It was an unwritten rule that weapons of any kind were forbidden at weddings and funerals. Not even bodyguards were to carry anything. It was a means to show mutual trust between families.
With a glare, Edoardo countered, “Deep down I knew you were going to try to weasel your way out of this.”
“Are you going to force me at gunpoint to marry your daughter?”
Edoardo gave Rafe a maniacal grin. “You catch on fast.”
“Father, no,” Drea pleaded.
“I won’t marry her. Not when I love someone else.” I followed his gaze to where it landed on the bench with Kavanaughs. More directly to Callum, who was shielding Caterina. “There’s no one else in the world for me but Maeve.”
“Dammit, Rafe, not this bullshit again,” Callum growled.
“I mean it with all my heart and soul. She is the sun in my dark world. I can’t imagine a life where she isn’t by my side.”
Looking at Drea, I murmured, “Amen.”
“Oh Leo,” Drea whispered.
Rafe interrupted my thoughts by asking, “Will you give me consent to ask for her hand?”
Callum threw up his hands. “She left you. She disappeared from all of us because ofyou.”
With a shake of his head, Rafe replied, “She left because we couldn’t be together. You’d made that abundantly clear to her.” He then glowered at Edoardo. “And because you bombed my club and killed her dog.”
He shrugged apathetically. “I had to get your attention.”
With a disgusted growl, Rafe turned his attention back to Callum. “I’ll find her. I’ll search the ends of the world until I find her.”
“This is insanity,” Callum grunted, but his expression had begun to soften.
“It’s true love,” Caterina replied beside him.
“ENOUGH!” Edoardo blared. He then cocked the gun at Rafe’s head. “Youwillmarry Andrea as promised. Wewilljoin our families together as promised. Iwill notbe made a weak fool.”
Drea trembled at my side as Edoardo jerked his hand to train the gun on the priest. “Get on with it.”
“For the last time, I’mnotmarrying her,” Rafe pronounced.
When he turned to leave the altar, a pop went off. Shouts and cries of horror went up among the remaining crowd. As Drea swayed on her feet, I threw out my arm to wrap around her waist.
“Easy,” I murmured.
“In a stupor, Rafe brought his hand to his shoulder. “You fucking shot me?”
A triumphant gleam shone in Edoardo’s eyes. “It barely grazed you.”
Thrusting his blood-stained hand in front of him, Rafe demanded, “Does this look like a graze?”
Edoardo had the nerve to shrug. “I had to do what was necessary for you to take me seriously.”
“Quinn, go check him out,” Callum instructed.
Edoardo warily eyed Callum’s brother as he came out of his pew and up to the altar. “Let’s take off your suit jacket,” Quinn instructed.
Leaning forward, I watched as Quinn helped Rafe. Quinn surveyed the bloody spot between Rafe’s bicep and shoulder. “There’s no exit wound, so it must’ve just grazed you.” He leaned in closer. “Doesn’t look like you’ll need any stitches.”
“Like I said. I wanted to get it through your thick skull that I was serious about not letting you out of here alive if you refuse this marriage,” Edoardo said.
