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Marrying My Ex's Don Brother After He Made Me the Bridesmaid at My Own Wedding for His First Love
Novelix
Completed
The day before my wedding, my mafia fiancé gives my wedding dress—and my place at the altar—to his first love, then expects me to smile beside her as the bridesmaid. Matteo Romano thinks I’ll forgive him like I always do. He’s wrong. I call the one man I walked away from seven years ago: his older brother, Cassian Romano—the Don. By the time Matteo realizes I’m serious, I’m already wearing another ring, and the entire Romano family is calling me Donna Romano.
Chapters (3)
第1章
The day before I marry Matteo Romano, my bridal suite is full of flowers, champagne, and men with guns outside the door.
Pretty standard for a Romano wedding.
What isn’t standard is my stylist walking over with a bridesmaid dress.
I look at it.
Then at her.
“Whose is that?”
She looks past me.
Straight at Matteo.
He’s stretched out on the couch checking his phone.
“Just try it on, Val.”
I turn around.
“Why?”
He finally looks up.
“Bianca’s wearing your dress tomorrow.”
I stare at him.
“My wedding dress?”
“Yeah.”
He says it like he changed the flowers.
For a second, nobody says anything.
Then I laugh.
“Okay. Try again.”
“Baby.”
“No, seriously.”
Matteo puts his phone down.
“Don’t make this a whole thing.”
“You gave Bianca Caruso my wedding dress.”
“She asked.”
“And you said yes?”
He gets up and walks over.
“It’s one day.”
I look at him.
“One day of what?”
Matteo sighs.
“She never got this.”
“What?”
“A wedding with me.”
There it is.
Bianca.
The girl Matteo loved before me.
The girl whose family dragged her out of New York when Matteo was still the Romano bastard nobody wanted around.
She came back two months ago.
Apparently two months was all it took.
Matteo reaches for my waist.
I step back.
He notices.
“Val, come on.”
“You’re giving your ex a wedding.”
“I’m giving her a day.”
“With my fiancé.”
“You’re still marrying me.”
I blink.
He actually means it.
“You’re serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.”
“So what happens tomorrow?”
He rubs the back of his neck.
“Bianca wears the dress. I pick her up. We do the church thing, take some pictures, let her have the moment.”
“The church thing.”
“You know what I mean.”
“And me?”
“You come with us.”
I look down at the bridesmaid dress.
Matteo follows my eyes.
“Just for the ceremony.”
I laugh again.
This time it doesn’t sound funny.
Before I can say anything else, the fitting-room curtain opens.
Bianca Caruso steps out in my wedding gown.
Of course she does.
She smooths a hand over the waist and turns toward the mirror.
Then she sees me.
“Oh.”
Her eyes drop to the bridesmaid dress.
“I thought Matteo told you.”
“He just did.”
Bianca bites her lip.
“If you want me to change, I can.”
She doesn’t move.
Not even an inch.
Matteo walks over to her and adjusts a piece of lace near her shoulder.
Like this is normal.
Like I’m not standing right there.
“She saw the dress at your fitting,” he says. “She loved it.”
I look at him.
“So you gave it to her.”
“For the ceremony.”
“It’s my wedding dress.”
“And tomorrow night, you’ll still be my wife.”
His tone says that should end the conversation.
Bianca looks between us.
“I told him I could get another one.”
Matteo shakes his head.
“There’s no time.”
Then he looks at me.
“And you two are basically the same size.”
I swear to God, that almost gets me.
Seven years.
I have loved Matteo Romano for seven years.
Back when nobody in his family wanted to claim him, I did.
My father backed his first crew. My family opened doors. I got him meetings, money, access to the docks.
I walked away from the man I was supposed to marry because Matteo swore he’d spend the rest of his life making it worth it.
That man was Cassian Romano.
Matteo’s older brother.
The heir.
Now the Don.
And tomorrow, Matteo wants me standing behind his first love while she wears my dress.
Bianca looks at me in the mirror.
“You really don’t mind?”
Matteo answers before I do.
“She doesn’t.”
I meet his eyes.
He smiles.
He’s that sure of me.
That’s the part that finally does it.
“No,” I say.
His shoulders relax.
“See?”
He comes over and kisses my forehead.
“I knew you’d understand.”
Bianca smiles too.
Small. Sweet. Satisfied.
Matteo picks his phone back up.
“Tomorrow night, it’s just us. I promise.”
“Sure.”
He turns away.
So does Bianca.
I take out my phone.
I haven’t spoken to Cassian Romano in seven years.
I still know his number.
I open the old conversation.
There’s one message at the bottom.
Cassian: If you ever need me, call.
I type before I can think too hard about it.
I’m short a groom. Interested?
The reply comes almost immediately.
Cassian: Where are you?
第2章
Cassian: Where are you?
I stare at the message for maybe two seconds.
Then I send him the address.
Romano estate. Bridal suite.
His reply comes right away.
Stay there.
That’s it.
No questions.
No What happened?
No Are you sure?
Just stay there.
I lock my phone before Matteo can see.
He’s already at the door.
“Come on.”
I look up.
“Where?”
“To get Bianca.”
Of course.
Apparently giving another woman my wedding dress isn’t enough. Now I’m supposed to ride along while my fiancé picks her up like she’s actually the bride.
Matteo grabs his jacket.
“You’re coming, right?”
I almost say no.
Then I look at him.
Really look at him.
Seven years of my life are standing ten feet away, fixing his cuff like tomorrow is going exactly the way he planned.
Maybe I need to hear him say it one more time.
“You’re really doing this?”
He glances over.
“Doing what?”
“Going to pick her up.”
His expression shifts.
Not guilt.
Annoyance.
“Val, we just talked about this.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we doing this again?”
Because I want you to stop.
Because I want you to look at me and realize how insane this is.
Because some stupid part of me is still waiting for you to laugh and tell me the whole thing was a bad joke.
Instead I ask, “You’re going to walk into that church with her?”
Matteo sighs.
“Yes.”
“And say vows.”
“They don’t mean anything.”
“To you.”
He pauses.
That gets him.
For about half a second.
Then his phone rings.
Bianca.
Of course.
He answers immediately.
“Hey.”
Her voice carries through the room.
“Are you coming?”
Matteo smiles.
Actually smiles.
“Yeah. I’m leaving now.”
“I thought maybe you changed your mind.”
“Not happening.”
She laughs softly.
I stand there and listen to my fiancé reassure another woman that he is absolutely showing up to marry her tomorrow.
Fake marriage.
Real vows.
My dress.
His first love.
Whatever label makes him feel better.
Bianca says something I can’t hear.
Matteo lowers his voice.
“No. Don’t worry about her.”
Her.
Nice.
He hangs up and slips the phone into his pocket.
Then he looks at me like nothing happened.
“You sure you don’t want to come?”
I pick up the bridesmaid dress and hand it back to my stylist.
“No.”
Matteo raises an eyebrow.
“Still mad?”
“Not really.”
That makes him grin.
There it is.
The confidence.
He walks over and pinches my chin lightly.
“Good girl.”
I nearly laugh.
Seven years ago, I would’ve melted.
Today I want to bite his hand.
Instead I step back.
“Go. Your bride’s waiting.”
He smirks.
“Jealous?”
“No.”
“Sure.”
He kisses my forehead again.
I let him.
That’s the last one he gets.
At the door, he turns around.
“Don’t disappear on me.”
I look at him.
“I won’t.”
Technically true.
I’ll still be at the wedding.
Just not where he expects me.
Matteo smiles and heads out with two Romano men behind him.
His footsteps disappear down the hall.
I pull out my phone.
There’s another message from Cassian.
Cassian: I’m twenty minutes away.
I type back.
You know what you’re agreeing to?
Three dots appear.
Cassian: Valeria.**
Another message.
You asked me to marry you.
Then:
I’m not coming over to talk you out of it.
For the first time all day, I smile.
Good.
I set the phone down.
Outside the window, black Romano SUVs start pulling away.
Matteo is going to get his bride.
Mine is coming to get me.
第3章
Cassian gets there before Matteo gets back.
Of course he does.
Cassian Romano has never been late for anything in his life.
I hear the cars before I see them.
Three black SUVs pull up outside the estate, and every guard by the front entrance straightens.
That tells me enough.
Then my phone starts ringing.
Bianca.
I almost decline it.
Almost.
Instead, I answer.
Her face fills the screen.
She’s in the back of a car, still wearing my dress.
Matteo is beside her.
“Hi,” she says brightly. “You should’ve come.”
“I’m good.”
“You sure? Matteo went through all that trouble picking me up.”
She flips the camera.
Matteo is laughing with two of his friends in the front.
There’s champagne open.
Someone says something I can’t hear.
Bianca laughs.
Then she turns the phone back to herself.
“We played a game.”
I lean against the vanity.
“What game?”
“Just questions.”
That smile.
God, I hate that smile.
She glances at Matteo.
“Tell her what I asked you.”
He looks over.
“Bianca.”
“What? She should hear it from you.”
Matteo takes the phone.
“Don’t start.”
“I’m not starting anything.”
“Good.”
Bianca grabs the phone back.
“I asked him if he regretted anything.”
I already know I don’t want the answer.
She keeps going anyway.
“And he said he regretted not choosing me sooner.”
The room goes very quiet.
Maybe it’s just me.
Matteo leans closer to the phone.
“Val, don’t do this.”
I laugh once.
“Do what?”
“Turn it into something bigger.”
Bianca looks between us.
Then she gives me that soft little voice again.
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Then hang up.”
She doesn’t.
Instead, one of Matteo’s friends shouts from the front, “Ask her the other one.”
Bianca covers her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Matteo laughs.
I feel something cold move through me.
“What other one?”
Bianca bites her lip.
“Nothing.”
“Bianca.”
Matteo reaches for the phone.
She pulls it away.
“Fine. I asked when the last time we slept together was.”
My fingers tighten around the edge of the vanity.
Nobody says anything.
I look at Matteo.
He looks right back at me.
That’s enough.
Still, I ask.
“When?”
“Val.”
“When?”
His jaw tightens.
“Last night.”
I don’t even feel shocked.
That’s the weird part.
I just feel done.
Completely done.
Bianca looks at him.
“You said she knew.”
Matteo shoots her a look.
“I said I’d handle it.”
Handle it.
Right.
Seven years, and that’s what I am now.
Something to handle.
I end the call.
A second later, there’s a knock at the door.
I already know who it is.
“Come in.”
The door opens.
Cassian walks in alone.
Black suit.
No tie.
Romano ring on his hand.
Same face I remember.
Harder now.
Colder.
Definitely the Don.
His eyes go straight to me.
Then to the bridesmaid dress hanging by the mirror.
Then back to me.
“What happened?”
I pick up my phone.
“My fiancé slept with the woman wearing my wedding dress.”
Cassian doesn’t react right away.
That somehow makes it worse.
Finally, he says, “Matteo?”
“Who else?”
His jaw moves once.
That’s it.
No speech.
No fake sympathy.
He walks farther into the room.
“You still want to do this?”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
He holds my gaze for a second.
Then nods.
“Okay.”
That easy.
I almost laugh.
“Okay?”
“You called me for a groom.”
“I did.”
“So you have one.”
I look at him.
“You’re not going to ask why?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to tell me I’m angry?”
“You are angry.”
“I am.”
“You can still marry me angry.”
That gets a real laugh out of me.
Cassian’s mouth almost moves.
Almost.
Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black ring box.
I stare at it.
“You carry that around?”
“No.”
“Cassian.”
“I had someone bring it.”
I open the box.
Inside is the old Romano ring.
The one I gave back seven years ago.
My throat tightens.
He looks at me.
“Still fits?”
I slide it onto my finger.
Perfect.
Of course.
Cassian glances at the dress hanging behind me.
“You wearing that tomorrow?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I look up.
“Why?”
His eyes stay on mine.
“Because Bianca can keep the dress.”
He takes my hand.
“She’s not keeping the name.”
