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I chuckled and patted his chest. “Orin, it’s OK. It’s not like she’s dangerous.” I peered over his shoulder at her. “Hey, Elsie, you’re not going to ruin my wedding, are you? You’re not gonna, like, try to kill us all?”
She threw her head back and laughed. “No way. I only have murderous intentions towards one person.” She glanced in Orin’s direction and when he turned his back to her, she winked at me.
See, I’d known I liked her for a reason. “It’s fine. She’s not going anywhere. You might as well take off the handcuffs.”
He shook his head and plopped back down on the couch next to her. The rest of us agreed to meet in the large front room in twenty minutes so we could hang up some decorations for the ceremony. Excitement coursed through my veins. We were getting closer and closer.
Harvey wheeled in the boxes of decoration as Sophie, Thora, Juliet and I unpacked them. Milliani came through after a while and sat down, unstringing some of the fairy lights. It was going to be so pretty my heart almost couldn’t handle it. Thora and Sophie draped fabrics over the exposed wooden beams as I balanced on a ladder to hang up fairy lights along the top of the walls.
Milliani took over and hung more lights along the windowsills and the fireplaces, and Harvey came through and started unfolding chairs and lining them up. Eros and Cian carried in the altar, and Juliet and I wrapped it with flowers. After about an hour, the room had been completely transformed into the perfect spot to get married.
Milliani stood frozen, staring at an open box on the cart, and I walked over, wondering what she was looking at. I gasped when I saw the box with the daggers Kaviathin had given me, my heart pounding in my ears.
Juliet came over, a crease in her forehead. “What’s up with you two?” She looked down at the box, her brows furrowing.
“Did you bring this, Jules?” I whispered and closed the lid to the box.
“Yeah, it was in your closet with the other decorations. Are those… what I think they are?”
My cheeks flushed, and I nodded. Milliani had a strange look on her face, but she didn’t say anything, just turned back around and went back to straightening up the mason jars with fairy lights in them before heading to the kitchen. It was getting harder and harder to decipher what she was thinking, but I wasn’t a mind reader, and I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I tucked the box behind the Christmas tree before Cian could see it and it could end up ruining his mood.
Soft music played in the background as we admired our work, and I sighed, loving how romantic everything looked. I jumped as Cian’s voice boomed from the other room, and I raced over to where he was standing. He had the security cameras pulled up on the television in the living room and my mouth hung open at the faces on the screen.
Kaviathin and Althazair Voledetti were at the metal gate in an SUV. Kaviathin pressed the buzzer repeatedly for the gate to open, and the blood drained from my face.
What the fuck were they doing here?
“I’m going to kill this son of a bitch once and for all,” Cian growled and went to the desk in the foyer, pulling out a gun. “Buzz them in,” he yelled to Eros, who pressed the red button on the controller. A second later, you could see their headlights slowly coming up the winding path, dread filling my entire body. Cian loaded the magazine, his focus set on one thing.
“No, no.” I stepped in between him and the front door. “Don’t do anything rash, OK?” His eyes were dark, focused on the front door. “There could be a simple explanation, Cian.”
My mind was running a mile a minute, and I couldn’t come up with anything as to why they might be here. Were they here for Milliani? Or for us? This didn’t make any sense. But I knew from my experiences with Kaviathin that he wasn’t out to hurt me. Now, would he hurt Cian? Probably. And that I wouldn’t let happen. “Let me go see what they want. OK?” I murmured, but Cian’s anger was too far past being reasonable.
All the men gathered around the door, and when footsteps pounded up the stairs a few minutes later, it felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. Cian pushed me behind him when Eros flung the door open and Kaviathin had the audacity to look surprised. He looked from Cian to me, then to the other people in the room.
“What are you doing here?” Cian’s voice was lethal, and he pointed his gun at Kaviathin, whose back tensed when he realized exactly who was talking.
Althazair snickered and reached behind his back, but Orin pointed his gun at him. “Don’t even think about it.”
Cian jerked his head and stepped back slowly, everyone following him. “Get in here and shut the door.” Kaviathin was staring daggers at him, his cheeks flushed with anger. Althazair bumped Orin’s shoulder as he walked by. I just hoped nobody did anything crazy. I could tell they were surprised to see us. You could see it all over their faces. But why the hell were they here then?
“Drop your gun,” Cian demanded, and Kaviathin reached down and placed it on the floor, then kicked it to the side. “You too, asshole.” Cian glared at Althazair, who looked like he was just starting to enjoy himself. “Ah-ah, let him get it.” Orin reached behind Althazair and pulled his gun out, sticking it in his jeans.
“Now, I’m going to ask you one more fucking time, and if you don’t give me the answer I want, then I’ll blow your fucking head off.” Cian turned off the safety and stared down the barrel at Kaviathin, who looked over Cian’s shoulder as Milliani raced into the room.
“Wait,” Milliani pleaded. “Wait.” She rushed forward and stood between Cian and her brothers. “Kavi, what are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here!” She stomped her foot, glaring at him.
“Milliani?” He furrowed his brow and looked at Althazair, then back to his sister. “You texted me it was an emergency and to come as soon as possible with Althazair.” He reached into his jacket and Cian shook his head. Kaviathin rolled his eyes and slowly opened his jacket, revealing his phone. Cian nodded, and Kaviathin pulled it out and unlocked it, showing us the screen.
On the screen was a message from Milliani telling Kaviathin that she needed help and to come to this address. Everyone turned to face her, and she held her hands up, shaking her head.
“I didn’t send that message. My phone’s been missing since last night,” she stammered and looked at Valik. His face was twisted with confusion as he took the situation in.
“She didn’t have her phone all day, guys.” Valik rubbed his hand over his face.
Well, if she hadn’t sent that text message, then who the hell had?
Something wasn’t right here. No, something was terribly, terribly wrong.
