It has already been a week and today is my day off again, last night I came back from work to find the driver parked outside my house, "good evening sir, I'm here to take you to the mansion again, since tomorrow we will be busy with the wedding preparations" he explains why he's here.

I sigh, "I'm gonna go in, and I'm going to take shower, you can either follow me or wait outside," I say not waiting for an answer, he does follow me though, "what's your name?" I asked the driver.

"Westley, sir."

He was so rigid, "alright West, make yourself comfortable, there's only water in the fridge, I'm heading to the shower, don't do something I wouldn't like" I warned, then turned away towards my bedroom.

I lock the door behind me, I sit on the bed, and take off my watch, I rub my wrist where the watch was, feeling my pulse.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump...

Tomorrow is really happening, if Teegan found out about this, I think she'd absolutely hate me, that's why I have to get this over with and get a divorce.

I sigh and stand up taking my clothes off and throwing them in the laundry basket, I don't think I have time to eat, I'll just finish showering and use whatever time I have left to sleep before the god-forsaken day tomorrow.

Once I'm done I get dressed and ready to leave, leaving my room Westley was looking uncomfortably out of place, sitting at the kitchen counter with a glass of water in his hand.

"Come on Westley, it's time to go," I said as I walked to the front door, "leave the glass, let us go." I hold the door open for him.

When inside the car, I don't pretend to be asleep, and I actually do fall asleep this time.

Just like the last time, Westley wakes me up by announcing that we've arrived, I don't linger for further chit-chat with anyone, even my dad, "going to bed" I say as I walked by him in the foyer and up the stairs to my old bedroom, I don't know why he's awake at this hour, and I don't care.

Once inside my room I lock the door, I can see they've redecorated the room, I don't dwell on it though, and take off my shoes, laying face first on the bed I close my eyes to continue my sleep.

I usually wouldn't mind not sleeping right away, but because I work at night, my work ends pretty late and since the wedding will be held in a couple of hours, I actually don't have time to sleep.

I feel the bed dip which makes me open my eyes, but once I heard Rosario's voice I close it back again, wondering when did he get here? "I thought I'm not supposed to see the bride before the wedding," I ignore his insinuation, "this is really tempting, I don't know if I want to fuck you or choke you" he hums.

I don't say anything and ignore him, still hung up on the fact that I didn't hear him walk in.

I feel water dripping on my face, "are you offering yourself? sleeping in my bedroom like this?" He whispers in my ear.

"..." His bedroom? I guess dad did replace me with him.

"... are you jealous?" He asks, leaning back.

I turn my head and glance at him, he was just in his towel, hair, and body still wet from the shower, "Of?" I asked.

"That I'm replacing you as your father's son," he says sitting back against the headboard.

"You can't replace something that wasn't there, to begin with," I yawn.

"Did you want to be his son?" He's awfully chatty tonight.

"At some point, sure I guess," I shrug.

He hums and doesn't say anything further, which is great because that's when sleep takes me away.

🖤

I'm woken up what felt shortly after, I take a moment to recall where I am, the room was empty and Rosario was nowhere to be seen, right today is the wedding.

Accompanied by the knocking, I can hear Westley call through the timber door, "Mr. Elia, it's time for you to get ready."

I sigh, "come in!" I call as I got out of bed.

He opens the door walking in with three other people, one brings a cart with food, the second has a suit, and the third with a bag.

"We've brought you your breakfast, champagne?" Westley asks.

"No," I shook my head.

"Alright, there's orange juice and water if you'd like, this is Harry, he's gonna help you with the wedding suit, and this is Lucca, he's here to help you style your hair" Westly introduced the two men that showed up with him, the maid quietly standing in the back her eyes on the floor.

"Leave everything, I can take care of it, now please see yourselves out." They all seemed shocked.

Westley tried to argue, "but sir..." I shook my head.

"I don't like to repeat myself, West," I warned, making Harry lay down the suit gently on the unmessy side of the bed, Lucca placed his bag next to the full-length mirror, and West sighed as he lead them out of the room.

"If you need anything I'm right outside the door," he says.

"Just don't let anyone in, no matter who they are" I ordered.

"Alright, sir." With that, he closes the door behind him.

Then after that, the first thing I'm doing is eat, because I'm hungry since I didn't eat anything after work. after my breakfast I use the bathroom, wash my face, and asked West to bring me a toothbrush, once I'm done brushing my teeth I check the contents of the bag Lucca brought since they are all hair products, I decided to take off my sweater first, so once I'm done with my hair I don't mess it up, I don't spend too much time styling my hair since I always keep it short, and after that, once I'm sure my hands are clean and dry I move on to the suit.

Looking around the room, I hung the suit jacket, the vest, and the white button-up on the wall sconce, it's easier to unbutton like this, once I've slipped my arms through the sleeves I stand before the mirror, although my torso is littered with scars here and there, my eyes fall down to my chest, specifically where a large scar is going down in the middle.

"I'm counting on you beating today too, Tobias," I say to the organ behind my scar before I buttoned up my shirt.

Just like my torso my legs are scarred with small cuts, sighing I wear the pants and tuck my button-up shirt in, I now need to do the tie, I flip the collar up first, then I unroll the tie and place it over my shoulders, I hold both ends of the tie, I don't really know how to do it.

I sit on the bed, and using my phone I look up a tutorial on how to do it, then after finding an easy-to-follow tutorial I go to the ensuite bathroom and place my phone on the counter, and start following the tutorial.

I was so immersed in it that I didn't see my father standing in the doorway until I looked up from the phone again.

"Do you need a hand son?" My father asked.

I glare at the tie in my hands then sigh, I might as well take his offer, I was getting overwhelmed by this, beads of sweat already forming on my forehead.

"Please," hands behind my back, I turn around to face him.

He puts a small box and a white rose on the counter before he takes the tie in his hands, I instinctively look up, I already feel uncomfortable with how close he's, I really don't want to be touched by him or anyone else in this house.

He quietly does it, "there," he says once he's done.

I move past him once he's finished, mumbling "thanks," I grab the vest and button it up, then lastly the suit jacket.

I stand in front of the full-length mirror, patting the suit down, kind of drying my sweaty palms with it, I don't like how I look, "who picked this?" I wondered.

"You look amazing," my father said.

"Seriously?" I asked to which he nodded his head, "you should get your eyes checked, I look like I got a white bucket of paint thrown at me".

He chuckles and comes closer, then he proceeds to attach the white rose in his hand to my white suit like I needed more white-colored things on me right now.

Lastly, he hesitates "I know you'll say no, but for today can you just do this one thing for me," he opens the box he had on him, and instantly I can feel the blood draining from my face, he looks at my face and hesitates again, like marrying Rosario isn't fucking enough, "I..."

"Don't push it dad" I warn him.

"Please it's for your protection-"

"My protection?" I scoff, "you just don't want people to talk about how bad of a relationship we have, that even your fucking biological son is not wearing a Potenza's fucking pin".

"Every member of the organization wears it, even this one belonged to your mother."

"Oh, you really went there, huh?" In the past bringing my dead mother into our arguments had always won him said arguments.

I look down, taking a proper look at the pin in his hand, it did belong to my mother, usually, the pin of a regular member of the organization would be a round gold pin with just the initial letter "P" designed with flourishing ornaments, but in my father's case, his is designed with an imperial crown sitting on the top left of the letter's ornaments, while my mom's is designed with a royal crown.

I remember my mom would always finish her looks with this pin, every social gathering she attended with my dad, that pin would be right there on her chest, poking a hole through her dress.

If my mom would see me today, she'd be so disappointed in me, as much as my mom supported my dad's lifestyle and business, she always supported me in having a normal life and making my own choices, choices outside of this kind of life, but after her death, I really didn't have many choices of my own, it was either obey or be punished.

My dad knew that I wasn't ready or worthy of his praises in front of other organization leaders, mafia leaders to be precise, "organization" is just a fancy legal word they hide behind.

After my mother's death, to him I was no longer his son, I was just a lanky kid who he got stuck with as his next heir.

Training me was his only option for making me worthy of becoming his heir and introducing me to his world and his connections.

The more I trained, the more I didn't want to be here, when I ran away at eighteen, I did the things I wanted to run away from, every single one of the men my dad sent I fought with them, I left injuries on their bodies, thinking that any man would think twice before agreeing to come looking for me, but instead, it egged my father on to bring me back, then I started feeling guilty about it, and my only solace was that It was in self-defense, that I wanted to live I guess.

And after 4 years of this never-ending chase, he suddenly stops, that was five years ago, I guess that's when he met Rosario, he finally found the perfect heir.

"Elia?" My father calls getting my attention, "it's yours if you want it" he offers.

I pick the pin from the box, "Why don't you give it to Rosario?" I asked as I inspected my mother's pin.

"I'm planning on passing mine to him," my dad said.

The pin poking my thumb makes me wince, or rather, his confession of leaving the pin to Rosario made me wince, I didn't really care about the pin, I'd rather have my mom's than his, I guess I'm hurt by the fact that my supposedly dying father, the only parent I have left, is being a father and a parent to someone else, more than he was to me. I watch as the blood starts oozing from my finger, "hmm," I shouldn't get it on my suit.

A knock on the door gets our attention, Westley pokes his head in, "sirs, everything is ready" he informs.

"We will be right there Westley," my dad says taking the pin from my uninjured hand and attaching the pin to my suit jacket. "Come on son, there are papers to sign." He says as he turns me around and walks me out of the room.