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Like hell would I sit this one out. The wedding would be the final showdown. The grand finale. It would be the end of the road for Miguel Santos and everybody who was loyal to him. Hopefully we wouldn’t have to kill them all, but we would if necessary. If we showed them their leader losing, I’d bet most, if not all, would lay down their guns and surrender in order to save their own lives.
“We’re going to need everybody,” I spoke with a nod. “All hands have to be on deck for this one.”
“But how are we going to stop the wedding?” Luca asked. “I mean, I guess that depends on when Miguel wants the Cobra to strike—”
“We can safely assume it will be sometime during the wedding, which means we can’t take over and stop the wedding from happening. The wedding needs to progress as planned.” I unfolded my arms and leaned on the chair in front of me, lost in thought.
It was Shay who asked, “What about Gianna? She’s practically ready to give birth. Whether she’s involved in all of this or not, I don’t feel comfortable having a pregnant woman standing in the middle of what could be a lot of gunfire.”
“Yeah,” Dex agreed. “I don’t feel right about that either.” Everyone around the table nodded, agreeing.
As much as I didn’t trust Gianna not to be involved in Miguel’s plans, I knew I couldn’t sentence her or her unborn baby to die. This plan was going to be dangerous no matter which way you spun it, so there was definitely no room for a pregnant woman to be walking down the aisle.
But without her, we wouldn’t have a wedding, and Miguel would know something was up.
My need to see Miguel, to see the look in his black eyes as he realized everything was crumbling around him had never been stronger. I needed to be front and center for this, and that was why I said, “We’ll infiltrate the venue. Gianna won’t be the one walking down the aisle. I will.”
“Um,” Jett started, pointing at my belly, “hate to state the obvious here, but you aren’t preggo and ready to pop. Don’t you think Miguel will notice it ain’t his fiancé walking down the aisle?”
Shay was on my side, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “There are fake bellies we could use to make her look pregnant. And as for the face, all she needs is a veil.”
“Miguel always wanted me in white,” I whispered, staring holes at the table before me. “It’s only fitting that I’m wearing white when it all falls down around him.”
I was feeling good about this plan. Was it over the top? Yeah, kind of, but nothing Miguel had ever done was small. It was always go big or go home. This would be a wedding to remember, certainly.
Before anyone could say anything else, headlights flashed through the windows on the front of the house as someone else pulled into the driveway. Damian had men guarding the front, but he still got up to peek as he muttered, “Who the hell’s here now? We expecting anyone else, baby girl?”
After letting out a long sigh, I said, “I am. I invited Zander here.” That earned me questionable looks from the others—at least from Luca and Cade.
Jett, ironically, was the one who spoke next, “Hey, we’ve been watching him ever since we got him out from Miguel’s thumb. He’s been clean. He hasn’t seen or spoken to Miguel since…” He glanced at me and shrugged.
“Let him in,” I told Damian, and Damian threw up his hands in surrender as he went to the door. “Hey, there, Zander. Fancy seeing you here. Come in, come in, you’re missing the super-secret meeting.”
I rolled my eyes at Damian’s glibness, but the moment Zander stepped inside the house, my slight annoyance at Damian vanished just like that.
Damn it. I really did miss seeing Zander’s face.
He looked better than he did at the park. No heavy bags beneath his green eyes. No stubble on that square jaw. No grease in that brown hair. He looked exactly as I remembered him from before, and my heart did something funny in my chest when we locked gazes. It was like everyone else in the room suddenly disappeared, and it was just Zander and me.
“Hey,” he whispered to me as he strode over to where we were in the dining room. His gaze stayed firmly locked on me for a good minute before he surveyed the rest of the room and saw we were far from being alone. “I… I didn’t know everyone would be here.” His eyebrows came together in confusion. “What is everyone doing here?”
Damian reclaimed his chair and grinned at Zander. “I told you. It’s a super-secret meeting.”
“Okay.” The way Zander said it, it sounded like two words: oh and kay, with a long pause between. “Before I ask what’s going on, can we… can we talk privately?”
I’d avoided Zander for too long. Now that we were coming upon the end of this, it was time to face the music, so to speak, time to either nut up or shut up. Accept Zander’s apologies or not. No more in-between. No more waiting and biding time.
“Sure,” I said, and to the group, I added, “Be back.” I led Zander away from the crowded dining room, bringing us to the hall. We went into my bedroom, where I then closed the door behind us to give us some privacy.
Luca and Damian were the only ones that knew Zander had shot me. Maybe one day I’d come clean to the others, but right now, we were operating on a need-to-know basis—and Zander shooting me wasn’t the only thing they didn’t need to know right now. I could think of one other thing easily.
Zander stuck his hands in his pockets, his gaze studying the room. “Huh. So this is where you’ve been staying?” I nodded, causing him to ask, “Is someone else staying here with you, or have you been alone?” For once, he didn’t sound jealous. Just worried.
“Damian’s usually here. Cade and Luca visit often, too. Ezekiel came, before we took Rocco.”
Zander didn’t appear surprised in the least, by none of what I’d told him. He only said, “It’s good you aren’t here alone. I… I’m surprised you called and told me where you’re staying. I thought—”
“You thought what?” I asked, cocking my head at him. Two feet stood between us, which wasn’t much, but it still felt like miles after everything I’d learned about him. “You thought I’d never want to see you again after learning you were the one who shot me and lied to me about it?”
