I could not recognize myself in the mirror when Jade was done with me.
Jade was truly a fashionista and had outdone herself. The midnight-blue gown she chose for me was breathtaking. Alexander must have given her my size because the dress fit so perfectly. I had taken my wedding dresses back home, and he had never cared to ask for them, so how was he able to get my size. The only answer I could think of was Mia. Perhaps he had asked Mia for my size, and she had been able to give my size to him accurately.
The corset was exquisitely embroidered with silver, feeling both luxurious and surprisingly comfortable. The layers of tulle cascading from the waist were simply magnificent—a sea of shimmering fabric that swirled around my feet. The off-the-shoulder style, with the delicate ruffled details, was so flattering. And the long velvet gloves, the perfect shade of dark blue to complement the dress, added a touch of mystery.
But the real showstopper? The mask. It was a deep blue colour, it mirrored the dress. Also it was adorned with shimmering jewels and a dramatic plume of feathers, making me feel like royalty at a masquerade ball.
Anytime I was with Ryan, I felt like a boss, a CEO, I felt in charge and it was great. But when I was with Alexander, he made me feel like a Queen. There were times that he annoyed me so much, but when he tried to be at his best behaviour or tried to impress me, he did make me feel like Royalty, like I could never be compared to other women. It made me feel really good. Was it possible to make Alexander truly love me so that I would enjoy the marriage if it happened?
I felt so happy being dressed like royalty and I could not wait to see Alexander's reaction even though my guts told me he would not want to act impressed or happy.
"You look like a princess stepping out of a fairytale.This is more spectacular than I ever imagined", Jade said with a bright smile.
It was obvious that she was very happy with the dress, though she looked at me weirdly. I loved the dress too. Jade was very good at what she did.
"Did you make this?", I asked.
"Yes I did", she answered happily.
"You did a very good job and I would like to give you more jobs in the future. How's that?", I asked.
"Oh that will be lovely", she said, giving her business card to me.
"Thank you", I said, collecting her business card.
She kept looking at me like she wanted to say something, and it got awkward. I had noticed her looking at me weirdly as she styled my dress and helped the makeup artist with my face and hers, but I thought she was just trying to make me look good. But now it was awkward.
"Is there something wrong?", I asked.
I looked at myself in the mirror trying to find the error in my splendid dress but could not find one. What was the problem?
"Uhm nothing wrong. But I just uhm, wanted to tell you that you look er, beautiful tonight–", she said, but I interrupted her.
"I don't think you're telling me the truth, and you're scaring me right now. So I need you to tell me what is wrong with you. You seem troubled. We are alone now, so you can tell me what the problem is", I said.
"I want to ask if uhm, you're Alexander's uhm current girlfriend or uhm–", she said, but refused to complete her statement.
"Why do you ask?", I asked, getting tense.
Jade was scaring me really bad.
"Because uhm, Alexander is a really really bad man. He has done numerous horrendous things. And I just wanted to advise you to be careful about–", she said, but could not complete her statement.
A bullet came, shot straight into her head, and her brain and blood spilled out. The blood spilled onto my dress and onto my face. I let out a scream, turning to the person who had shot at her. It was Alexander himself. He was holding a silencer, and he did not look fazed by what he had done. He walked closer to me, but I stepped back.
"I hope she didn't harm you. There will be another makeup artist, fashionista and another seamstress that will help you get dressed", he said, not still fazed.
"Are you fucking insane?!", I screamed at him.
This was not the first time that I had seen someone get shot. I had seen my dad shoot at some people, and the securities that I had at some point in my life shoot at people. But I had never experienced someone get shot at such a close proximity. I felt sick to my stomach.
"I appreciate your question this time around. Fortunately for you, I'm not completely insane. Before you ask why I killed her, I will answer that. She was a spy for another Mafia boss. She was going to probably poison you to die or poison your mind against me. It is already known to many that I would soon get married, and some people suspect that it was a forced marriage. So spies are already sent to get more information about our marriage and use that against me. That is why you need to get some training later on about how the Mafia works so that you would not be surprised when I blow some people's heads out because of any attempted evil plan against me", he said.
"Oh fuck off! This woman was scared to death. She wanted to tell me something important and you just shot her in the head. She didn't do anything to me. The dress she made for me looked so beautiful until you decided to shoot her brain and make her blood spill on my beautiful dress. She's not the evil one, you are", I screamed at Alexander.
My scream did not move him one bit and his face remained without a single expression.
"I don't care if you think I'm evil. I did this to protect you. But if you don't like the protection, know that I also did this to protect myself. My sources told me that she was a spy from an enemy, and she was up to no good. Whether or not her act fooled you is none of my business. She's dead now and that's all that matters. You will be taken to another room where you can take a shower and get dressed again. Take a cool shower to get yourself refreshed and less angry. We must be presentable at the masquerade ball", he said.
I started laughing maniacally, tears forming in my eyes.
"I should take a shower so that I would be refreshed and less angry? So we can look presentable at the masquerade ball? Are you even listening to yourself? You just killed a woman based on your source which may have been wrong and you expect me to behave cool about you. You are crazy", I screamed.
"You behave like you're from a saint's home and it sickens me. I'm pretty sure this is not your first time seeing someone get shot. Why are you behaving like this is your first time seeing someone get shot? Let me guess–to make me look like a horrible person. Well let me burst your bubble. I am in fact a very terrible person, you're going to get married to me and this will certainly not be your last time seeing me kill a person. Leave this room in two minutes so that my men can get it cleaned up", he said leaving the room.
He was right. I screamed at him like my father had not killed people, and I did not hate him for it.
It wasn't that I was a saint; I just didn't like the concept of killing. Even as a child, when I heard that my dad killed people, even when it was absolutely necessary, I cried. I cried so hard until I was numb. I had grown immune to it after a while, learning that being from a wealthy home came with its risks - the risk of people wanting to kill you, and you'd have to end up killing most of them first if you wanted to live. There was a time when I got kidnapped from school because some people found out I was from a rich background. But my parents were able to send people after my kidnappers; they got killed, and I got rescued. My parents had saved me, but my kidnappers had to die in the process.
This was one of the reasons I wanted to live a normal life. I wanted to marry Ryan, who was a regular doctor with no dark pasts like my parents. But my parents decided to marry me off to someone who was worse than them. He killed so fast and did it so ruthlessly. There was no life in his eyes when he killed Jade.
Jade was killed with one shot. She did not struggle, and there was no last word from her. She just fell to the floor dead. I could swear that I saw genuine fear in her eyes when she tried to speak to me. What did she try to warn me about? If she was sent by another Mafia boss, was there some kind of message that the boss had for me against Alexander that Alexander himself did not want me to know about? Was she forced to be a spy? Was she genuinely scared?
There were so many questions running through my mind. I could not speak or smile at anyone. I showered, and there were new people to get me all dressed. I never for once said anything to anybody. My face was as emotionless as ever, and the time passed away without me noticing.
When I looked at my new outfit in the mirror, it looked great. But the colour from my skin was completely drained. It was not that I did not look drop-dead gorgeous. I did. But I just witnessed murder at close proximity, and had no idea how to feel about it considering the fact that this would probably not be the last time that I would witness a murder, so I looked sort of pale.
Everyone that helped me get dressed left the room when they were done helping me to get dressed, while I stood staring at myself in the mirror. Was I going to survive this masquerade ball?
As I questioned myself, the door opened, and I turned around to see Alexander walk inside with a bunch of red roses that matched the elegant red dress that I was wearing.