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"Put your arms up," he growls at her.
"Excuse me?" She blinks.
"Put your arms up, or I’ll shoot her." He waves his gun in Aurora’s direction, and anger thuds at my temples. How dare he point a gun at her. How dare he threaten her? How dare he intimidate what’s mine? My muscles tense, my stomach muscles knot, and I must make a noise, for he turns on me. "That goes for the rest of you, too; raise your hands."
I draw in a breath, then slowly do as he asks.
Next to me, Seb, then Massimo, follow suit.
"You too, Don Sovrano," he scowls at Michael, "do as I say."
I sense Michael hesitate, then he says, "I’ll do as you ask; just don’t hurt her."
"That’s up to her husband, isn’t it?"
"What the fuck do you want?" I growl. "Why are you here?"
"Not to attend your wedding," he says in a hard voice, "and it’s too bad that I am going to have to make your wife a widow so soon, but—"
"No!" Aurora closes the distance between them until his gun is poised against her forehead. "Don’t hurt him," she says in a low voice. "I’m the one who did not stick to my side of the bargain. I’m the one you should be punishing; not him."
"Bargain?" I stiffen.
"She didn’t tell you about our bargain, eh?" The man laughs. "She didn’t come clean to her new husband about how she wanted him killed."
Aurora inhales sharply. "You're lying," she says in a low voice. "Why are you lying to him?"
Around me, my brothers seem to turn to stone. Massimo’s big shoulders flex. Seb curls his fingers into fists.
If I turn, I know I’ll see similar reactions from the rest of my brothers too.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Michael asks in a low voice.
"Christian," she half-turns, so her face is in profile, "he's lying."
I glance between the two of them. It can't be true, can it? Aurora wouldn't want me killed. She isn't capable of such a thing. On the other hand, she does come from a Mafia background, so perhaps, there's a part of her that did want me gone? If I were in her place, wouldn't I have done something similar to protect myself?
I glare at the stranger. "I don’t believe you," I say flatly.
His lips curve. "You poor devil, you... Being taken for a ride by a woman and not even being aware of it."
"Christian," she pleads, "it’s not what it sounds like; you have to believe me."
"So they all say." The stranger rolls his shoulders. "Nothing changes the fact that she came to an arrangement with me."
"What did she want?" I clear my throat. Don’t engage with him. He’s only trying to provoke you into making a mistake. Fuck, if I don’t know that, so why the hell am I encouraging him to speak? Why don’t I shut him down? "What was it?" I snarl.
"Your life."
I stiffen; the anger pours off of my brothers. Their gazes hone in on her… On my wife…who has eyes only for me.
"Christian," she says in a low voice, "please, please give me a chance to explain what happened."
I want to do so. I want to tell her that it’s okay. That I understand that she made a mistake. That it doesn’t matter what negotiations she had made. That all of that is in the past. Now, the future, that’s what I need to focus on.
"So you deny that you asked him to kill me?"
I don’t dare look at her. If I do, I won’t be able to go through with this. Do I want to go through with this? Why am I putting her through this? She’s your wife, for fuck’s sake. Can’t you at least have this conversation in private? Why are you insulting her in front of everyone else?
