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“Hello, Kingsley,” Sean Donavan said.

“How? Why?” Colton’s mouth was so dry, he could barely form words. His mind tried to grapple with what to do. This could not be his reality.

A tall, blond man he’d never seen before stepped forward. Keeping his gun trained on him, the man said, “Here’s how this is going to go, Mr. Kingsley. You’re going to put your weapon down. Then we’re going to sit and have an intimate chat about how your life is going to be from now on.

“If you choose not to comply, any one of the people pointing a weapon at you could fire, and you would be dead before you hit the floor. It is, of course, your choice.”

Colton had never felt so helpless. Even when he’d been chastised by the WREN council and thought he was going to be killed on the spot, he had been scrambling for a way out. But here…now, he felt no hope. There was no scenario where he could fight his way out of this disaster. He was one man against an army. This was so unfair!

“Colton…” Her face surprisingly compassionate, Serena said softly, “You don’t have to die today. We have some options for you.”

He found himself nodding, and before he knew it, he was placing his weapon on the floor. The instant he did, two people—a man with longish dark hair and a petite woman—stepped up behind him. While the man pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him, the woman searched him, finding all of his weapons, even the knife he’d slid inside a boot.

Cuffed, relieved of his weapons, and defeated, Colton looked neither left nor right as he was led back down the aisle of the church. He knew people stared at him. He knew they were still holding their weapons on him. He wanted to shout at them, reveal the anger and frustration bubbling within him. He refused to demean himself that way and decided not to acknowledge them at all.

Outside, he was led to a large black SUV. As soon as Colton was seated in the back seat, the big blond man who’d told him to put his weapon down got into the front seat.

“How did you know I was coming?” he asked.

The man turned, his eyes alight with amusement. “If I told you that, Mr. Kingsley, I’d have to kill you.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Sean opened the bedroom door. Serena had come up earlier to shower and change. The day had been one for the record books. Their ruse had been more successful than he’d even imagined. Now they could all move forward.

A couple weeks ago, he’d had the idea of trapping Kingsley at their ceremony. He had checked with Serena before presenting it to Ash and the team. The last thing he’d wanted was to turn something so sacred to them into a violent event. She was the one to suggest a fake ceremony. Their only drawback had been the timing. They had known Kingsley would come after them. The exact date had been the biggest question.

The answer had come from an unlikely source. Kate had received an anonymous email telling her that Kingsley was headed to Appleton, looking for the opportunity to nab the Donavans in Francine. Intel received anonymously wasn’t usually trustworthy, but two things had changed their minds. The message had been sent from Lars’s old email address at WREN, the same address that someone had used to contact Kate years ago. Secondly, they’d had nothing to lose by trusting it.

Even though their technology was much improved since Kate had received that first message, they had been able to trace the email’s origin only to somewhere in France.

In the end, they had trusted the intel, and it had paid off in a spectacular way.

They had spent two solid days getting the information out to every one they knew in Appleton. Every resident of Francine had made it their mission to mention their vow renewal to as many people as possible. He doubted there had been a single person in Appleton who hadn’t heard about the big event happening just a few miles down the road in Francine. And that had included Colton Kingsley.

Their security had picked up the moment Kingsley had entered Francine last night. And while it would have been easy enough to grab him then, the family had unanimously voted to continue with the fake ceremony. The entire community of Francine had a vested interest in taking Colton Kingsley down. Not only had he hurt their family members, but they’d had to uproot their lives because of his threats. Ash and the team had agreed that they deserved to be part of the operation.

Now Kingsley was on his way to Sun Island with a convoy of Kate’s people. It was much better than what the man deserved, but at least, for once in his life, Kingsley would be useful.

Sean was glad Ash had asked some of Kate’s people to escort him. The entire OZ family was still here, including Aubrey, Olivia, Rose, and Kate. Even Belle had been able to come. They would all be present to celebrate his and Serena’s special day. The real ceremony was set for tomorrow evening just before dusk. He could not wait to share the moment with everyone he loved.

Surprised that the shower wasn’t running, he looked around for Serena. His go bag was on the bed, and so was hers. Even though they were planning a little vacation after the ceremony tomorrow, they would need bigger bags.

Just as he was about to call out for her, she emerged from the walk-in closet, dressed in a pair of jeans and a light blue shirt. Sean took a moment to admire how fit and healthy she looked. She had recovered from her ordeal with Kingsley. Her ankle was one hundred percent again. And after their trip to Tahiti, they would be headed back to work. He could barely believe how blessed he was that after all they’d been through he was going to get to spend the rest of his life with this amazingly brilliant woman who was his wife.

“Hey.” She gave him a tight smile and said, “We need to talk.”

For the first time, he noticed that while she looked healthy and lovely as always, she also looked oddly nervous.

“Okay. What’s up?”

“Do you trust me?”

He didn’t have to think for a second before he answered, “With my life.”

She blew out a breath and said, “Good. Because I’m going to ask you to go somewhere with me, but I’m not going to tell you where or why until we’re airborne.”

Frowning, he glanced at the bags on the bed. “Are we going on a mission?”