1

The bright sun was shining down on me and at the same time I felt the light breeze of the wind blowing pleasantly through my brown hair, but I quickly stopped paying attention to all this when my gaze fell on the multi-storey building in front of me.

"This can't be true," I breathed, completely surprised at the swanky surroundings I found myself in while holding my older sister Cara's hand and grinning stupidly to myself.

The huge villa in front of us only gave an idea of how rich the guy who was supposed to marry my sister must be.

Sure, it wasn't romantic since they were forced to marry, so to speak, but it could have been worse for her, definitely!

With my mouth slightly open, I looked at the large driveway where all the sports cars were parked, gleaming in the sun and one of which looked more expensive than the other. Add to that the many well-dressed people standing at the front door waiting to be let in.

Insanity!

"Keeva," my sister suddenly spoke softly from the side, gripping my wrist tightly to turn me to her. "I can not do this!"

Her huge brown eyes stared at me in terror while her hand in mine began to tremble.

"This is supposed to be a joke, isn't it?"

She shook her head so violently that individual clips of her updo, which had taken me several hours in our cramped trailer, came loose. "No, I'm damn serious!"

I really saw it. Cara wasn't one of those women who cared about money or luxury. She always wanted to make decisions about her own life and only stayed with us for the last few years because our mother was seriously ill, which was also the main reason for our marriage.

Money for our family, reputation for the Gallagher family.

Since we were among the gypsies who got the most votes in this district, it played well into the hands of this Rian, or whatever his name was, to marry a gypsy. He was planning to go into politics in the near future and so this marriage was sealed.

"You can't just cancel this! Dad will-"

"I don't give a shit what dad wants!" she hissed at me and snatched my hand away. "Keeva, you can do it! You are so much stronger than me. Please take care of mom and give her a kiss for me."

I?

"What are you talking about?!", I asked her completely horrified, but the only answer I got was a soft kiss on the cheek and then she ran down the driveway in her white dress and disappeared around the next corner.

If I had known then that I would never see her again, I would have run after her...

"That didn't really happen," I whispered to myself, frozen, staring wide-eyed in the exact direction she had disappeared until I suddenly felt someone was right behind me. Right next to my shadow that I saw on the floor before was another one...

"Hello," I heard a deep voice close to my ear and strangely, the sound made my heart race. I knew it had to be one of the three Gallagher brothers, but didn't know which one, which made me reluctantly turn around.

Holy...

He was tall, certainly a head taller than me, and he looked straight into my scrutinizing eyes without expression. I took a moment to study the color of his irises, fascinated by their greyish-blue mixture, until I admonished myself and looked down shyly.

"Hello," I said quietly and then gasped in shock when he suddenly put his hand on my chin and forced me to look him straight in the eye again.

"So your sister's gone?" he demanded in a cold voice while turning my face to the side to get a closer look at me.

Did he still have them all?

If he were anyone, I would certainly have slapped him or asked if he still had everything in his cupboard, but he was Rian Gallagher, I could feel that just from his arrogant demeanor. The aura that radiated from this man literally forced one to have respect for him.

"Yeah, seems so," I said, shrugging my shoulders and briefly licking my dry lips, causing him to let go of me immediately and stare at my mouth for a while, which made me totally uncomfortable.

"It doesn't really matter," he raised an eyebrow and let his irises scurry over my purple dress, before taking one of my long, brown strands of hair between his fingers.

"Are you still okay?!", I snapped at him loudly because of his intrusiveness and wanted to take a step back, but he quickly grabbed my wrist and shook his head, causing his black hair to fall slightly in his face.

Damn he looked good!

"That was the first and last time you spoke to me in that tone, do you understand?!" he warned me, looking at me so menacingly that a chill ran down my spine. "And now smile."

I furrowed my brow in total confusion at his demand and tried really hard to keep calm, but he didn't seem like the sort of man who liked to repeat himself.

He was about to take my hand again when I quickly pulled it back and gave him a crooked grin, making me wonder who was the crazier one of us.

"Acceptable," he said more to himself, then grabbed my arm to pull me towards the front door, where no one was by now. Probably all the guests were already inside...

"Where are we going?" I wanted to know nervously and felt the blood rushing through my veins from sheer excitement while he tightened his grip on my arm again.

"Marry."

What the fuck?!

***

He pulled me through the large front door into the foyer and suddenly let go of me to run to one of the many security guards in front of us.

Luckily no one was there anymore and completely confused I stared up at the high ceiling from which hung a chandelier that was surely worth more than anything I've ever owned.

When he suddenly grabbed my arm roughly again without warning, I deliberately stepped on his shoes with my heels so hard that he immediately let go and looked at me in bewilderment.

I certainly won't let myself be treated like that!

His angry glare held me briefly until I found the courage to tap my finger on his chest warningly, causing his muscles to tense underneath.

"I'm not a breeding cow and if the deal is still supposed to stand, then you'll treat me with respect, kindly!" I said assertively and with this cheeky manner I had often put men in their place, but it didn't seem to impress him a bit.

With a little too much pressure, he removed my hand from his chest and took a step toward me, making him so close that I had to lift my head slightly to look at him.

Anger and cold were reflected in his grey-blue eyes, which made my heart race at that moment. I didn't like it at all when men radiated such power without even having to say anything.

"I will fulfill my demands as long as you marry me and stand by me in public. Otherwise you have no expectations of me," he explained in his cold voice and let his irises flicker over my face again before he then let go of me and straightened his shirt.

What an ass!

Thinking that my family would get enough money to help my mother, I nodded to him, showing my approval of the whole circus here.

Turning to face the closed dark wooden door in front of us, I realized that everyone must be waiting for him and my sister inside, but now that burden was on my shoulder. What would my father say to that?

Well, there were worse... wasn't there?

"And one more thing," he said calmly, looking at me emotionlessly. "I don't have much patience, so don't let me wait too long in front of the altar."

He was just about to turn towards the door when I laughed out loud and his gaze immediately met mine again. How did he actually think he could deal with people?

"And what if it is? Do you want to put me over your knee?" I provoked him, crossing my arms.

This guy had apparently forgotten where I came from. All of my cousins weren't bad either, and I had to learn to assert myself at an early age.

Rian raised an eyebrow and seemed completely calm as he then approached me again.

"Want to find out what's happening?" he asked quietly, fixing me with his intense gaze that suddenly made me want to hold back.

He looked down at himself and I hesitantly followed his gaze, only to focus my eyes directly on the pistol that was sticking out slightly from under his shirt.

I realized that there was a crucial difference between him and my cousins. They loved me and he didn't look like he cared about anything in this world at all. We were also gypsies, but he was from the worst mafia family around.

Shut up and pull through!

"No, let's just get this over with," I said calmly, looking away from the gun to take a step back as he tucked his shirt back in and headed for the door.

"What's your name?" he wanted to know without turning around.

"Keva."

I thought I caught a glimpse of a sideways smile on his cheek, but convinced myself it must have been his imagination, and then he opened the door to hurry behind her...

Now I was standing here alone and nervously I started pacing back and forth on the light marble floor.

My sister was right about running away and I was increasingly regretting that I didn't just follow her. My mother needed help, but at what cost...

"Hello," a woman suddenly spoke to me, coming down the stairs behind me and eyeing me critically. "Where's her wedding dress?"

"I don't need one," I said in a nervous voice, adjusting my purple dress that, while beautiful, was probably meant for a bridesmaid rather than a bride.

But why not, it wasn't a real wedding anyway...

"I can't do that," she suddenly said in complete disarray and began hysterically to fiddle with my brown hair and dress.

"What are you doing?" I hissed when she accidentally pinched my side and she immediately nervously adjusted her glasses before giving me an apologetic look.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Gallagher."

I beg your pardon?

"I'm not married yet," I said angrily and then walked away from her to stop the annoying fiddling with me once and for all.

"But you must-"

When the wooden door opened again, a giant came straight towards us. I stared wide-eyed at him in his brown suit and then glanced at the spectacled snake, whose hands were shaking uncontrollably.

That sure doesn't mean anything good.

"Keeva," he said my name in his menacing voice. "Here. And now bang bang."

He handed me a bouquet of flowers and put his hand on my back to slowly but surely push me towards the door, causing my heart to pound faster and my breathing to stop completely.

"And you!" he turned to the spectacled snake again before putting his hand on the latch. "I want to see you upstairs in the private room."

"Of course", I heard the woman behind me and when I thought about what he meant by private room, I looked curiously into his face, which looked just as beautiful as Rian's, but he had several scars on his neck and his nose looked as if it had been broken more than once.

Then the noise of whispering ripped me out of my rigidity and with bated breath I looked into the hall, on whose benches sat many familiar faces, all of whom looked at me in shock. I guess I was wrong.

My father was standing at the front and when he noticed that Cara wasn't standing behind me, he immediately came towards us in his black suit through the narrow aisle between the benches.

"No!" he just said to the tall guy next to me, standing right in front of him. "Not Keeva! Not my youngest!"

"Dad," I turned to him, ignoring the many people watching us curiously. "Let me do this. For mom. Please."

He shook his head and was just about to say something else when the guy next to me grabbed my arm a little tighter and wanted to pass my father with me, but I pulled away from him and looked up into his face to see his blue ones for the first time To see eyes that really seemed even colder than Rian's.

"If you allow me, I would like my father to lead me down the aisle!"

He avoided my gaze and stared past me, whereupon I turned around as well and saw Rian at the end of the hallway, who nodded at us.

Growling softly, the giant disappeared into one of the rows and immediately I clung to my father with one arm while still holding the beautiful bouquet of white flowers in the other.

"You don't have to-"

"I know, but I want it."