Page 41 of Devil’s Promise

“There will be time for more questions and pictures after we finalize the wedding walk-through,” my father calls to the crowd of men and women here to cover the event. “There are refreshments while you wait.”

My brow furrows. There are moments where it feels like he’s selling this wedding to the press. A fairy tale where Promise is on the mend. And then there are others where he seems to be setting us up to fail.

I don’t like it at all.

What’s my father’s worst possible plan? Best to start there and begin working up the chain from worst to least.

The wedding planner slithers up next to my father as the press leaves. “Shall we show them the venue, Donnie?”

I keep my face neutral as he answers, “Let’s, Tricia.”

We’re taken over to an outdoor tented area for the ceremony that overlooks the water, and then we’re brought inside to the reception room, large enough to hold five hundred.

I have no idea who has been invited.

I look at Angel, but he doesn’t return my gaze. In fact, he hasn’t looked at me once since we stepped out of the car. The planner prattles on about the floral arrangements and the napkin color.

I am sure everything will be perfect. She’s aiming to please. Just not me.

“And I know you don’t have many guests,” the planner says to Angel with a smirk. I wonder what my father has said to her about Angel? Whatever it is, I know it isn’t good.

But he doesn’t respond, instead he glares at her in a way that makes her blush, and then he pulls out his phone, texting someone.

There is a long silence, but despite my best attempt to meet Angel’s gaze, he ignores me. I hear the planner snigger, and I know she’s noted my groom’s lack of attentiveness. Turning away, I scan the room, attempting to find some place to focus my attention.

Subtly, tucked in the corners, are security cameras.

Angel pockets his phone. “On my side, my four brothers will be there. In addition, Rush and Killian Smith, along with Mason Kincaid will be attending, with their wives, of course.”

“Smiths and Kincaids?” my father murmurs, the awe in his voice usually only reserved for the Kennedys or the Clintons.

Tricia looks from my father to Angel, a newfound gleam in her eye.

I don’t know who Mason Kincaid is, but I know the Smiths. New York has been abuzz since the real estate tycoons arrived, snatching up major projects in the city. To know that they are known enough to Angel that they’ll attend the wedding… No wonder he’s stopped paying attention to me. He’s got other allies besides me and my little lessons on decorum.

Coupled with his familiarity with my father…

I am suddenly feeling smaller than I’ve felt in a really long time. Angel has people coming to this wedding, a plan, men he’s relying on that include his brothers who stand behind me like two centaurs. My father will fill the rest of the room, and I have…no one.

I turn my head to the side, trying to collect myself, but I’m struggling. The truth is, while I think about revenge, I’ve been fighting this past year just to live.

But it always feels like one step forward and two back.

No one asks me who I might want to attend my own wedding. I consider tapping Angel’s arm, but I’m not sure he’ll respond.

He still hasn’t looked at me. It’s clear in this meeting, I am his very last priority.

“Did you like the dress?” the planner asks me with a smirk. Did my father tell her to choose something that I would not like? Or is she just laughing at the fact that I didn’t get to pick it myself? My hand slips from Angel’s arm as I look out over the water.

How peaceful would it be under the waves?

I have a moment where I think I might like to just give up. That would be a form of control. Picking my own end…

My father wraps an arm around Angel’s shoulder. “How do you know the Smiths and the Kincaids?”

I watch them walk away and I know that whatever war I was trying to wage, I am losing. Not just losing, I’m not even on the battlefield.

That’s when a hand nudges me on the back. I look back at Gunner, his amber eyes covered in his brown contacts making him look more…human. “Keep up, blondie, there is still a lot of game left.”