AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Things were urgent. It wasn’t just my raging non-stop hard-on. We needed to move before my bride got cold feet or made a run for it. To save her, I had to lock her down. I needed to wed, bed, and impregnate Evangeline as quickly as possible.
This wasn’t normal lust. I had baby-making fever. I wanted to fuck, but with a purpose. Vincent had been on the money about that.
Just because that was what I also wanted, didn’t mean it was just about giving into the overwhelming lust I felt for my bride-to-be. I was saving her life.
I was saving both of us.
“Go see your brother. He’s in a foul mood.”
“Vincent is?”
“He talked to your father this morning.” Auntie shook her head ruefully as she stirred spices into the simmering pot of tomato paste and God knows what else. “Don’t tell him I told you,” she said warningly.
“I won’t,” I said, kissing her cheek. “Thank you, Auntie.”
She waved me off as if I were a bothersome gnat, but she was smiling. Her cheeks were pink. I grinned. I did love making my women blush.
Ten minutes later, I was not smiling.
My brother was in worse than a bad mood. He was leaning back in his chair as he stared at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and pressed his thumb and forefinger between his eyes. It was a reminder that when he was alone, when he was reading, Vincent Margarelli wore glasses.
No one who hadn’t known him as a child knew it. No one ever saw him wear them. None of the guys, or the women he bedded. Just me and Mikey, Auntie, and a few others. But he still had the habit. And I knew he stayed up reading and sipping bourbon half the night, every single damn night.
Old movies were my thing. My escape. Books were his.
And God knew, we both needed an escape.
“There’s no way out of this?”
He shook his head and I groaned.
“Fuck. This is not good.”
The old man was coming to the wedding.
It went without saying that I did not want him anywhere near Evie. Not only was the old man a disgusting pig where women were concerned, but I had no idea what he would say to her. Almost as concerning, I could tell that my brother was a little worried the old bastard was bored and wanted to come out of retirement.
Things were good here. Less out and out crime on the books. Less blood on our hands. We had a firm grip on all areas of the business and it was thriving. We made a mint on the constantly moving gambling spots. The bars and nightclubs were almost as profitable. If that continued, we might be completely aboveboard in a couple of years. The old man had been content since he stepped back. We had convinced ourselves that he was really out. It really had seemed like he was happy to collect the checks and lay out by the pool drinking Piña coladas. But if he got his sticky fingers in the business, he would muck it up for sure.
But more than anything else, I was afraid he was going to scare the shit out of my bride. Sully our wedding day. Ruin the purity that I saw when I looked at her.
I was going to be the one to take her innocence, but I would do it with love and respect. I didn’t want her having to be exposed to his level of nastiness. If the old man made me sick, what would a perfect little girl like Evie think of him?
“You have to warn her.”
I hung my head. He was right. Goddamn it, he was right.
“How did he even find out?”
“He has eyes here. You know this.”
I nodded. Of course he did. All the old-school guys were loyal to Dad. Most of them were loyal to us, too, or we would have gotten rid of them, but Dad still had a hold on a lot of them. It was a respect thing.
Vincent was always respectful during the old man’s infrequent visits, and I followed his lead, but he knew what I thought. If you asked me, we showed our father way more respect than he deserved. He might have been a shrewd businessman, but he didn’t have a good bone in his body other than that. The truth was, I was ashamed to call him my father.
One thing was for sure—I was going to have to warn Evie.
That meant I was going to have to tell her the truth.
Chapter 26
Evangline
I shivered in the cool spring air, but I didn’t mind the chill. I was outside. Not just in the courtyard, either. For the first time in almost three weeks, I was truly outside.
From what I could tell, my captor had slept in the chair once again. But he still looked utterly put together. I wasn’t sure how he managed that. It was some sort of sorcery, if you asked me.
