He smiled. And I understood something terrifying. The smile behind the mask had never been the dangerous part. This was. Because without the mask there was nothing playful about him.Nothing teasing. Nothing soft. Just possession, obsession, and certainty.
My knees nearly gave out. Sergio moved. Fast. His hand reached toward me while the other moved beneath his jacket.
Bang.
The sound exploded through the cathedral. Women screamed. Glass shattered somewhere. Birds burst from outside the stained-glass windows.
For a second, one horrible second, I didn't understand. Didn't understand why warm drops hit my face. Didn't understand why Sergio's expression changed. Didn't understand why his eyes widened. Then blood spilled slowly from his head. Red. Bright red.
Against white marble. Against white roses. Against my white dress. My soul left my body.
No.
Sergio looked at me. Confused. Like he didn't understand either. Then his knees hit the floor. His body collapsed beside me.
"No no no no no!" I dropped. My hands hit blood. Warm. Sticky. Too much. There was too much. "Oh my God, Sergio! Sergio…"
People screamed around us. Men shouted. Weapons came out. Bodies moved. Chaos erupted. But I couldn't hear anything. Couldn't process anything. Because Sergio wasn't moving. Because blood kept spreading beneath him. Because…
Warm fingers wrapped around my wrist. I froze. Slowly looked up. The stranger crouched beside me. No. Not the stranger. The Devil.
The man who ruined me. The man who had kissed me. The man whose hand I'd held.
He brushed blood away from my cheek with his thumb. Slowly. Tenderly. Like we were alone. Like he hadn't just murdered my fiancé. Like he hadn't destroyed my life.
His eyes dragged over my face. Possessive. Hungry. Obsessed. And terror hit me so hard I stopped breathing.
"No," I whispered.
His eyebrow lifted slightly. "No?"
I started backing away. Shaking violently. "Fuck this."
His smile widened. Then he stood. And lifted me into his arms. I screamed. Kicked. Hit his chest. "LET ME GO!"
Nothing. Not even a reaction. Like I weighed nothing. Like this had always been inevitable. Like he'd already decided I belonged to him.
The cathedral blurred around me through tears. Chiara screaming my name. Leo fighting through men. Sienna crying. People running. Sergio's body lying in blood… Oh God. Sergio.
"No!" I screamed again.
Then I felt warm lips brush softly against my temple. Terrifyingly gentle. "Too late, little troublemaker."
And he carried me out of the cathedral while the world burned behind us. The second we stepped outside, cold air hit my face. Not cool. Cold. Sharp enough to sting.
I sucked in a ragged breath and regretted it. Everything smelled wrong. Smoke. Gunpowder. Burnt metal. Fresh blood. Rain hanging somewhere in the clouds overhead, waiting for permission to fall. Behind me, the cathedral erupted. Screams echoed through the open doors. Women crying. Men shouting orders. The frantic pounding of footsteps against marble.
The entire world seemed to be splintering apart. And somehow the Devil walked through it all without breaking stride. Like chaos bent around him. Like destruction followed him so often he'd stopped noticing it.
My veil streamed behind us, dragging through blood-stained marble before catching on the wind. The white fabric snapped violently through the air.
A few minutes ago I'd been a bride. Now I looked like something dragged out of a nightmare.
The cathedral steps had become a battlefield. Bodyguards shoved guests toward waiting vehicles. Armed men poured from every direction. Black SUVs screeched across the street. Tires screamed. Doors opened. Weapons flashed beneath jackets.
Everywhere I looked, people were moving. Running. Reacting. Panicking. Everyone except him.
He remained perfectly calm. And then I saw it. Parked at the bottom of the cathedral steps. Waiting.
