CHAPTER 14

From that Saturday night till the morning of the wedding being Tuesday, Celeste's days had been filled with agony.

She had been escorted to her room that night by Harold and since she already had a migraine, she declined Harold's offer to keep her company.

Whenever she came across Marcello, Lucia was always glued to him which caused Celeste to take different routes each time and everyone including Marcello seemed happy about the budding friendship.

There were hints and jokes about a double wedding that week from how Marcello seemed to be doting on Lucia and how she always stuck to his side being the perfect girlfriend. The fact she was his first love seemed to add more points to her.

Celeste walked around like a zombie, answering people tonelessly and wandering aimlessly. She felt like someone was stabbing a heated knife into her chest.

Marcello noticed the way she kept avoiding him though he couldn't tell why so he wrote it off as overthinking he also noticed how lifeless she looked which was different from her usual bubbly excitement.

The only time she looked normal was when she was talking with the French dignitaries or his relatives.

Whenever he made to go to her, Lucia was always around the vicinity. After that night when she had told him about her divorce, he had told her that they were never going to work out so she begged him to give her a chance to win his love.

Marcello initially planned to refuse her request, but it was an opportunity for him to get Celeste out of his mind while possibly rekindling a 12-year-old spark.

Rosa was nervous and she kept chatting away to Celeste and her bridesmaids as time to make an appearance drew near. She had clicked with Celeste from that first day, and she loved Celeste's wit and exuberance.

But lately, she noticed that Celeste looked more withdrawn after that night party on Saturday. Celeste still joked around and laughed with her usual carefree nature, but whenever her brother Marcello came in with Lucia, the life snuffed out of her eyes.

Rosa had wanted to dig deeper to find out if something deeper was going on or if she was just being irrational and reading meaning into something pointless, but she had been swept into the last minutes of preparation for her wedding.

Her fiance had not wanted her to stress herself, but she had always to plan her own wedding.

"Celeste, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly, but Celeste smiled and shook her head,

"Nothing I'm alright," Celeste said. Rosa was about to say more but Aunt Amelita came in with Uncle Pietro who had been absent all these past few days, though Rosa knew it was probably due to the mafia.

She knew that for her father to only arrive on her wedding day, then the chances of Lorenzo showing up were nonexistent. She sighed and consoled herself with the fact that Marcello was Lorenzo's replica.

"Darling it's time, your father will take you now," Aunt Amelita said, Rosa was already starting to tear up as her emotions suddenly overwhelmed her and that caused everyone to panic.

Celeste smiled and squeezed her hand,

"Stay strong Rosa remember you said you want him to fall in love with you all over again" Celeste teased her, Rosa grinned and hugged Celeste,

"You're right I shouldn't ruin my face by crying before my entrance," she said fanning away the tears.

Celeste smiled and stood up with Rosa. As the happy bride and her bridesmaids got into formation, Celeste slipped out to make her way to the church in a separate car.

She was walking absentmindedly, wondering if Marcello was with Lucia and if they had already left for the wedding, when she was stopped by someone.

That someone turned out to be a someone she didn't expect to ever come across till the wedding ended or she left for New York.

Lucia had been irritated when despite her efforts to get Marcello's attention, he seemed to always stare at that Secretary of his, and his evident jealousy when he saw other men talking to her irked Lucia.

When he had agreed to give her a chance to try winning his love again, she thought it was going to be easy, but so far he had been immune to her charms and hardly paid attention to her.

She had been leaving her room where she had gone to collect her phone when she turned back and saw Celeste, so she decided to use that opportunity and warn her off Marcello.

"Miss Bellamy a minute of your time" she called out to Celeste.

Celeste was surprised when she heard Lucia, but she acted unperturbed to avoid Lucia realizing how much she despised her.

They both stopped at the landing of the back stairs, as Celeste didn't move further, memories of the messy pool incident with Claudia warning her to be careful around women who loved Marcello.

"I'm Lucia Caruso we met the other night at the evening party, I don't know if you remember," she said in a sickly sweet voice which Celeste knew was meant to provoke her.

"I remember you Lucia and I know you remember me too since you probably called me here for something else besides exchanging pleasantries" Celeste responded in the same mocking voice.

Lucia was taken aback by the reply. She had written Celeste off as a naive and docile lady who she could intimidate and warn off Marcello, but it seemed like she had underestimated her greatly.

With an overly confident smirk, she stepped closer to Celeste and lowered her voice for her next words.

"I see...well let's skip all that shall we... I know you may be Marcello's Secretary, but I'm not taking chances with my man so I would appreciate it if keep your amateur attempts to attract him to yourself and consider it a friendly warning." she spat out.

Celeste blushed as she had not expected her feelings to be obvious,

"I do not know what you're talking about, you are disrespecting me miss..."

"Cut me that dignified crap Celeste, I've seen the way you look at him like your world revolves around him, do you think he is interested in the likes of you?!" Lucia shouted.

Celeste was incensed, who was she to lecture her about her feelings?

"Hold it right there Lucia, and what if I have feelings for Mr Martino, I don't see how that's any of your business" she retorted.

"You think having a smart mouth gets you anywhere, what do you think will happen if he finds out you love him, remember he is your boss" Lucia smirked, malicious intent dripping from her words.

Celeste was feeling discouraged by her words, but she vowed not to give Lucia the satisfaction of knowing how badly her words impacted her.

"Until he openly rejects me till then I decide what I'm going to do with my feelings, and if you will excuse me I have an important wedding to attend to" Celeste bit back harshly, leveling Lucia with a condescending gaze that had her backing off a bit.

"You will regret this" Lucia swore, then walked past Celeste purposely pushing her aside.

Celeste heaved a sigh of relief,

'This is going to be a long and hellish week' she mused as she hurried towards the door, hoping she didn't miss the car to the church.

As she walked through the doors, someone else clad in a black overcoat and hat walked past her into the house.

She paused and turned towards the closed those where the person had gone through, wondering if that was Marcello she had just seen.

However, she shrugged it off since Marcello had worn a navy blue suit that morning and was probably in the church with other relatives too.

'Must be a new guest arriving' she mused as she got into the car which had been honking for her to hurry up.

She got in and spotted Lucia already seated with two other distant cousins of Marcello, Marie and Antonia. Greeting them cheerfully, she settled beside Marie and the car zoomed off.

Lorenzo watched the car drive off as he took off his hat and headed for his room. He was grateful for an empty house since he was exhausted from his trip to England. The Butler had been the one who had strangled the head maid.

When he was interrogated, he said it was in the moment of anger since she was cheating on him. Lorenzo had him locked up in one of his torture houses and ordered his soldiers to teach him a lesson.

Not wanting to spend so much time in England and miss Rosa's wedding, he had ordered his immediate flight back. Now he hoped to grab some shut-eye before everyone came back home and the party began.

He had said he would be back for the wedding, so he didn't have to be present there. He would probably attend the reception briefly and then retire since he was meeting with Raffaele tomorrow to track the poison supplies.