"Till death do us apart." The weight of the words she'd spoken still laid heavy in her tongue hours after they'd been uttered.
A continuous ringing sound calling for attention captured hers, Annalise looked up to see a man standing holding up his drink which he lightly hit with a spoon.
"I want to make a toast." He said, his words coming out in a slur.
Like many other times, Anna's eyes went to Nicolás, her husband. It was unbelievable that she was now married, and unlike her who had been sneaking glances at him, he had not even once looked her way. Nicolás's looks still awed Anna, she'd thought this was some joke, not after all she had heard about him, he did have a scar, a long one that had been unsuccessful in marring the beauty that was his face.
His eyes were his best features, his orbs were strikingly black, it made his eyes look soulless, he had a sharp, elegant nose and wickedly sexy lips that Annalise for all of her innocence couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up thoughts of what that mouth could do. His eyebrows were bushy and well arched, everything about him was perfection, he was tall, so tall that when she had stood beside him in church even on her heels, he still towered over her. There were not enough words to describe the godlike look Nicolás had been blessed with, the good Lord had obviously been unfair with the ample time spent on this particular creation.
"... A toast," The man continued, swaying. "To Black for making me lose all of the money I bet on him not showing up today, and to his beautiful wife, for making me lose even more money when I bet no woman on Earth would want to marry him."
Silence followed his utterance and Anna saw the Morenos share uncomfortable looks with each other as they subtly glanced at Nicolás, she wondered what was going on, the man had meant it as a joke and she'd thought a few chuckles would ring out. Did the Morenos have a different sense of humor altogether?
It was only when Nicolás raised his glass in response that the few chuckles rang out and Anna saw everyone begin to breathe better did she realize they'd been waiting to see his reaction first before having one themselves.
"A toast it is," Nicolás said, his voice sounding so close to her it caused goosebumps to erupt in her arms. "To my wife, the only woman who'd want to marry me…" He paused and looked at her, one of his brows furrowed. "What's your name again?"
Anna felt her heart still, was this a trap? Had he figured it out, he couldn't have forgotten her name of course, not when he'd said it in church just a few hours back. She casted a scared look at her parents and they nodded at her encouragingly.
She fixed a shaky smile on her face. "Laura," Anna said.
He nodded, "To Laura."
"To Laura." Everyone else said and the sound of glasses clinking was heard.
Anna was surprised when Nicolás turned to her and offered her his cup, she hit hers to it lightly before taking a large sip of it, she needed her nerves to calm down right now.
Nicolás stood up. "Party's over," He announced. "It's unfortunate but work calls, I and my wife will have to bid you all bye now."
Anna looked at him speechless, her heart thumping hard against her ribcage, she was going to be alone with him, it scared her witless, she was at the verge of peeing on her pants.
"Can't wait to devour her I see." Leonard said in a casual tone. "Be careful brother, something tells me this one is unlike any of the women you've had before."
Nicolás stopped. "What did you just say?" He asked in a daring tone.
Leonard chuckled. "What? Are you getting protective already?"
In a few seconds, Nicolás covered the distance between them and gave Leonard a punch that sent him flying off his chair, he approached the figure and Anna watched in horror as he raised his brother whom she was sure was no lightweight by the collar and slammed his back on the wall so hard, she was sure she heard a crack.
"I won't tolerate your disrespect Leonard," He said in a dangerous tone. "She belongs to me now and a disrespect her way is a disrespect mine. Do you fucking understand or should I drill open your head to put in that little piece of information?"
When Leonard spoke, his words came out with difficulty, his breath unsteady. "I understand."
He released him, letting him fall to the floor limply, and Nicolás walked out of the house leaving Anna to run after him still reeling from the shock of what she'd just witnessed.
**** **** **** ****
Nothing prepared Annalise for the sight that was Nicolás's home, it was well carved away from the main city, away from everyone else. The inside had a dark theme with barely any personalized item in the house… It reminded her of an abandoned building, they had the same cold, unwelcoming feel to it.
He hadn't said a word to her all through the drive here which had been almost an hour, and he still wasn't saying a word to her now that he'd brought her to his home. She glanced at him curiously trying to link him to all the devilish tales she'd heard, surely they must have just been exaggerations.
She didn't believe he was a good person suddenly because he'd defended her back there but if they had exaggerated his scar, what else was impossible for people?
"Do you have a problem with your eyes?" She heard him snap.
Annalise swallowed. "Uh, no."
"Then keep them to yourself!" He said and marched out of the room.
Annalise swallowed, that was fair enough, she needed to stop with the sneaky glances at him, there were other things for her to fix, like her life which was in its worst mess ever.
She stood idly in the middle of the room wondering what to do next, she had no idea where she was meant to sleep and her groom didn't seem like he'd like to be disturbed. She sat down on the couch and stared at nothing in particular.
Minutes went by and finally Nicolás came out of the room, he stopped when he saw her as though he'd forgotten about her presence. Anna stood up abruptly the minute he came in because even though she hadn't been doing anything, she still felt enormous unease in his presence.
He was changed out of his previous black suit into a navy blue one that fitted him perfectly, obviously tailored. Anna swallowed nervously and turned her eyes away from him, from the corner of her eyes she watched as he made his way towards the front door.
"Ex… Excuse me, Mr. Nicolás." She called out in a nervous voice, he stopped, his back turned to her.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bother but could you please point me out to my room, please."
It was taking all of Anna's courage to be able to speak and even at that she shook from fright, fiddling with her hands that when Nicolás turned to her, she almost broke her own fingers by how tightly she clenched them.
He approached her slowly, those cold eyes fixed on her, it felt as though he was stripping her with all of its intensity.
Annalise slowly moved back. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't mean to offend…"
"Listen to me Laura because I am never going to say this again." He said slowly.
"You could sleep on the fucking cold tiles for all I care, live in this house like you do not exist or I will make sure to actually help you achieve nonexistence, and trust me when I say I've had a lot of time since seeing you to think of the best methods to achieve that."
And he walked out the door slamming it behind him.