AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” I say. “Of course, I want to marry you, Theo.”
He scoops me into his arms and slings me around. “Then let’s get married.”
That’show Theo and I find ourselves in a Catholic church an hour later, asking the priest to marry us. I’m back in my wedding dress. A part of me considered wearing something else because I didn’t want to taint our day with this bad memory, but I knew when I chose this dress that I envisioned myself marrying Theo in it. It was always meant for him.
Fortunately, the priest speaks English and agrees to marry us, even though we’ll still have to legally get married in the US. This ceremony is more for us than anything else.
Theo and I stand before each other with the priest next to us as he performs the wedding ceremony. A few people who attended church today are our witnesses.
I don’t even hear the priest’s words as I look into Theo’s eyes. This is so different from when Salvatore. With Salvatore, I felt nothing but revulsion. With Theo, I only feel love.
When the priest asks us if we take each other as husband and wife, I don’t hesitate to say, “I do.” I say it with all the pride and happiness in my body. Theo does the same.
And just like that—we’re married.
Theo kisses me, and all feels right in the world.
An older woman stops us before we can walk down the aisle. “That was beautiful,” she says in accented English. “I always seeing couples who are young and in love.” She squeezes my hands. “You are so pretty. And he’s so handsome.” She waggles her eyebrows.
Theo chuckles. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m glad we could make your day a little bit more exciting.”
She touches his arm, smiling in a flirty way. Even older woman can’t resist Theo’s charms. “You did. Be happy together.”
The doors burst open, and a group of men dressed in black swarm into the church. They all have guns in their hands.
And they’re all pointed at Theo and me.
“Get down!” Theo shouts, throwing himself on top of me. I land on the ground with a hard thud, letting out a gasp.
The older woman turns to look at the men as they fire. I stare in horror as bullets rip through her body. The priest runs forward, but he’s gunned down as well.
The woman looks completely shocked as she meets my gaze. A half-smile is on her lips. She falls down next to me. Her eyes, which were open and warm a moment ago, have nothing in them now. No happiness. No cheer. No life.
“Theo?” I ask. “Who?”
“Who do you think?” he growls. “Salvatore’s men found us. We need to get out of here.”
I hear the footsteps as the men get closer.
“How did they find us?” I whisper.
“I don’t know,” Theo whispers back. “But we need to get out before they kill us. Move.” Theo gets off me and nudges me to start crawling. I remain low as I walk along the pew beside me, using it as extra protection.
Theo is right behind me. As we reach the other end of the pew, Theo looks over the top of it, then instantly drops back down. “They’re down there,” he says in a low voice. “By the looks of it, they’ve killed everyone in the church. They all have machine guns. I need to get one to even stand a chance. Stay here.” He positions me so I’m covered by the pew.
Then he starts crawling back the way we came. From my vantage point, I can see one of the men standing near the end of the aisle. He has his back to us.
“Come out, you two,” one of the men says in a gruff voice. “You’re going to pay for what you did to Salvatore. We’re going to kill your bodyguard, little girl. And then we’re going to take you for ourselves.”
Somehow, I’m both sweating and shivering at the same time.
I look around the pew to watch as Theo gets closer to the guard. He’s right on the man’s heels. With a sudden motion, he grabs the man’s ankles and pulls him to the ground.
They struggle for the gun, and I hold my breath as I watch. Theo can’t die. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.
Theo punches the man and grabs the gun, quickly shooting him in the head. The only problem with this is that the noise draws the attention of the rest of Salvatore’s men.
They run in his direction.
