First Meeting

After putting Elsa down to sleep, Gabriel stepped out of the room.

"Gab—" Ricardo approached him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I am so sorry for your loss. This shouldn't have happened."

The last string holding him together shattered into tiny pieces when he saw his best friend.

Gabriel hugged him and as he sobbed in the grief of his father who was his everything.

Ever since his mom died when he was only three months old, Karlo had raised him on his own. He had trained him to be who he was today.

Losing him was like losing a part of his heart, the part which made him feel secure and strong.

Ricardo hugged him back and closed his eyes as a tear trickled down his cheek. "They will not get away with this."

"I know." Gabriel pulled away. His eyes were filled with rage just like Ricardo's. "He is going to pay for what he has done today."

"He will brother, he will." Ricardo assured him. The Greco's were not getting away with it.

But getting the Greco's down wasn't something they could do all by themselves. They needed more power, more force, someone like the Fedorov's.

...

[Next Day]

Elsa stood by her uncle Karlo's grave. The sky was covered with gray clouds and had started to pour.

She squatted in front of him and placed a white rose on his grave. The wind gushed through her but she couldn't care less.

The funeral was over. He was gone but the feeling of him being there still lingered around her.

"I'll always miss you," she muttered. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Someone placed a bunch of yellow roses on the grave and stood beside her.

At first, Elsa did not pay any attention to him but when the man shielded her with the black umbrella he was holding, she looked at him.

Desmond Fedorov, was standing beside her with a stern look on his face.

He was dressed in an all black tailored suit. His defined jawline clenched, making it more prominent. He had his other hand tucked inside his pocket while the one held the umbrella.

Elsa wiped her tears and stood up.

Desmond did not say anything and neither did she. Both of them kept standing in front of the grave in silence.

They both knew what their fate was. They both knew they would end up getting married in a couple of weeks or so.

They did not even know each other. In fact, this was the first time Elsa was seeing him closely.

It was weird but both of them knew what they had to do and what was bound to happen.

…..

[In a distance]

"Thank you for coming," Enzo Marino looked at Henry Fedorov, Desmond's father.

In response, Henry nodded. He then looked at Gabriel. "I am sorry for your loss."

Gabriel nodded. "He is in a better place now."

"I am sure he is."

Marco, who was standing beside his father, scoffed before storming away. But he didn't forget to glare at the other two Fedorov brothers who were standing beside their father.

"Marco, you need to stop acting this way." Ricardo couldn't help but chide his brother.

"They are not supposed to be here," Marco frowned. "Why did dad invite them?"

"We had to be seen together like a family," Gabriel was the one who answered. "Uncle Enzo and I mutually decided that inviting them to dad's funeral would be a good start."

"You agreed to this?" Marco frowned. "This is supposed to be a mourning day for our family not some welcome party for the fucking Fedorov's."

"Language, Marco," Ricardo frowned. He understood the hatred he had for the Fedorov's. In fact, he shared a mutual feeling but they had to put the feelings aside and act civil with them.

Marco was about to retort when Justin Fedorov, the youngest member of the Fedorov family approached them.

"I hope I am not intruding."

Marco was about to snap at him when his eyes landed on his injured arm. This is when he realized that Justin was also attacked that day along with Elsa and Karlo.

Ignoring Marco's murderous glare, Justin looked at Gabriel. "I am sorry for your loss."

Pausing for a while, he added, "Karlo saved my life too."

…..

After a few minutes, Elsa turned around and walked away. She didn't look at Desmond and neither did he. There was an unspoken awkwardness between them which made her feel uncomfortable.

In the distance, she saw her brothers talking to someone. When she looked closely, she recognised who it was.

Justin Fedorov, the person who had escaped death yesterday just like her.

Her eyes landed on his left bandaged arm. She remembered him being shot in the crossfire.

Just then she felt someone's presence behind her again.

When she looked at him, their eyes met.

Desmond's light brown eyes pierced into hers. His gaze made her feel flustered.

Without saying anything, he handed her the umbrella he was holding before walking towards his father.

Elsa wanted to thank him but he was already gone.

She sighed as she watched him leave. How were they supposed to spend their lives together when it was hard for them to even start a courtesy conversation?

This made her wonder if this marriage would ever work. Not that she had any expectations from it.

Arranged marriages in their world were very common. Sometimes it turned out to be a blissful one just like her father and mother but most of the time, it turned out to be miserable.

The strong feeling of her marriage turning out to be more on the miserable part, Elsa's heart clenched. She wasn't a romantic but she hadn't envisioned her marriage to be a misery.

But now that there was a chance of it happening, she had no other choice but to stay strong.

Showing a Fedorov her weakness was a mistake Elsa would never commit.

…..