Aria: Devil's Spawn Book 2

NICCO

Dio.

This moment.

Cazzo.

It is everything.

I can feel the sweet, soaring pull of violins in my very soul. Massive chandeliers and elegant white candles, encased in Swarovski glass of various shapes and sizes, illuminate the ballroom, casting a magical glow across a sea of faces. Three hundred, more or less, are seated in the audience today, and three of them are mia famiglia. They are sitting in the front row, dropping their busy schedules to fly halfway across the world for me. Vivi even brought Aria's father along, keeping him safe from Juan Pablo's reach through her security team. I steal a glance in their direction.

Mamma has happy tears in her eyes.

Papà is beaming from ear to ear.

Even Vivi looks ecstatic to be here.

Their presence means more to me than I want to admit. The scent of fresh flowers brightens the gravity of what is to come. But I feel no fear or anxiety. Merely anticipation.

I am beyond ready to take the plunge.

If you asked a year ago where I might be standing on this very day, my answer could not be further from the spot where my feet are planted at the moment. Love was not supposed to be written in my stars, and the mere mention of marriage would have sent me dashing for the hills. I guess that is what separates love from romance. I was good at romance and romancing others because my heart was too jaded to fall for my own lies. The game rarely played me because I was too good at playing it.

Hell, I excelled as that double-balled, dick-headed idiot for far too long.

Thank God my fuckboy days are behind me. They are nothing to brag about. Any idiot with a dick and two balls can string together a few heartfelt compliments, pay for a nice date, and then fuck a woman until she comes a handful of times. Ironically, I have realized that true love is oftentimes the antithesis of romance. It is rare, painful, hard to find, and even harder to keep.

Aria taught me everything I know about love.

She will soon teach me much more about the love between husbands and wives. I once believed that such sacred bonds existed only for deserving souls. Like my parents. Never for prodigal sons like me. Mamma and Papà caught lightning in a bottle, and I simply could not imagine that lightning would strike twice. Nor did I yearn to establish anything meaningful or all-consuming with anyone. Easy come and easy go. That was my motto before Aria.

A crooked, self-deprecating grin raises the edge of my mouth.

Funny how the feelings that once repelled me are now the ones I cherish most. I glance around me, and my smile broadens as soul-quenching fulfillment settles within. There is nowhere I would rather be than here right now. My feet stand firmly in place—no earthly force can move me from seeing this through—as I wait on bated breath to become Aria's husband.

It feels unreal.

The beautifully ornate altar beside me.

The classic black and white Armani tux on me.

The love burning within my chest, so intense and mad for her that it might very well consume me.

Indeed, everything seems too good to be true. I almost pinch myself as I take in my surroundings. If it is a dream, I hope to never wake up. Mia principessa is about to become mia regina.

My queen.

Perhaps, the day feels so dream-like and quixotic because I know how much of it is being staged for the sake of the Danmore acquisition. I wish it did not have to be this way on our special day, but Aria and I are up against a psychopathic criminal who will stop at nothing to bring us down. I am comforted, though, in knowing that Aria loves me. At least, I suspect she harbors such affection for me. Admittedly, Aria has not proclaimed the words aloud. Yet. But, surely, a woman like her would not do the things she did for a man who did not own her heart. There is no doubt in my mind anymore. She is mine as much as I am hers. The love we give each other and the love we show the world will be unbreakable. No matter what. It is not for the faint of heart. Our feelings have been forged through heartbreak and healing. My marriage to Aria will be indestructible because of such a deep-rooted and powerful foundation.