Judith

“I do,”

I finally managed to push the words out of my dry throat. My voice sounded foreign to my own ears and it echoed softly through the walls of the vast church.

The only people in the church besides me, my soon-to-be husband, and the priest were four men and one woman. The men were all dressed in dark suits, three of them wearing sunglasses even indoors. Whenever they shifted, I caught glimpses of the holsters tucked at their waists, the outlines of guns hidden beneath their jackets.

The woman with them was putting on a black gown with dark makeup and a deep scowl was etched on her face. It was almost as if they were here to attend a funeral.

I wasn’t supposed to be here.

I blinked through the haze stinging my eyes and forced myself to stare at the man standing in front of me. The man I was getting married to. His dark hair was thick and perfectly groomed, swept back away from his face. The sharp cut of his jaw gave him a regal, almost cruel beauty, and when he turned his head, the light caught the strong lines of his face, all hard angles and sharp features.

But it was his eyes that unsettled me the most. Piercing blue, cold and unreadable. There was no warmth in them. It felt like they could see straight through me, stripping away every layer until they reached the truth buried inside me: that I wasn’t the bride he thought I was.

I flinched and dropped my gaze, clinging tightly to the bouquet in my trembling hands as though the flowers could shield me.

“I do,” for the first time ever, I finally heard his voice and it sounded as cold as the look in his eyes.

My stomach twisted in painful knots. His words were nothing like mine. Where my voice shook, his was steady, strong, almost like a command. He didn’t sound like a groom declaring love. He sounded like a businessman sealing a deal.

The priest continued speaking, but his words blurred together in my ears. Blessings, unity, vows, they meant nothing to me. I was drowning in fear and doubt, every breath of mine heavy as they escaped my lungs.

It should have been a beautiful moment. The white gown, the veil, the flowers. But everything felt wrong. The air was too still, the shadows too dark, and the scent of roses cloyed and heavy, almost choking me but I forced myself to remain calm and keep breathing even when what I wanted the most was to go back in time and never agree to this deal.

The man I was getting married to, Domenico, was very handsome but the way he stared at me, it was as if he hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. He was everything a woman might dream of in a husband, but standing beside him, all I felt was coldness.

Was this really the man Janet had sworn loved her so much?

I swallowed hard, my throat burning. The gown felt too tight, the veil too heavy. Every step of this wedding felt like a trap.

I thought of my parents. I thought of how I hadn’t seen them in so long, how my last memory of them was filled with distance and disapproval. And now they are gone. Just like that.

Tears threatened to fall, but I blinked them back. I couldn’t cry here. Not in front of these strangers. Not in front of him.

I reminded myself why I was here.

This wasn’t my wedding. Not really. It was Janet’s. It was supposed to be her life. Her future. Her husband.

But Janet wasn’t here. I was.

She had begged me, convinced me, tricked me into stepping into her place. Promised me freedom from debts, a new life in the city, a chance to escape the small town that had smothered me for years. For once, I thought I could breathe. For one last time I thought that I could become her again and gain something good from it this time but as usual, I was a naive fool who never learns anything from past mistakes.

This man wasn’t the loving man Janet had claimed he was, the people here don’t even look like Domenico’s family. Domenico did not look thrilled at the prospect of getting married. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else than here.

The priest finally declared us husband and wife, but the room stayed quiet. There were no cheers, no applause, no smiles. Just cold stares and unreadable faces.

Then came the kiss.

I froze as Domenico leaned closer and the scent of his expensive cologne hit me. One of his arms slipped to wrap around my slim waist, his hold tight and almost bruising as he drew me to his chest, crushing the bouquet between us.

My heart hammered so hard I thought it might break free from my chest. His lips pressed firmly against mine. They were soft and cold and I stood rigidly, not daring to move away or breathe too loudly.

He pulled back without a word, his face unreadable, but his eyes were still watching me too closely, causing me to look away.

My knees felt weak as we finally turned to walk down the aisle together. The sound of our footsteps echoed through the empty church, filling the silence left by the lack of celebration.

When we stepped outside, the cool afternoon air hit me like a slap. I sucked in a sharp breath as one of the men, the one without sunglasses approached us. He was an older man with graying hair and sharp green eyes.

“Congratulations on your wedding, Domenico.” His voice was steady, his heavy hand slapping Domenico’s shoulder. The words sounded as if he was giving him condolences on a loved one’s death.

“Thank you, uncle,” Domenico’s reply was clipped.

The man turned to me and the urge to run far away was overwhelming but I forced myself to remember that that’s what Judith would do and I was not Judith today, I was Janet so I held his gaze.

“I hope you’re happy with your decision today, Janet,” he smiled but it didn’t touch his eyes.

“I’m happy,” I lied, my lips twisting into something that felt more like a grimace than a smile.

The man frowned, his eyes searching my face as if trying to dig through the layers of my thick makeup. I only met them today and it was almost like they were getting suspicious. I was fucking everything up already.

“We need to leave now, uncle,” Thankfully, Domenico came to my rescue. Only he didn’t know it.

“We need to consummate the marriage if not it wouldn’t be real. We wouldn’t want that,”

My stomach dropped as the cold afternoon air turned to ice in my lungs.