Lost by Anna Gorman

☆ character ☆
Astrid Scalisi
Nicola Montoro
Astrid
From the time I was 13, I knew who I was supposed to marry when I turned 19. I was groomed to be the perfect mafia bride for Eros Gambetta. My parents sent me to a private school and I was able to graduate university by the time I was to get married. For almost six years, my life consisted of school and learning how to be a proper wife.
Until he was murdered.
Everything I had planned was nonexistent. The life I thought I was going to have was gone. My family was at war with the people who killed him, but it wouldn’t bring him back. I was so lost.
Until him.
Nicola Montora. The bad boy. The guy I secretly had a crush on since I met him. He was Eros best friend. His family wasn’t a crime family, which is why I crushed on him even more. After losing Eros, I didn’t want this life for me anymore. I didn’t want to have to continuously have to look over my shoulder to make sure I was safe…or worry if the man I loved was coming home to me.
I knew the longer I waited, my father would come up with another arranged marriage, and I didn’t want to go through that again. Being groomed for a man I don’t know I’m going to like… let alone love. I didn’t want to be lost again.
I called Nicola. He was surprised I called him, but he was glad I did. He wanted to meet up with me because he wanted to talk to me about something he had heard…and he wanted to met that night.
We met at a cozy little restaurant outside of Milan. He made it there before I did, but when I arrived, he whispered in my ear to pretend this was a date because people were watching. I tried to keep my composure, but I couldn’t.
He told me as much as he could, Eros was killed because another family wanted in with my father. They are working on an arrangement now. I explained to Nicola how much I didn’t want to live this life anymore… I’d been so lost… And that’s when he asked me to marry him.
Marry him?
I knew him… but could we be happy together? Anything would be better than living as a mafia bride.
I looked at him and said yes…
What happened next was a whirlwind… He kissed me hard, in the restaurant, will all the people watching. They were hooting and hollering after he yelled, “she said yes!” But what will happen when this gets back to my father? At that moment, I didn’t care. I needed someone I could trust to keep me safe….
After the dust settled, and I settled into my life with Nicola, I realized I was no longer lost and realized my own father had my fiance killed… I knew that Nicola wasn’t safe, but I was a mafia princess at one time and we stand by the man we love… Nicola had my mind, body, and soul… I would do whatever it took to keep him safe, even if it meant killing my own blood.