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Chapter Twenty-Five
Ivy’s words replayed in my mind over and over again. She was right, and it pissed me off that I hadn’t seen it until she smacked me in the face with the truth. It didn’t make sense for the Russians to kill her.
They needed her. She was the only one with the evidence of Adrian’s death. The police wouldn’t have shot up the restaurant, and though Ivy had a horrible knack for putting herself in danger, I also didn’t think that she had the types of enemies who would conduct a drive-by.
Whoever was trying to kill her was after me. They wanted to send a message, and they were willing to use her to do it.
The thought made me ill.
“You okay?” Dom asked.
I nodded. We hadn’t spoken since the night before when I’d accused him of putting out a hit on Ivy. We’d all been too wrapped up in putting together this shotgun wedding to do much. Because even though I knew that the Russian’s weren’t after her, I was determined to make Ivy my wife.
“I’ll just be happy when this is all over,” I answered as I straightened my tie. With this new problem on the horizon, I needed at least one thing off my plate and knowing that Ivy couldn’t be used against me in a court of law would ease my burden.
Dom chuckled and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You look as nervous as I felt before I married Sasha.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your wedding was planned in six months,” I reminded him. “Not in six hours. You had plenty of time to get used to the idea of being a husband.”
Like me and Alex, like most of the high-ranking men, Dom’s marriage had been thrust upon him. The difference was that he knew everything about Sasha before he married her. I’d never tell my sister-in-law, but we’d stalked her for months, looking for any signs that she was as dirty and underhanded as her relatives.
“It’ll be fine,” Dom said. “You’ll learn to deal with one another. Right Alex?”
Alex had been in the room with us getting ready for over an hour, but he wasn’t talkative. He’d sat in one of the armchairs glowering for the last half hour only grunting when someone asked him a direct question. “I guess,” he replied.
My eyes narrowed in on him. Alex had been acting off for weeks. Months really. Ever since he married his new wife, there’d been a disconnect between us. It was starting to piss me off. “What the hell crawled up your ass?”
Dom’s good natured smile fled immediately, and his brown eyes looked back and forth between myself and Alex. He’d been so caught up in his new life and new wife, he’d missed everything around him.
“Nothing,” Alex grunted.
I grabbed the boutonniere box from the table and lobbed it at him in frustration. He caught it before it could smash against the side of his face. “Bullshit. You’ve had your panties in a twist for weeks, but you’ve been especially broody since that first night at the club.”
He’d been a dickwad since he’d discovered me and Ivy in the backroom of the club. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate to celebrate the fact that a young woman is being forced to tie herself to this family.”
Dom’s face went emotionless, and I knew Alex’s words pissed him off. They angered me too, but for a completely different reason. I was sure that Alex’s concern wasn’t coming from a place of altruism. I’d seen the way he looked at Ivy, and it made me want to cut his balls off, family or not.
“No one is forcing Ivy into anything,” Dom said. His voice was level and even, but his eyes were black and soulless. It was the look he got when he was ready to rip someone to pieces, and Alex knew it. “She was free to make her choices.”
This caused Alex to snort. I couldn’t blame him. Ivy’s choices weren’t great. Even I could admit that. “We all know that her choices were shit.” He gave voice to what I was thinking in my head. “Join the family or die. Wasn’t much of a choice.”
My arms crossed. “She’s not going to fuck you.” It was crass, but I was tired of playing games with my cousin. Not only was he out of line, but he was also a married man. He needed to stay the fuck away from Ivy.
Alex’s eyes widened. “What the fuck did you say?”
I’d hit a nerve, but that had never stopped me. Not even once. “She’s not going to fuck you,” I repeated. “So you can stop trying to play the white knight.”
Dom stepped between us when it became clear that Alex was going to punch me in the face. “We all need to chill the fuck out,” he ordered.
But too much had happened. Alex may be my cousin, but if he thought he could have Ivy he was delusional. She belonged to me whether he liked it or not.
“I’ve seen the way you look at her,” I pressed forward. “It’s all puppy dog eyes and soft words. I’m not an idiot, and I’m not blind.”
Alex’s fists balled at his side, and he said nothing to refute me. I knew he wouldn’t. I was right. He was married to a woman he respected, but didn’t love, and he wanted what was mine.
“You’re a dick,” he said before turning around and walking out of the room.
The door slammed behind him. For a moment, I wondered where he was going. He was part of the wedding party, but I got the sense that he wasn’t going to stand by my side considering what I said to him. Though, considering his wife was one of our guests, I wasn’t sure he had much of a choice.
