The marriage officiant began the wedding ceremony by reading out the vows they were to recite. Dominic was the first to recite his vows.
"I, Dominic Lawrence, vow to love my wife, Valeria Scarlett. For better or for worse, in wealth or in poverty, in good times and in bad, in health and in sickness. I will protect her with my own hands and always be by her side," said Dominic, glancing at Valeria.
"Very well, Mr. Lawrence. Now it's your turn, Miss Scarlett. Do you take Mr. Dominic Lawrence to be your husband?" The marriage officiant turned to her.
"Well, I don't really have a choice, do I?" Valeria shrugged.
Hearing Valeria's answer, which sounded like she was deliberately making a mockery of the wedding, made Donn feel so embarrassed. He tapped his own forehead at his daughter's attitude.
"Alright, ahem, I do. I, Valeria Scarlett, vow to love—ahem... Sorry, my tongue slipped," Valeria said, laughing a little at their sacred vows. "Let me repeat that."
Donn let out a harsh sigh when he saw his daughter deliberately doing something like that in front of so many people.
"I am Valeria Scarlett, and I vow to love my husband, Dominic Lawrence. For better or for worse, in wealth or in poverty, in good times and in bad, in health and in sickness. I will serve him with all my life and always be by his side," she said, repeating her vow.
After the vows were spoken, the Marriage Officiant declared them husband and wife. He invited Dominic to kiss Valeria.
The man smiled, the moment he'd been waiting for had finally arrived. He gently turned Valeria's body toward him and lifted the wedding veil covering her face. Her beautiful face became clearer, making him want her even more.
He wanted to kiss her lips, even to claim her body right there and then. But he knew he had to restrain himself.
'Damn, she's so beautiful.'
Dominic pulled Valeria's waist closer until their bodies touched, then lifted her chin toward him. "You belong to me now."
Valeria said nothing but smiled upon hearing it. He slowly leaned in and kissed her deeply. His lips devoured his beautiful wife's, accompanied by the sound of happy clapping from the guests.
Clap clap clap
However, that happiness didn't last long when Dominic suddenly pushed Valeria away. He felt so short of breath. He clutched his own throat until he fell to his knees in front of Valeria.
"Boss! Boss, what's wrong?!" Rogan approached Dominic and asked frantically.
The man coughed repeatedly until he finally spat a cherry pit out of his mouth. It turned out that Valeria had been holding the cherry in her mouth the whole time—the cherry she'd asked Jane for, claiming she wanted to eat it before the wedding began.
But it turned out she had used the fruit as a weapon to poison Dominic, who was allergic to cherries.
"It's a cherry! Quick, call the medics!" Rogan shouted, ordering Dominic's men.
The guests looked panicked by the incident, except for Valeria. She knelt before Dominic, who was struggling to breathe, and smiled slyly.
"Now that is breathtaking."
*****
Donn was furious at Valeria for trapping Dominic by slipping a cherry into his mouth while they were kissing. This not only endangered Dominic's life but also humiliated their family, as his own daughter's actions had caused a commotion and panic at the altar.
"What the hell are you doing, huh?! Have you lost your mind doing that in front of everyone?!" Donn asked his daughter furiously.
"Not really, he's just overreacting," Valeria replied while eating the remaining cherries in the bowl as she was back in her dressing room.
Because of this, the bride and groom were taken to their respective rooms first to avoid further commotion and to rest for a moment, as Dominic was being treated by the medical team.
"But he's allergic to cherries! Why did you deliberately eat one and keep it in your mouth?"
"Heh," Valeria laughed as she recalled Dominic's expression when he'd had trouble breathing earlier. She leaned back on the sofa, savoring the small, sweet fruit.
Donn didn't know what else to say to his daughter. She was truly impossible to control and still acted like a child. After this, the Scarlett Family's reputation would suffer because his daughter had tried to kill a leader of the notorious and dangerous Lawrence family.
Their wedding would surely be known as the most lavish mafia wedding, but it was ruined because of what the bride did—it nearly cost the groom his life.
After the party was paused for an hour, a knock on the door called out to Valeria from outside.
"Mrs. Lawrence, the party has resumed. Please return to the wedding reception hall immediately to sit with your husband," said a man from behind the door.
"Oh, so he's still alive, it seems," Valeria commented casually, as if nothing had happened.
"Valy! Don't speak carelessly. We'll be right there. You can go." Donn answered the call from someone outside.
The man sighed, then turned to his daughter, trying to calm himself down and speaking softly to her.
"Valy, listen to me. I know you don't like this marriage, but it's already happened. I hope you'll accept it gracefully and behave like a woman of honor, because you're carrying two good names—Lawrence and Scarlett. Do you understand?"
Valeria's blue eyes glanced at her father. "Why are you only speaking up now, hmm? You could have refused this marriage from the start before any of this happened, but you still forced me to accept it. Now that I've already said that stupid vow, you're gently asking me to accept the situation? Heh… How ridiculous."
She thought her father would get angry again at her words, but he didn't. Donn simply remained silent, gazing at his only daughter, who looked so much like his late wife.
He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. For the first time, Valeria felt a touch from her father that was different from usual. Not even since Arabella's death had Donn ever touched her like that.
"I know this is all my fault, but... It's already happened. So just do your best," he pleaded.
For a moment, Valeria fell silent at her father's touch. However, her heart had already hardened like stone after being shattered by her own father, so she immediately stood up from the sofa where she was sitting to avoid his hand.
"I'll think about that later," she replied, then walked past Donn toward the door. She paused briefly and turned to face his father. "I suspect you used that side of yourself to manipulate Mom, until she finally chose never to leave you."
She fell silent for a moment, then spoke again. "But in the end, she left me too, along with you."
Without saying another word, she left Donn alone in the room. Donn's gaze, which had always seemed cold, now looked so sorrowful, as if the greatest regret of his life was taking Arabella's life away from their daughter.
"I never... asked her to stay with a monster like me."