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“You still don’t know who’s after you?”
“Not yet.” Sighing, I tried to ignore the anger still burning inside.
“I’ll be fine. I knew they’d come after me in order to destroy you. I wish I knew why.”
“So do I.” I lifted my glass, feeling an eagerness inside that I hadn’t felt in such a long time.
She brought the glass to her lips then stopped, pulling the flute away. “What did you do?”
“What I thought was right.”
Tears formed in her eyes, which surprised me almost more than anything. I would not lose her, no matter what I had to do. She took several gulps, laughing as the bubbles tickled her nose. Then she struggled as she reached into the thin glass, attempting several times to grab the ring. After three attempts, she was successful, holding the diamond encrusted with rubies in front of her face.
“It’s gorgeous.”
I took it from her hand, trying not to get emotional. “I can’t promise you perfect either, but I will do everything in my power to give you a happy life. I hope you’ll do me the honor of marrying me.”
A single tear slipped past her lashes as she nodded. I eased the ring onto her finger then brought her hand to my lips, rolling them across her knuckles. “You captured my heart.”
“I know. I think I knew that the first day I met you.” I couldn’t help but tease her, something entirely different for me as well.
“You’re a bad man.”
“Don’t you forget it.” I pulled her close, trying not to allow her to see the concern, the anxiety that continued to build.
The asshole would try to take her away from me.
No more.
She was mine for all of eternity.
And no one would ever be able to tear us apart.
Even if I had to sell what was left of my soul to the devil.
* * *
Sarah
Two weeks later
Valentine’s Day.
I’d hated it for as long as I could remember. I’d been the girl least likely to get one of the cutesy valentine cards in pretty pink or red envelopes when I was in grade school. I wasn’t certain they even did that any longer, but it seemed to be all I could think about given my wedding day just happened to fall on what I’d called a sanctimonious holiday.
“You look nervous. This isn’t your wedding day,” Carrie teased. “Just the rehearsal and dinner, at a fabulous location I might add.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t feel excitement. I just had a strange feeling that had continued to build over the last two weeks. My father wasn’t who he said he was, my mother telling me she’d asked for a divorce. Then there was Gabriel’s continued yin and yang behavior. Of course I understood why.
He was waiting for what he’d called the guillotine to drop.
There’d been skirmishes with the Bratva, enough that the press had started hounding him. He was certain the Pakhan was behind the close call with sabotaging the family organization. But I sensed he continued to have questions, as if putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
I was being used as a pawn with my agreement. He expected the hit to happen at the wedding. No expense had been spared, the media and everyone who was anyone invited. He was goading the person, giving them a red-carpet invitation.
And I hated the fact my wedding day, what was supposed to be the best day of my life, was being held hostage by a real monster.
The rehearsal dinner was being held in private, details known by only the closest people to the organization and the few people who were to be a part of the ceremony itself.
