CAPTURED BY THE MAFIA DON WITH A KISS

PHAN

ut I had to. Dad made sure I came to show my support for my sister. "You can do this, Stephanie," I told myself quietly. "It's just a stupid bachelorette party." I peered at the mirror, examining myself. Luckily, the strands of my hair were still in place despite that stupid, pink flashy veil. And, thanks to my friend, Jade, who had helped with my make up, out of her expensive makeup kit, my lashes were longer than usual and accentuated my pretty, large, round, green eyes, making them seem almost twice as large. I took out a tiny box and applied a little tint of red to my lips. I didn't look bad. Despite that I was wearing a thrashy red gown I had bought nearly three years ago, I can still say, and quite correctly, that I looked more attractive than my spoilt younger sister and her chic friends looked in their sparkling pink dresses with see through tops, flashy, bling bling jewelry and heavy make up. The gown was still fine. I had only worn it four or five times. I wasn't so lady-like and chic and girly. I loved to wear denim pants and leather jackets and cowgirl boots – nothing fancy. Jade often teased me that I dressed like some archaic country girl. Presently, I closed my eyes and heaved another sigh. "Stephanie McMahon," I muttered to myself. "You need to calm the fuck down." I just had to play my role till about three a.m. when the girls would have drunk themselves to stupor, drive them back to their houses and then bounce. Mission accomplished! I would never have taken my father's offer if I had not been so desperate. I needed as much money as possible to buy another batch of my mom's ludicrously expensive medication, the current one running out at such a dangerous speed. And I also had to pay for her surgery. Her sickness had taken its toll on me. The insurance money had finished first. Then a few months later, I had to sell our apartment and move up to the room above my workshop. I had thought that would be all and was prepared to give myself back to my job to raise the money to return us back to our usual life. But I was shocked. Fate had other unpleasant surprises in place for me. My mom had a stroke one night in her bed and then slipped into a coma. That was when I put a call through to the rich asshole who called himself my father and requested for help. And in return for his help, he told me I had to give up my lover to my crazy half-sister who had always wanted him to herself. I was in quicksand. Barely thinking straight because of the quagmire I was in, I agreed to his sham proposal. I breathed deeply again as I took in my reflection on the mirror. Then I stood straight and rolled out of the restroom, my head high as I headed for the fancy booth. I slid into my seat with a ghost of a smile. "It took you longer than five minutes," Becky said crossly, her arms crossed over her sparkling chest. "I needed to fix my makeup," I said with a nonchalant shrug. "Whatever," she rolled her eyes and took the bottle. Then she spun. I watched uninterestedly as the bottle spun on the table. Then I suddenly felt a strange twist in my stomach as the bottle slowed and its neck rolled towards me and... Stopped. It stopped on me. "Shit," I