Disclaimer – I do not own Arrow.

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She could never have even imagined her life turning out like this. Surely she didn't deserve any of this? Surely she would wake up from this nightmare at any moment, surrounded by her soft canary coloured bed sheets, safe and warm in her college dorm?

Except she wasn't sleeping and this wasn't something she could just wake up from. This wasn't a nightmare but her reality.

Today was her wedding day.

~:: Two weeks earlier ::~

She stood stock still, her joints numb by this stage from the lack of movement in the last couple of hours. Being in the middle of a hospital, even if she was in a very private waiting room, caused her senses to overdrive; her nose overwhelmed with the smell of aesthetic, her ears ringing from all the beeping noises around her.

She had been on the move since receiving a phone call at six in the morning from her brother, telling her to urgently get on a plane and come back to Starling City. Telling her that her father had just had a heart attack.

So now she was here at Starling General, waiting for any form of news while her brother tried to sort out the family. Not like her actual blood family, but their mob family.

Her father was the leader of the Smoaks, one of Starling Cities most influential and powerful families, and had been the head of the clan since before she was even born. Her whole life she had known where she had come from, known exactly what her family did, but they were her family and she loved them. Even in the chaos of their everyday lives she had always felt loved, cherished and protected. She had always been the apple of her mother's eye, the girl with golden curls and curious bright blue eyes. Her older brother, Roy, had always protected her against any and all who were stupid enough to even try to hurt her. Even her father, who was known for his ruthlessness and strength against all odds, never failed to make her feel precious. The greatest treat in her younger years was to be put on his lap after dinnertime as he told her stories of great kings and beautiful princesses, of powerful dragons and faraway lands.

But now she was here, trying to pull herself together, hoping to see her father alive and well again.

The sound of footsteps brought her eyes up from the sterile floor as she took in the most welcome sight of Roy striding towards her. And only when she was encased by the warm protectiveness of his strong arms did she allow herself to break down, allow herself to lower the carefully constructed walls that they had all learned to erect when in the presence of anyone other than family. Their family.

Because no one but family was allowed to see a hint of weakness.

It wasn't long after that the doctor stepped into the waiting room, both siblings moving to face him in the hopes of receiving some good news.

No good news was to be had.

"Mr Smoak, Miss Smoak, I have only bad news unfortunately. Your father has been diagnosed with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction, which in simpler terms is a severe heart attack, the coronary artery is completely blocked by a blood clot, so all of the heart muscle that usually receives blood from the affected artery will begin to die".

Roy spoke up for the both of them, "What can we do, there must be treatments or some kind of medicine to fix this, I assure you that money is not an issue…"

But he was cut off by the doctor before he could go on any further.

"Unfortunately this is incurable Mr. Smoak, we will do all we can to make him comfortable for the next twenty-four hours but I do not think that he will make it through the night. I would recommend getting his affairs in order". And with one last sympathetic glance towards the shell-shocked blondes, he turned and quietly left the waiting room.

~::Present Day::~

She moved away from the mirror, not wanting to see herself in the delicately crafted wedding gown that had been sent over a couple of days ago, towards the stained glass windows of the mansion at which the wedding was being held at.

His mansion.

She stared down to the beautifully decorated grounds before her, taking in the organisers scurrying around at the last moment trying to achieve the perfection that was demanded of them.

How had she ended up like this? It seemed like it was only yesterday that she was free, or as free as the daughter of a mob boss could be. She was in her final year of MIT, well on the way to graduating summa cum laude.

She had never been stupid, she knew exactly who her family was and what their enemies were capable of. She had never tried to run away from her constant bodyguards, had never put herself in any situations that she could be caught off guard, but she did like to be free.

Her mother had always tried to keep her away from the more criminal activities of the family, and it was with her mother's help that Felicity Smoak convinced her father that sending her halfway across the country was actually a good idea. She had never seen a smile brighter than the one that was on her mother's face the day the acceptance letter had come in the mail.

Three months into her first year of university her mother, Donna Smoak, had died of a rapidly growing cancer that no one in the family had even known about.

In the face of grief Felicity threw herself into her studies, determined to honor her mother by taking every single opportunity that she could, hoping that wherever her mother was that she would be proud of her.

Except now here she stood, paying for yet another curveball that life her sent her way. Without her mother to help her get ready, without her father to walk her down the aisle, towards a man that she barely knew and to marry into a family she had been brought up to hate.

~:: A Week Ago ::~

"WHAT!?"

"Felicity, you know I wouldn't do this if I had any other option but father didn't give me another option, he didn't even give you one!"

"HOW!? How is this even possible? Is this even legal? He never even talked about this with me! What could he have possibly been thinking? Was he thinking? Oh my God Roy! How could he expect me to go through with this! I don't even know the man! I've literally never even spoken to him in my life!"

Roy didn't have an answer to her questions. He didn't even have any answers to his own questions. Without any warning the whole of the Smoak clan had been thrown onto his shoulders, all looking up to him for instructions on how to carry out the everyday dealings of the family business, all the while rats ran around trying to find weaknesses after the death of his father. Trying to find the weakest link in the hopes of bringing them all down.

He understood her grief, shared it with her as the loss of their father was still very strong but he couldn't, he wouldn't, allow himself to lose focus. Too much was at stake and he wouldn't let their family legacy be lost in a moment of weakness.

"Felicity look at me."

Her blue eyes lifted to meet his, the despair in them so evident it hurt his soul.

"Now listen to me. I've loved you my whole life, protected you my whole life. From when boys pulled at your braids in the playground to getting my goons to shadow you in high school I have done everything in my power to keep you safe, you know that right?"

Her answering nod and the hand that fell on his forearm assured him as he kept going.

"Well now it's just us against the world Liss." He loved the way that a smile crept onto her tear stained face at the use of his childhood nickname for her.

"This is the way that dad wanted it. You've been away for a little bit but there is a new player in town, Slade Wilson, he's new yes but he's rising up and becoming extremely powerful. And he's out for blood; he wants to destroy this city's foundations until everything is under his control. I knew dad was trying to work some angles to join the families but I never thought it would be this serious. It makes sense, marrying the children of the two most influential families in Starling. What is more important than blood ties right? If you marry Oliver Queen and I marry Thea Queen that would unite the families like never before. We wouldn't be allies, allies aren't always trustworthy, they can turn on you at a moment's notice."

"So you're going to use me and Thea Queen as security bonds? Like a literal trade of commodity?"

"NO! God no Felicity, I would never do that to you, and no matter how much we don't get along I know that Oliver Queen could never love anything more than he loves his sister. This is to keep the family alive Felicity, to keep us alive. Mom would have hated this but this was father's dying wish. I need to carry it through."

In her mind Felicity knew where Roy was coming from. Could even understand where Donald Smoak and Robert Queen where coming from. There was no better or stronger way to solidify an alliance between families than marriage. Marriage led to blood ties and in their world that meant everything.

Yes she understood it. That didn't mean she had to like it.

~:: Present Day ::~

She didn't know how long she stood there, watching as the activity of the organizers be replaced with the guests now pouring into the estate, carefully making their way towards the deck and chairs that had been set up for the ceremony.

She was overwhelmed but not surprised by the sheer amount of people that had shown up on such little notice, here to witness the joining of Starling City's two major mob families.

This was a huge deal in their world.

Security was practically swarming the place, the stiff postures and carefully scrutinizing gazes set them apart from all the guests that were in attendance. No one without an invitation could even dream of getting in, from cops to reporters, this was a place that definitely kept the unwanted out.

The guests themselves ranged from wanted criminals to politicians that were all in the pocket of her future husband, and no one needed the extra sets of unwanted eyes on them, and both the Smoaks and the Queens catered to that need.

Yes, this was certainly a celebration to end all celebrations. And while the security did an excellent job of keeping everyone out, they also did an excellent job of keeping everyone in. Namely her.

There was no chance of escape, nowhere to run away from her fate.

~:: Two Days Ago ::~

The soft knock on his study door instantly alerted him as to who was on the other side and his heart immediately loosened with the knowledge that for now she was safe. He wasn't a monster and he loved his sister dearly, but he knew very well that he was sending her into the lion's den. Not that he thought that Queen would hurt her, but Roy knew that emotional wounds could go a lot deeper and could hurt a hell of a lot worse than the physical ones. He hoped that his sister would find love in that marriage; if anyone were to unfreeze the cold heart of Oliver Queen it would be her.

"Come in Liss."

The smile that didn't reach her eyes tugged at his heart but he knew nothing that he said would make their situation any better. Both siblings were between a rock and a hard place and while he had scoured his brain for another alternative, a better alternative to what they were about to do, he kept drawing a blank. They didn't have any other choice.

"I need to ask you something."

"Anything, you know that," he answered without hesitation.

The lack of her usual babbling showed him that she was trying to reign herself in, trying to hide from him any reaction to what she was about to ask him. But her hands gave her away, the way her fingers twirled the hem of her sky blue dress gave away her emotions and how close she was to her breaking point.

When she failed to articulate what she needed he stood up and moved from around his desk and stepped forward, kneeling down before her and grabbing one of her hands in both of his.

"What is it Liss?"

Her tear clouded eyes drifted from their joined hands to his blue depths, willing herself to find the strength.

This wasn't custom, this was going against tradition and she knew it but she knew she needed this, needed him to support her in that final hurdle.

"Would you walk me down the aisle?"

It was customary in their world that the father of the bride walks her down the aisle. In the absence of a father she would walk alone. A bride's brother would be a groomsman for the groom, in a show of his own support for the wedding.

"Yes".

He answered without hesitation. His baby sister was sacrificing herself for their family; the least he could do was go up against a bit of tradition for her. Queen would agree to it, Roy hardly saw the reason for the brother of the bride to be a groomsman anyway, surely walking her down the aisle and giving her away is enough to show his support for the union?

His final words were accompanied with a gentle kiss to the forehead as he stroked her hair, "We make our own traditions baby sister, we are our family now".

~:: Present Day ::~

Oliver Queen.

The man was practically a myth in Starling City.

Everyone knew who he was but yet he was completely untouchable. Police could never find anything concrete, evidence wouldn't stick or suddenly disappear, and red tape would come out of nowhere to bury case files so deep that no average detective or investigator could reach them. And the low level criminals that worked for him that did manage to get caught for one petty crime or another? They may have been stupid enough to get caught but they weren't stupid enough to open their mouths and snitch on Oliver Queen.

Everyone knew that snitching on the Queen family bought you a one-way ticket to the Starling City River in a body bag.

Ever since he had taken over the reins after Robert Queen stepped aside for his heir, rumours of his ruthlessness grew more outrageous by the minute. He was the head of the family but he wasn't scared to get his hands dirty. Oliver Queen had a degree in torture and killing and there wasn't a man or woman in Starling City that was stupid enough to not fear him. Some people called him a monster. Some people called him a cunning devil. Some people called him a cold-blooded killer.

And she was the one that had to walk down the aisle to him.

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An epic thank you to Ophelia Joane my new Beta :) !

Stay safe everyone! Love to all – Stace - XO