The Bride He Never Chose: Married to my Dead Sister's Husband

Brianna’s POV

“Where on earth did I keep it?” I said to myself, searching around for my bracelet. It just occurred to me that I hadn't seen it for a while now. In fact, since I moved into Nikolas's home.

My hour-long search turned up nothing, filling me with worry. The bracelet meant so much to me. It was a special gift from Mom before she passed away.

I slumped to the bed, exhausted only to sit up almost immediately. Nikolas's room! It was possible the bracelet had fallen off when he'd forcibly pulled me into his room.

Shit. This was a sticky situation as I'd be flouting his orders if I went to his room. Only God knows how he'd react.

Yet, that didn't deter me. I gathered up courage and left my room, making sure nobody watched as I turned to the hallway that led to his room.

I knocked but no response came. Left with no choice, I entered the room. He wasn't here but I could hear the sound of running shower. I needed to act fast.

And so, I got to work, looking around. The bed, the nightstand, the study table and the carpet but there was no sign of the bracelet.

I glanced at the nightstand again, concluding that I just had to look into the drawers. If it turned out nothing was there, I'd accept my sad fate.

I tiptoed to the nightstand, shakily drew the first drawer and voila, there it was.

As I dipped my hand to pick it up, a door squeaked open.

Shit.

Without thinking, I dove under the bed and held my breath. It went still for a while with just the light sound of footsteps being audible. Nothing else happened for a long time, so I moved towards the front end of the bed to know what was going on.

His calves were the first thing that met my eyes. He stayed still, making me wonder what he could be doing.

Curious, I crawled an inch forward for a better look. That was when he took me unawares by discarding his towel.

My eyes snapped shut, only to open again and pick up the well toned, rock-hard back muscles. My gaze travelled further, cascading down the curve of his spine to reach his buttocks. An image appeared in a flash. I saw myself holding onto his shoulder as he thrusted into me and…

Krrring! My phone blared in the pocket of my shorts.

Jerking, I hung it up. My eyes rounded in fear.

It was so silent that a drop of hair strand could be heard. Then, my worst fears materialised as Nikolas drew near to the bed. Every step he took was met with several more of mine towards the far end of the bed.

If only the floor would swallow me up!

Then, all of a sudden, he stopped. He didn't peek under the bed nor pull me out by my legs.

Instead, he spoke. “Yes.” Silence. “Tell Carl to assemble the stakeholders. I'll be there shortly.”

I heaved a sigh and was at the point of tears, given how close I'd gotten to being caught. His phone rang at the same time as mine. What were the odds of that happening? Almost zero.

Nikolas was out of the room minutes later. I didn't hesitate to leave too, completely out of breath from anxiety.

Later that day, Nikolas's grandfather arrived from Italy. I joined everyone else to welcome him. Mr. Giovanni Conti was the patriarch of the family and the brain behind the billion-dollar automobile company. Conti Motors. He'd established the business before getting married and had been based in Italy. His first and only son, Nikolas's father, had set up an offshoot here in the US.

“There is my daughter-in-law.” Nikolas's grandfather spread out his arms, beckoning for a hug.

Somehow, my gaze fell on Nikolas's mother. Her disapproving eyes didn't stop me from taking the hug.

“It's good to see you again, Grandpa.”

Nikolas's grandfather wasn't usually around. He oversaw the family estate at Tuscany. Amongst everyone in the family, he was the only person I felt comfortable around.

He chuckled heartily. “Please forgive me, mia cara. I couldn't attend the ceremony, no matter how much I wanted.”

My smile faltered having been reminded of the wedding I didn't want. “I understand.” I forced myself to say the next set of words. “I know you've given me your blessings.”

“Certainly. And speaking of which.” He looked past me towards Nikolas's mom. “Nikolas isn't here to welcome me?”

She replied, “He left not too long away for the office.” Just by mentioning Nikolas, my mind flashed back to the sensual sight I'd caught in his room. I brushed off the thought.

Nikolas's grandfather scoffed. “Office indeed. He's got a wife now. He should spend more time with her.” Switching his attention to me, he gestured for me to come with him. “Tell me how the wedding went.”

***

Nikolas's grandfather decided to host a dinner party to celebrate our marriage. That, of course, had come with a tight-lipped smile from Nikolas's mother and…pretty much no response from Nikolas. This was my fate now; the sooner I accepted it while staying determined to make my marriage work, the better for me.

So, as part of making my own contribution to the dinner and partly to impress, I offered to prepare the meal.

After a long time cooking, I went off to freshen up and change into an evening dress. The guests began trooping in shortly after. To my absolute surprise, my father was one of them.

He reached up to me and pulled me in for a hug. Since we were in the midst of people, I had to pretend everything was fine. I forced a smile and wrapped my arms around him.

“Good evening, Father,” I managed to say.

He gave a curt nod before moving past me to greet my in-laws. A hint of sadness pulled at my heartstring. I would be lying if I said I wasn't annoyed with him.

Soon, everyone was seated in the dining room. Nikolas's grandfather tapped his wine glass with a fork, drawing attention.

“Tonight, we're celebrating a new union. Between my grandson, Nikolas and his beautiful bride, Brianna. To long life and a fruitful union. Cheers!”

Everyone tipped their wine glasses. Nikolas listlessly tipped mine. We unfortunately had to sit close to each other.

“And did I mention what a talented chef she is? She was gracious enough to bless us with one of her exotic recipes.”

The maids entered with a food cart, making my heart pump with excitement for the first time since I got married. I couldn't wait for everyone to have a taste.

“Hmm. Looks amazing,” one guest commented as his food was dished out.

Right as I began dishing mine, a guest seated next to Nikolas's mother screamed, “Where's the restroom? I need the restroom!”

Some maids rushed to her side, helping her out of her seat to find the restroom. And just like that, everyone was thrown into confusion.

I couldn't believe what I saw. People spat into their napkins, others were gulping water like their life depended on it.

Blindsided by the playout of things, I stared down at my plate. Putting a spoonful of food into my mouth, I immediately spat it out.

Nausea hit the back of my throat, nudging me to throw up. This tasted nothing like what I had prepared.

Someone had tampered with the food.