Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Marry Me or Die

Heaven’s POV

It was my husband’s funeral and I was holding hands with his killer.

Raze Montalto’s hand was wrapped firmly around mine. Not tenderly, but in a possessive grip.

He had forced me to put on a white dress.

Not funeral-white. A bridal white. A simple backless silk dress with a dangerously high slit. The slit parted with every move, baring too much thigh for a widow, especially one standing over the casket of her murdered husband. I looked like I was about to take bridal pictures and not bury a husband.

Funny how this didn’t even look like a funeral. It looked like a charity gala; there was loud classical music and champagne. Men and women are going about with their filled glasses, laughing and exchanging pleasantries. These men didn’t mourn their dead. They celebrated survival.

And Ivan Cortez, my husband, lay in a glass casket. Why wouldn't he just wake up?

Everyone there acted like nobody died.

But someone did. My husband was dead, the one who gave me everything, someone who promised me forever.

Raze squeezed my hand slightly. People saw us and looked away. Because no one had the guts to question Raze Montalto. Not here, not anywhere.

I stared at Ivan’s face behind the glass. Still handsome. Still smug. Still looking like he was about to get up and tell me what to do, what to eat, how to never talk back.

Except he wasn’t breathing at all.

Raze leaned in, whispering low, “You make a beautiful widow, Heaven.”

My fingers trembled and I snatched them out of Raze’s grip.

His gaze hardened and he pushed me closer to him, his green eyes almost piercing my soul.

“Don’t do that in public anymore, Heaven,” he said quietly. “I don’t want any Cortez dog thinking you’re unguarded.”

“Guarded?” My voice cracked. “I am not your possession.”

“You became mine the second your husband died,” he replied calmly. “In fact, you've been mine ever since I set my eyes on you. That’s how this world works.”

I wanted to scream. But I was surrounded by men who didn’t blink at executions.

I turned away blinking back the tears that threatened to spill.

Everything inside me hurt.

My chest felt too tight to hold my breath.

"Let me go, Mr Montalto" I pushed off him

"Heaven!"

"What? I'm not allowed to use the bathroom?"

He held my wrist tightly drawing me close again. "Don't even think of escaping, I will always catch you."

He let go of my wrist, rubbing the already red skin I trudged into the grand marble bathroom area beneath the ceremonial hall. I just needed five minutes to cry like a normal human being.

I slipped into the bathroom, locked the door, and leaned against the marble sink.

A cracked sound left my body through a silent sob, one that made my ribs tremble. I covered my mouth with trembling fingers, as if that could muffle the sound, I wanted to keep my pain private, I wasn't allowed to cry.

Tears blurred my vision, hot and relentless, streaming down my face and soaking into the neckline of the white dress I hated more than anything. My knees buckled, and I slid down to the floor, choking on the huge ache in my chest.

It wasn’t just sadness, it was rage, hatred, confusion, and helplessness. It was the loss of everything I had ever known.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The white dress that hugged my petite frame, the red in my eyes. The bites that still remained from Ivan were covered in makeup as ordered by Raze.

"I will not forgive you, Raze Montalto", I heaved, finally allowing myself to cry out loud.

But that luxury lasted exactly ten seconds.

Footsteps echoed.

Then the door pushed open, not from outside. Someone had already been inside.

And stepping out from behind the bathroom stalls was Caius Cortez.

Ivan’s brother.

His tie was loose. His pupils dilated. His expression wasn’t sad. He looked drunk and predatory.

“You killed him.”

I froze.

He stepped closer. “Did my watching you bathe turn you on so much that you decided to kill your husband. You wanted to have me all to yourself, didn’t you? You wanted him dead, so you could have me.”

“No...” My voice broke. “Caius, you're drunk please let me go”

“You expect me to let you go?” he hissed, backing me up against the edge of the sink counter. “You were always too pretty, you're still pretty. I've always desired you, but you chose him. Ivan spoiled you. Treated you like glass. And look how you repay him.”

My heart raced. I made to leave, but he pushed my back roughly, grabbing my chin hard.

“Why are you crying? I intend to fuck you to tears and you crying already is killing the fun.”

“Let me go,” I whispered.

He didn’t.

His eyes dropped to my lips.

“I should punish you for this betrayal,” he breathed, leaning in.

I snapped my head to the other side, his lips landing on my neck, and my hands shook violently. I pushed weakly against his chest but he held both my wrists down like they were paper.

He pressed his body to mine, his lips latching on my neck while his free hand was tearing my clothes and fondling my bare skin.

"Help!"

At the sound of my voice, he smashed my head into the nearby wall, tearing my clothes completely.

“No one will save you, you locked the doors remember?” he whispered. “I should do to you exactly what I've watched Ivan do to you in the bathroom...”

The bathroom door slammed open.

The weight of Caius was ripped off me in one brutal motion.

Raze.

He didn’t speak.

He shot Caius straight through the arm the exact one holding my wrists. The bullet tore through his flesh so fast that Caius didn’t even comprehend pain before Raze fired another bullet into his thigh. His scream, very animalistic, arrived late, as he dropped to the ground clutching his bleeding elbow.

Raze casually lowered his gun and crouched in front of him.

“If you ever touch what is mine again,” Raze said his voice cold and emotionless, “I won’t shoot to warn you. I’ll shoot to bury you right next to your brother. Understood?”

Caius, pale from shock, spat blood on Raze's shoe. “She’s not yours...”

Raze stood up.

And kicked him straight across the face.

So hard his head bounced against the tile.

Caius passed out.

Raze turned toward me then.

His eyes found mine like they had been looking for nothing else in the whole world. He took off his black shirt and wrapped it around me.

He reached out and wiped a single tear from the curve below my eyelash with his thumb.

“You need to stop crying because of other men,” he said quietly. “It makes me mad.”

Although he had saved me from the person who had terrorised me for years, I couldn't help but glare at him in hate. I hated him, every single thing about him.

I pushed off him putting on his shirt, covering up the torn parts of my dress, I stood up and only for my legs to fail me. I wobbled and almost landed on my knees, but he caught me.

My body genuinely didn’t know what to do around him. My mind told me to hate him. My pulse told me to run. But for some reason, my lungs forgot how to breathe.

"They wouldn't lower him to the ground without your presence"

With his arms wrapped around me, we left the bathroom and back out where others were. Their gazes were judgmental; no one dared make a sound, though he led me to where the priest stood.

With a nod, the priest continued the ceremony.

Raze stepped closer.

“I guess Mrs Cortez is a former title now”, he murmured.

“Why?” I whispered.

“Why what? Why did I kill him?”

His gaze dropped down my body, raking over it slowly.

“ I killed him because I wanted to have you.”

Everything inside me twisted violently.

I hated how smug his voice sounded. How I still trembled in fear around him. I hated the fact that everyone around here knew my husband's killer and didn't dare punish him.

He leaned in close enough that I felt his breath fan the side of my neck.

“I killed your husband,” he said like he was reading a random essay, like that wasn't a crime. “And I don’t regret it. Not even one second.”

My chest rose sharply.

“What do you want from me?” I whispered.

He touched my jaw, tilting it slightly.

“Everything.”

A sob left my lips the moment Ivan was lowered to his grave. Life without you scared me, Ivan.

Heaps of sand went into the grave. I watched as Ivan's cold face disappeared slowly till I couldn't see any of him.

He turned to face me directly. He seemed to signal to someone, and suddenly, cold metal pressed against the side of my head.

I froze, and so did everyone. What was he playing at? Did he keep me alive just to kill me at my husband's funeral?

"Heaven" he smiled at me like we were talking about the weather.

My eyes widened when Raze Montalto knelt before me with a ring box in front of him.

His voice dropped low.

“Marry me, Baby doll.”

My pulse pounded through my veins. This wasn't a marriage proposal it is a fucking death threat.

“And if I say no?” I whispered, breath trembling.

A slow dark smile spread across his face as he stood, he leaned forward, lips almost brushing mine.

“Then you’ll be buried beside your husband. Tonight.”