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“Where is your gun?”
“Girls don’t like to be reminded of guns, I thought.”
I move my dress up my extended leg and show the two revolvers I have strapped to my thigh.
“I’m going to enjoy using my teeth to get that garter off.” He winks, placing a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be the guy at the end of the aisle.”
Then, almost as a second thought, he pulls me in and kisses my lips hard. When he pulls away, I’m lightheaded, and as I step out of his embrace, he leaves. My sisters fan themselves, obviously having listened in on every word we said.
Love has made Fin stupid. I want to shake him and love him all at the same time.
Somehow,Ihavemanagedto get five minutes alone. I need to breathe and take a seat in my big, poofy red dress.
How am I gonna go through with this wedding?
I love Fin, and I’m plagued by the thought of killing him. It’s no easier than it was in the past; I physically just can’t do it. I would rather kill myself than see Fin hurt.
The thought stuns me. It’s the first time I have placed anyone outside my family in that position—above myself. I blow a breath out, my mind conflicted. I can’t see a way out of this. If I kill Fin, our families will be at war. If I keep Fin, my family finds out about his dad, then our families will be at war, and Katrina will be hurt in the process, and she has nothing to do with this.
A knock comes at the door. I would love nothing more than to yell at my family to go away. Five minutes is all I ask. I placed the knife ring that Fin gave me into my dress pocket earlier, and I take it out, slipping it onto two fingers. This is better than any wedding ring.
I open the door to see Max standing in front of me. I hold the door open, dumbfounded and unsure why he’s here. “Hello?”
He barges past me, and I close the door behind him. I want to ask why he’s here, but silence is typically the best method to make people confess what’s on their mind.
“We’re friends, right?” he asks, looking agitated.
“I don’t hate you,” I concede. I don’t have many friends, but he’s becoming one of those people I could consider a friend. It’s a little frightening how fast that happened.
He nods, beginning to pace, which is freaking me out. My lips purse, wanting to ask more questions.
“Romeo and Gia are married now. We’re friends. Fuck, we’re family.” He runs a hand through his hair.
“You have a point.” I step toward him. “What’s going on, Max?” He’s normally so calm and ten steps ahead of everyone else.
“I got you a gift.” His hand leaves his pocket, and a small square box is held in his hand.
I take the box. His thoughtfulness has me stumbling. This seems personable, so I guess we are friends. I open the wooden box and close it immediately.Holy fuck.
“Whose finger is that?”
It wouldn’t be Fin’s, would it? Have I been misreading Max all along?
“Stop being a girl and overthinking shit,” Max says, pouring himself a drink. “I got bored. You know I like to take college classes online. I would technically have one degree already if I was actually enrolled. Anyway, I’m working on a second now, and the course I want isn’t free online yet. ’Cause I don’t do school—you know that. My point is, I was bored with nothing else to do, and you were acting all weird, so I followed you. Sorry.” He doesn’t look sorry. “But I found out Ron Wheeler was blackmailing you, and I thought he would make a great wedding gift. I would have brought his head but thought it would freak out the guests. So that’s his finger.”
I’m stunned silent. My heart is pounding. I’m scared to ask just what he knows. I open the box once again, and my hand covers my mouth.Ron is out of my life?“He’s really dead?”
Max nods. “I did good, right?”
My posture slumps as I take this information in. Ron’s dead, and no one is blackmailing me. My wish has been answered. I close my eyes briefly as I thank whoever sent Max to me, my own guardian angel. I can finally be with Fin. Nothing is hanging over me now.
It takes a few times for me to open my mouth before I reply, “Yeah, you did good.”
Max looks so proud of himself. But then the horror that he might know about my secrets becomes reality. My ears ring from the blood pulsing through my veins. “What do you know?” An icy chill replaces the warmth that tried to invade. Life is never this easy.
“Honestly, not much. I didn’t have time to look into it before I killed him, since I wanted it as a wedding gift, ya know.” He rubs the back of his neck, looking sheepish.
“Thank you. This means more than you will ever know.” I step in and take his hand, giving it a squeeze, and excitement for my wedding begins to brew.
