his brother and his two cousins, Adolfo and Alonso behind him.  
They arranged themselves as they were supposed to be while they waited for his soon-to-be wife and her bridal train.  
To make matters worse, they were having a church wedding. How the hell does the captain of the mafia or even anyone from the mafia get married in a church? It didn’t make sense and neither did this wedding.  
The audience grew silent all of a sudden and then the Bridal Chorus began to play. He tore his eyes away from the priest to look at Ismeralda as she walked up to him with her father.  
The moment his eyes landed on her; he inhaled a sharp breath but didn’t show any reaction on his face.  
Ismeralda was beautiful in her white, shiny ball gown. She looked more matured and taller than the last time he had seen her two years ago. He tried his best and succeeded at avoiding her after the engagement party. He didn’t know why he did that but then he did.  
She looked more confident and walked with more poise and grace but Adriano still didn’t forget that she was still eighteen and probably still naïve.  
When they got to where he was standing, her father kissed her forehead before placing her small hands in his. This was it, this was the beginning of the rest of their lives and he didn’t mean that in a good way.  
 
~*~*~*~ 
ISMERALDA 
The morning of her wedding, she was all dressed in her beautiful white dress and her high heeled shoe. Her make-up was done by the best of the best and her shoes were ordered and customized from Versace (Leave it to her mother to overdo everything). Her hair was styled up with a few curly strands falling around her face and of course her veil.  
She wore only a simple silver chain around her neck with a diamond pendant and earrings to match.  
She looked like the bride she had imagined herself to be when she finally got married. She didn’t feel sad because she was getting married but she wasn’t happy either.  
Truth is that she was really nonchalant about the wedding because she had prepared herself for it and she knew it would come.  
The only thing she was worried about was the fact the she didn’t know how it would be like to be married to someone like Adriano.  
She was very opened about her emotions and how she was feeling while he was the direct opposite.  
He was cold and closed off. Sometimes, she wondered if he even had the ability to feel things.  
If he didn’t have the ability to feel emotions, then she was doomed in their marriage.  
She didn’t even have time to ponder over her thoughts anymore because she was being yelled at by her mother for her to hurry so they wouldn’t be late.  
When they got to the church building, she took in a deep breath before climbing up the stairs that led to the entrance of the building. Then she took in another deep breath when her dad linked their arms together.  
“You look beautiful, princess.” Her father told her with a sweet smile on his face. She could see his eyes becoming wet and she smiled softly at him.  
“Thank you, papa.” She replied and placed a small kiss on his cheeks.  
Then the doors opened for them and she inhaled another deep breath. She was probably more nervous than she thought she would be.  
As she and her father walked slowly down the aisle, she noticed her future husband looking at her. His face was void of any emotions as usual and that made her heart sink. It took all the strength in her not to turn on her heels and run away but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she’d get away with it.  
This was just how things would be for her from now on. She didn’t have a choice about anything.  
 
~*~*~*~ 
After all the vows were said, the moment that the audience couldn’t wait to see and the moment that Ismeralda had even forgotten about was about to happen.  
For some weird reason, Ismeralda had not thought about her first kiss that would be given to her by Adriano today. It was odd because she had thought about how her first kiss would feel like countless times and on the day she would finally get it, it totally skipped her mind.  
 
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” The priest said.  
Ismeralda looked at her husband's handsome stone-cold face. He gave her a tiny smile before bending to place his lips on hers.  
His lips were gentle on hers and he moved slowly. Ismeralda was grateful that he hadn’t tried to deepen the kiss because God knows she would have done something embarrassing.  
The crowd stood up and cheered. Julio, Adriano’s brother howled and then Adriano broke the kiss and they both turned to face the crowd.  
They walked down the aisle hand in hand and tried to look like the happy couple that they weren’t.  
They both knew how awkward it would be for the two of them. They were as good as strangers who had been forced into a marriage that they both couldn’t walk away from.  
So, no matter how unhappy they were or would be in the marriage, the only thing that could separate them was death and neither wanted to die soon so they’d just have to manage.