The Mafia's Good Girl
The Mafia’s Good Girl – Chapter 77

~ Violet ~

– – – – – One Week Later – – – – –

“Wow,” Elena gasped and closed her mouth with her hand.

“Double wow,” Talia followed suit.

Smiling and blushing bright pink, Violet stood in front of the mirror wearing her white wedding gown. Today was the second fitting for her dress, which was why Elena and Talia couldn’t stop gasping in awe. Violet’s dress was a gorgeous A-line gown with flower embroidery sewn throughout. World-famous designer Carolina Herrera herself designed the bespoke gown for her. Not every girl could have this privilege unless you were some kind of royalty or a celebrity. Or the wife to the mafia, Violet thought to herself.

“Are you guys sure about this? You don’t think the cleavage is too low?” she asked, her eyes were fixed on the skin of her chest.

Violet usually wore modest dresses that didn’t too reveal much, but according to Carolina, she had great curves that were begging to be shown. Carolina was right, the dress and cleavage showed off her silhouette in a sexy, yet classy way. But, Violet was feeling self-conscious because she wasn’t used to it.

“No,” Elena said and shook her head.

“Double no,” Talia agreed. “Damon’s gonna love you in this!”

“You think so?” Violet beamed at the thought of Damon loving this dress on her. “This isn’t too revealing?”

“I think it’s the perfect amount of revealing,” Talia said. “But hey, it’s up to you. You should wear whatever makes you feel most confident,”

“Thanks, Tal,” Violet said as she looked at her reflection again. “Let’s put a pin on this for now. Oh, let’s see the maid of honor dress!”

Following the bride’s order, Talia swiftly grabbed the lilac dress from the hanger and brought them behind the curtains. Seconds later, she stepped out wearing the beautiful soft chiffon dress, perfectly fitted for her.

“What do you think?” she asked, twirling around to give Violet a better look.

“I think it’s perfect!” Violet beamed, examining the dress. “And the color looks good on you,”

“Thanks, the bride picked a great color,” she smirked.

Violet and Talia spent the next few minutes gushing over the details of the dress. Carolina’s dresses were known to be simple, yet wonderfully crafted and elegant. The two girls felt like princesses, giggling, and sipping on their sparkling cider.

“Hey, Elena, are you sure we can’t interest you in being a bridesmaid?” Talia joked at one point.

“I’d be most honored,” Elena laughed. “But I’m already old and I’m only the head maid. It’s not appropriate,”

“Who says that?” Violet protested. “You should totally be my bridesmaid, Elena,”

“Oh no, Miss Violet, I can’t,” Elena gave her a sad smile. She even felt awkward to be put in the spotlight. “I’m happy just to be a part of the wedding,”

Violet nodded her head understandingly and smiled, but it wasn’t a full smile. Violet wanted Talia as her maid of honor and she wanted her mom to be her bridesmaid. She even had Carolina made another dress. But since her mom wasn’t responding to the invites, that hope fizzled away like the bubbles in her glass.

“I still can’t believe the wedding is in six weeks,” Talia sighed and put her hand on her chest.

“I know what you mean. It feels so surreal,” Violet agreed. She had been staring at her reflection wearing a wedding dress for the past hour, but it still felt unreal to her.

“Hey, have you heard from your mom or your brother yet?” Talia asked.

“Nope,” Violet shook her head and sighed. “I’ve sent them three invites in total, and I got nothing. Not even a ‘no’ on the save the date card,”

“I’m sorry,” Talia gave her a sad smile. She walked towards Violet and gave her friend a hug.

“I wanted to have her as one of my bridesmaids, you know?” Violet said, glancing at the other lilac dress hanging on the wall. “But I guess that’s not happening,”

Talia opened her mouth like she was about to speak, but before she could say anything, they heard noises coming from the other side of the store. Talia and Violet were at Carolina Herrera’s flagship store in Jersey City, the whole store was closed for an afternoon to accommodate Violet’s dress fitting. This was done on Damon’s order for security reasons. They were supposed to be the only people in the store, so it was odd that they were hearing another person’s voice in there.

“What do you mean I can’t go in?!” a loud familiar voice spoke.

“Miss, we’re having a private fitting at the moment, you can’t go into the dressing room—“

“Excuse me? Don’t you know who I am?” the familiar voice shouted over the shop assistant. “My father owns a huge stake in this company!”

Wait… that sounds like…?

Violet and Talia exchanged a quick look. They knew exactly who that person was. As if on cue, suddenly the door flew open and Celina DeSantis appeared at the doorway, followed by an anxious shop assistant.

“Miss, you can’t be in here. We have a private guest,” the shop assistant said, trying to close the door but to no avail since Celina’s bodyguards were stronger than her.

“Oh—I’m sorry, I didn’t know you guys are here,” Celina said as she noticed Violet and Talia in the dressing room. Her face turned from anger to amusement within seconds. “Oh my God, is this your wedding dress?” she gasped and stepped inside, walking circles around Violet.

“You look fabulous!” she commented, but Violet couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

“Um, thank you,” she replied.

“Miss DeSantis, again, I’m sorry but—“ At this time, the shop assistant was trying to usher Celina out of the dressing room, but Celina swatted her hand away.

“We’re all friends here,” Celina interjected. Then she turned to Violet and Talia and said, “I’m sure you don’t mind sharing the dressing room, do you?”

“Uh, as a matter of fact—“ Talia was about to answer, but Celina cut her off again.

“And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear but, but I heard you guys are down one bridesmaid?” Celina turned her focus to Violet and batted her eyes, smiling widely. “I’d be happy to fill in the position,”

“Oh, no, that won’t be necess—“ Violet was in the middle of her sentence when Celina spoke again.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help,” she chirped and grabbed the lilac dress from the wall. “Besides, daddy and Damon are practically family. Which pretty much makes us sisters,”

Say what now?

Violet was floored by Celina’s audacity. She was so shocked, she couldn’t say anything back. Celina, on the other hand, took Violet’s silence as approval.

* RING! * RING! * RING! *

“Oh, excuse me, I have to take this,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her purse. “Hey, daddy. Yeah, I’m just doing some shopping, but guess who I ran into at the store?”

“Uh, hello? Earth to Violet?” Talia, who was watching everything on the sidelines, quickly pulled Violet to the side while Celina was busy on the phone. “What the hell just happened?”

“I—I don’t know,” Violet stammered. Everything happened so fast and now the bridesmaid’s dress was in Celina’s hand.

“So, get this, daddy, I ran into Violet and she just asked me to be one of her bridesmaids!” Celina squeaked to the phone, and Violet could only watch in horror. “Of course, I said yes! It would be rude not to,”

“Uh, I did not do that,” Violet whispered under her breath so only Talia could hear her.

“I know, but what are you gonna do? She’s told her daddy about it!” Talia g*****d. “Why did Damon have to invite the DeSantis to the wedding anyway?”

So that he could… end them.

Violet didn’t say those words out loud, obviously. But now she found herself in a predicament. If she told Celina she couldn’t be a bridesmaid, that would be rude and it might tick off Hugo. But if she allowed Celina to be a bridesmaid, that would also be disastrous.

What’s a girl to do?!

“Daddy sends his regards. He’s very excited to come to the wedding,” Celina said as she put her phone away. She didn’t wait for Violet to respond before turning to her heels, carrying the lilac dress. “Can someone help me? This bridesmaid dress needs fitting!”

Violet and Talia exchanged another look. They stood in horrified expressions as the shop assistant went to help Celina with the dress.

Oh, dear God. This girl is absolutely delusional!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Later that day, Violet came home from the dress fitting with a chip on her shoulder. She went right upstairs and into the study, where she knew Damon would be.

“Hey,” she said as she pushed the door open, she didn’t even bother to knock.

“Hey,” Damon looked up from his desk and saw the uneasy expression on her face. “How was the dress fitting?”

Violet stepped inside and closed the door. Then she sat down in front of his desk and sighed. “The dress is great, you’re gonna love me in it, but we have a problem,”

“What is it?” Damon seemed concerned, dropping his pen, and giving her his full attention.

“I ran into Celina DeSantis at the store. She overheard that my mom isn’t coming and she’s made herself one of my bridesmaids!” Violet ranted.

“What?” he gaped.

“I know! First, you invited the devil to our wedding and now her daughter is one of my bridesmaids!” Violet g*****d and rolled her eyes dramatically. Then she crossed her arms and pouted, “I don’t know, maybe we should just cancel this wedding altogether,”

Damon stood up to his feet instantly. He walked around the desk until he stood right in front of her. Tilting her chin up with his hand, he cooed her, “Hey, come on. You don’t mean that, do you?”

Violet didn’t mean that, of course, but she was upset. She just stayed quiet and continued frowning.

“Do you not wanna marry me?” he asked again, and his tone of voice broke her heart.

“I do wanna marry you, but… this is so not the dream wedding I’ve had in mind,” she replied.

“Look, if you don’t want her as your bridesmaid, why don’t you just say so?”

“And say what? I can’t have you as my bridesmaid because I hate your guts, and oh, your dad killed my dad?”

“Not those words per se,” Damon stifled a laugh, but Violet wasn’t amused. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

Violet thought about it for a second. If Damon talked to Celina, that would solve this whole bridesmaid issue. But then she remembered Damon’s plans to take down Hugo at her wedding. What would this mean for that poor girl?

“Hey, what’s gonna happen to Celina if you… um… take down her father?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “She has her trust fund,”

“What about her mom?”

“She died a long time ago,”

Then she’s going to be an orphan?

Suddenly, Violet felt bad for Celina. Yes, the girl was a delusional psychopath, but she didn’t deserve what was coming to her.

“Hey, I can talk to her if you want?” Damon offered again.

“No,” Violet said quickly. “Just… leave it alone,”

Having an extra bridesmaid wouldn’t kill anyone, no pun intended.

Violet fell silent as she thought about Celina again. She always hated her guts and she was sure Celina had a thing for Damon, but none of that was comparable to what was going to happen to her.

The poor girl will lose her dad… because of my vendetta…

“Sweet girl, don’t let these people or anyone else ruin the best day of our lives,” Damon’s voice pulled Violet back to reality. He must’ve assumed that she was still stressed about Celina being at the wedding. “The most important thing is that I’m marrying you and you’re marrying me, that’s all that matters. The people, the flowers, the dresses—they’re all just extras. Alright?”

Violet looked up at Damon and saw his warm, piercing eyes. He was right. There was no use stressing over things she had no control over. This whole mafia warfare was bigger her. All she could do now was hope for the best and let the chips fall where they may. Slowly, Violet nodded her head and Damon smiled.

“Good girl,” he smirked. “Now you said something about me loving you in that dress, describe it to me,”

“Damon!” she protested and blushed. “You’re such a naughty boy,”

“Then punish me, please,”

“Oh my God! I just can’t win with you, can I?”

Violet tried to walk away, but Damon was quick to pull her back. Laughing and smiling from ear to ear, he delved down and captured her lips with a k**s. A powerful k**s that took control over her entire being.