Mikalo's Fate (The Mikalo Chronicles) by Syndra K. Shaw Page A

love."
    Caugina turned white, a thin, desperate smile on her blood red lips.
    "I won't keep you, dear," Deni was saying, "but if you could take Caugina off your list, that'd be great."
    At this, Caugina snapped her head to Deni.
    "Caugina," Deni repeated. "Caugina Delis. The wife of Silvestro? Mikalo's brother. Right, the fat one."
    Deni laughed.
    "Yes, yes, and Silvestro needs to lose weight as well," she said.
    Another laugh.
    "Oh, I adore you, too, sweetie," Deni then said. "No, no, I'll explain later. Yes, when I'm home we'll definitely do lunch."
    And an air kiss later, the call was finished, the hammer having fallen on the first nail in Caugina's social coffin.
    The bitch sat there and smiled.
    And then she laughed.
    "This is not true," she said. "You are an actress playing the part with your telephone. It is sad, really."
    Her attention back to me,
    "You, take that off. Now. We are finished. This is the dress. No argument."
    "Ronan?" Deni asked.
    I looked at her.
    She was watching me, silently imploring me to speak, to stand up for myself. To put away my fear of displeasing Mikalo, to silence my fear of being disliked by his family who apparently hated me already.
    What did I have to lose?
    I caught my reflection in the mirror and quickly looked away.
    And then I stopped and looked. Really looked. Hard.
    No.
    This was not me. It wasn't just the dress, as pathetic as it was. It was what I was allowing Caugina to do to me. What she was making me become. What I was letting her do.
    "Take it off," Caugina all but barked.
    "No," I said, quietly.
    I could feel Deni relax, seeing the old Ronan return.
    "It must come off or there is no wedding," Caugina said, her impatience getting the best of her as she spit out the words.
    "There will be a wedding," I said.
    "We will see ..." Caugina started to say.
    "But not in this dress," I said.
    Caugina fell quiet. And then she laughed.
    "It is not a decision that is yours," she then said.
    "Not in this dress," I repeated, reaching for the zipper in back.
    "Ah, see?" Caugina said to no one in particular. "She fights. She is unpleasant. She is not good enough for Mikalo."
    "Bullshit," I said, wrestling the thick fabric away from neck and sliding it from my shoulders. "I'm perfect for Mikalo and he's perfect for me and nothing you say or do, Caugina, is going to change that."
    She watched me, her eyes narrowing as she geared up for the fight she'd been hoping to have since the day I landed in Greece.
    "We're going to get married," I continued, "we're going back to the States, and we're going to have wonderful lives, even if that means never seeing you again. Especially if that means never seeing you again."
    Caugina rose and slowly approached.
    I stood, holding the sea green dress to my chest, suddenly aware I was stripping down to my bra and panties in the very public middle of the department.
    "I will see to it this wedding does not happen," she all but spat in my face. "The family does not want it, Nona does not want it, and I, I do not want it.
    "And I am the one in the family that is listened to. I am the one they pay attention to. I am the one with the power and that will never change."
    She finished, moving back from me, her heavy-lidded eyes looking down on me.
    From somewhere in her pocket, her phone rang.
    With a smirk, she turned from me, reaching in and pressing the phone to her ear.
    "Yes," she said.
    She paused, listening.
    She turned white, her eyes narrowing.
    "I have an invitation," she then said. "I will be there."
    She listened again, turning her back on me, and then, realizing she was now facing Deni, turned her back on her, once again facing me, trapped, her humiliation open for everyone to see.
    Breathing deeply, she put a big smile on her face.
    "Well, please thank Mrs. Gallisandrino for the invite, but unfortunately I'll be out of the country," she then said before hanging up.
    Out of the country was always code for not invited or disinvited or never was going to be