Chapter 3 The meeting - Lily
I'm probably looking at the beautician with murder in my eyes as she rips another piece of hair from my poor vagina.
What the fuck is this even? It's not like I'm getting married to the guy today, and do I really have to look like a plucked chicken on our
wedding night?
Pappa said it's just dinner, but I'm getting waxed and groomed as if I was one of the ugly stepsisters.
"Turn on your stomach and spread your cheeks." The girl demands.
"To do what!" I exclaim, my face burning in embarrassment.
She gives me a look that brook no arguments and I reluctantly turn on my stomach and spread my ass cheeks for this girl to see my most private parts.
Is this the torture girls go through to look fucking pretty for a man? Why should a woman be hairless down there anyway? Do men even bother to get waxed?
After that torture, my whole body gets scrubbed as if I haven't taken a bath in centuries, leaving my skin red and tender. I have fair skin, and after leaving this torture chamber, I might end up looking like a tomato.
At the boarding school, we did experiment with makeup and we did each other's hair, but I eye the hair designer cryptically when he picks up the scissors.
"No colouring!" I make it very clear. "And no cutting off all my hair."
He clutches his chest like I've offended him. "Girl! I would never dare change this gorgeous colour. I'm only cutting off the dead ends, I promise."
My life is being taken away, the last bit of freedom I have.
I can at least decide what happens to my appearance.
To be honest, I'm beyond sad. I didn't choose this life, yet it feels like I'm paying a debt I didn't make.
The same vicious beautician does my makeup, and when she's done, I look older, more sophisticated.
I don't even know what the man looks like who is to become my husband. What if he's fat, and old? Or doesn't have any hair?
I've never even been kissed for Christ's sake, imagine my first kiss is with some bald, pudgy guy with sweaty, trembling hands.
If the guy doing my hair wasn't clearly gay, I would've grabbed him and kissed the living shit out of him just to have a choice with who my first kiss will be with.
I'm nervous on the drive back home. There is added security, a car is following behind us and I wonder why? Nobody even knows who I am here.
The young maid, who I've come to know as Fiona, is laying a silky black dress on my bed with sparkly heels.
She blushes when she see me, and quickly bows her head. "Miss Lily, the boss picked out this dress."
Of course he did. It probably shows off all my "assets".
After Fiona helps me get dressed, I stand in front of the mirror, staring at the stranger reflected back at me.
I can't deny I look beautiful, with my hair styled in soft curls and swept over my one shoulder to reveal the creamy expanse of my skin in the backless dress. My legs look long and toned in the high heels, and I think my father achieved exactly what he wanted. The woman in the mirror is expensive and desirable.
There's a soft knock on my door, and it slowly creaks open to reveal Pappa. My eyes meet his in the mirror, and I swear I see a sheen of tears before he blinks them away.
"Do we have to do this?" I want to know, my voice soft this time.
He steps inside the room and stops behind me, holding me by my upper arms.
"You are breathtaking Lily, your mother would have been proud."
"Proud to be wedded off and forgotten about?" I can't help the bite in my tone.
What the fuck is there to be proud of?
Pappa's eyes are once again pleading on mine. "This is bigger than me and you, Lily. If you do this, you will never want for anything, you can create all the paintings you want without worrying about an income."
"But I won't go to college, I won't have drunken one night stands and make a best friend. I won't fall in love and get my heart broken." I feel the tears building up, even though I know I'm not allowed to let them fall. I would ruin this perfect image Pappa wants to portray.
He drops his head in guilt and steps away from me, because what is there to say? My marriage to Vincent DiCassio is a done deal, and if I do something to jeopardize that, people will pay with their lives.
It's only my life that doesn't matter here.
"Our guests are downstairs waiting." Pappa nods and walks through the door. "Please don't take long."
My heart starts pounding as I look at myself one last time, trying to gather my composure. This was not what I was hoping for, but are my dreams worth more than others' lives?
I think Fiona is more nervous than me because she frantically adjusts my spaghetti straps before bowing her head and stepping away.
I make my way down the long hallway until I reach the grandiose staircase that leads downstairs, and halt at the top when the men stop talking and look up at me.
My legs feel shaky, but I manage to get to the bottom without tripping over my feet. I bow my head like I was taught to do without looking at the men.
"Gentlemen, my daughter Lily." Pappa says proudly.
"She's indeed beautiful, Sullivan." An enigmatic voice says and my head whips up to meet laughing grey eyes as a handsome man walks over to me.
Holy shit.
I sure have never been in the company of anyone as good looking as him.
He stops in front of me and I get a faint wiff of cigarettes as he lifts my hand and kisses the back softly without taking his eyes off mine.
"Bellisima." His voice like dark silk washes over my skin. "I'm Vincent DiCassio."