Tainted Love

Ciaran
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
In this world that’s always how it works. Without exception.
Sometimes it’s deliberate.
A way to provoke a response.
Set a trap.
Start a war…
What none of us can afford to do is to turn a blind eye.
To do so is to show weakness.
And in this world, that kind of weakness will get you annihilated.
That’s why I’m here, preparing to abduct the woman who’s stupid enough to tie herself to the scum they called the Viper, on her wedding day.
Retaliation.

Maricela
I feel like an inmate on death row waiting to be escorted to my doom, but marriage to Vito – the Viper – Rossi is a fate worse than death.
My father, the one who sold me into this nightmare, is present… somewhere, but I have to be escorted down the aisle by a body guard in case I try to make a run for it.
Well, they’re not wrong.
I stare at my reflection for the few precious moments of peace and freedom I have left. I’m not sure I know the woman who stares back at me. It’s my eyes that strike hardest.
Blank. Desolate. It’s like all the life has been sucked out of them.
The door opens and any last chance of escape has finally passed.
Except it’s not my bodyguard who enters the room, but a masked man with an Irish accent.
He doesn’t need to abduct me, I’ll go willingly.
This might have been my happily ever after… until he’s forced to give me back.

Warning: This is a dark, mafia story. There is content that some readers may find triggering.