THE MAFIA’S MISTAKEN BRIDE

Xavier’s POV

Pulling in a sharp breath, a surge of relief fills me up as I lift my gaze to meet with the brown-eyed woman lying through her teeth. I expect to see fear and surrender in her eyes but instead, her eyes are deeply disturbing, leaving me with only one option left to clear up this misunderstanding.

Her hair.

That confusing stupid white hair.

“Andre?” Mr Moore calls out from behind his wife leaving me with no choice but to turn away from the lying bitch.

Mrs. Moore also turns back to her husband and runs into his arms as she tearfully blurts out. “My child, Nicholas. My child is here.”

“Andre?” Mr. Moore’s eyes do not leave hers as I observe a flash of disapproval and doubt in his bright eyes.

My eyes fly to Andre’s. Her lips are trembling and her eyes are teary. She isn’t rushing to embrace the life out of her father like I am thinking she would do when she sees him.

Is this because she is still mad at him for forcing her to walk down the aisles with me? Or is this just one of her ploys to deny being the woman that she is?

I really can not deny the fact that she is different. Or perhaps, something has changed about her. Almost everything about her but I won’t fall for her stupid trick of claiming to be someone else that she isn’t.

Mrs. Moore’s sobs fill the air while her husband’s hand stays by his side instead of patting the woman in consolation.

Suddenly, she disengages from him and rushes to Andre’s side. “How dare you?!”

Andre’s eyes bulge open as she begins to shake her head gently at first until a tear drops from her eyes. “I am not Andre, ma’am”, she admits softly.

I am immune to women’s tears. But now, seeing a drop of tears makes me feel my stomach churning.

Is this guilt or what the hell is this?

Besides, I have never seen Andre in tears before. She must be faking it. She wants to keep up with this till the end.

“What?!” The woman exclaims sharply, the absence of her sobs filling me with a sense of peace.

I muse darkly, not ready to fall for her shits as I watch the drama of denial between her and her mother.

“He mistook me for your daughter”, she lifts her gaze to meet mine then turns away quickly, fear consuming her probably because of my icy stare or because of the anger filling me up at the open denial again. “I am Jasmine Cooper. I have never been to New York City all my life. My parents are dead since I was little and I have stayed all my life in Chicago, doing one menial job or the other to survive.”

No one is interrupting her. Not even her Father like I am thinking he will. As for me, the shot of adrenaline running down my spine isn’t allowing me to say a word as I fold my arms, trying so hard not to do something rash.

With a melodramatic sigh, she continues, her eyes never leaving the woman who has shock running through her at the information. “I see no reason why I would deny being Andre when I can enjoy all of this luxury that I wasn’t born with. I am not Andre, I’ve been saying this since he abducted me away from Chicago but he wouldn’t believe me”, she sniffs and I glare at her coldly.

“Abduct?” I scoff irritably. “Is that the word for what I did?”

She does not answer. She is also avoiding my gaze.

Nobody is saying a word. I have a lot to say to her but not here. She keeps annoying the shit out of me with every word that comes out of her mouth. She knows how much I hate people who pretend, yet she is doing this; pretending to be who she isn’t.

It doesn’t even suit her personality. The Andre I know is one crazy being that would never shed a tear or sound pathetic like this. She has a loud voice too, especially when she is unnerved but now she is talking too calmly for my liking, perhaps to make me feel guilty.

Mrs. Moore stares back at her husband whose face is blank. Within a split second, she faces Andre squarely and begins to roll up the hands of her dress as fast as possible.

I smirk.

That was the exact same thing I did.

There is nothing anyone can say or do to convince me that this isn’t Andre. She is the one.

Andre Moore.

And she is going to suffer for her mistakes.

“We are getting married tomorrow at the registry”, I say the moment her mother sets eyes on the baby tattoo on her arm. It’s still there.

That is the second out of the numerous pieces of evidence that it is Andre. Andre can continue to deny it all she wants but I know the truth and I am sure her mother knows too.

“What?!” she proclaims, whirling round abruptly to face me. “Why the rush? We haven’t even confirmed if what she is saying is the truth or not.”

“I don’t care”, I shrug nonchalantly. I really do not care. “I won’t let what happened months ago happen again. She has to remedy the situation and…”

“This isn’t Andre, Xavier”, Mr. Moore declares, interrupting me from going further. I sigh angrily before turning to him. I was expecting this but not from him. I expect Mrs. Moore to deny her being Andre but not him.

“Don’t tell me you are falling for her tactics….”

“I know my child, Xavier. This isn’t her!” he affirms with confidence, her gaze unwavering. This man has always been afraid of me but tonight, I can’t see that fear.

Andre is the only person in this vicinity who doesn’t get scared of me, but now the reverse is the case. She is scared of me and her father isn’t.

Isn’t this interesting?

“How then”, I dip my hands into my pockets and stalk forward towards him with an amusing smile. “Will you explain the striking resemblance between this so-called Jasmine Cooper and Andre Moore, your supposed daughter? What about the tattoo? Andre is your only daughter, isn’t she?”

I stop in front of him, my eyes fixated on him, searching for a weakness to dwell upon.

“Andre is my only daughter but she isn’t her. You know Andre so well, she isn’t like this. She…”

“Spare me the bullshit!” I shout angrily, my hands flying into the air as he blinks nervously, the fear I have been expecting coming back to take the position in his eyes. “I am not in the mood to bicker words with you, Nicholas. I should have known you would do everything possible to protect this crazy daughter of yours from me but mind you, I am not letting go this time. We are getting married at the registry tomorrow whether you like it or not!”

Without waiting for a reply, I twirl back and walk to where Andre is standing rigidly like a statue watching the drama between her father and me. This is one of the reasons why she defies me. Before she agreed to marry me, she made me promise to respect her father after the marriage and I promised.

After the marriage tomorrow, I will begin to fulfill my promise but for now, he is nothing but a jerk for wanting to protect her from me after all the humiliation she made me go through.

I grab Andre’s cold hands, sending another hint to my mind about her usual warm hands but I ignore it and practically drag her with me to the door.

“See you at the registry tomorrow, Nicholas”, I say out loud enough for him to hear without stopping as the man at the door shoves the door open to allow Andre and I out of the house she will never step foot in ever again.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.