AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My God, it felt so damn real.
And that same dread knots in my gut right now, when I’m only moments away from walking down the aisle.
“Boris,” I say, my brows furrowed as I slowly walk toward him. “Are you okay?”
He places a hand over his heart. “Just a little indigestion, I think. I’ll be fine. Where’s Luka?”
I peek over his shoulder at the door. “I don’t know, but he’d better get here fast. We can’t start without him.”
“I saw him pull Natasha behind a bunch of palm trees back near the resort,” Konstantin says with a knowing smirk.
I roll my eyes. “He couldn’t wait until after the ceremony? Everything was timed perfectly so we’d say our vows at sunset.”
Tori leans toward me and kisses my cheek. “It will be perfect at sunset, at dusk, at sunrise. Whatever. It’s forever.”
I relax my shoulders, catching a glimpse of Boris rubbing his chest once again. Something thick and dark hangs in the air, something ominous that I can’t see, only feel. My heart clenches, pumping harder with each second that passes.
Taking a deep breath, I smile at Konstantin and Tori. “I guess I’ll see you out there.”
A few seconds later, Zak, Nik, Taras, and Danil walk into the suite. Their faces are all flushed, and I shake my head. “So much vodka. Please tell me Quinn is still standing.”
“You’d never know he guzzled twelve beers in the last hour,” Zak says.
“Twelve?” I clap a hand over my forehead.
“Relax, he’s kidding. Maybe it was six.” Taras winks at me. “Hey, you know, under that pain in the ass outer shell that makes me want to shoot him in the head sometimes, Quinn’s not such a bad guy. You made a good choice.”
“Gee, thanks for that,” I quip sarcastically, smoothing the front of my dress. “I’m so glad I have your approval.”
“He’s a little bit of a prick, you’ve gotta admit that,” Zak says, grabbing a flute and the bottle of champagne. “But it adds to his charm, yeah? First, you kind of wanna kill him, then you wanna drink with him. Not a lot of people can pull that off. It’s usually one or the other.”
I pace in front of the full-length mirror, my heels clicking on the floor. “You guys do realize that you’re not the easiest people to like either, right?”
They exchange a look and laughter fills the room.
“Who, us?” Danil asks with mock surprise. “Screw that, we’re the most charming fucking guys to walk the Earth.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go drink to that and find Luka for me so he can walk me down the damn aisle already?”
Zak gives my arm a squeeze. “I got it.”
They lumber out of the bridal room. I turn toward Boris, who’s been quiet the whole time he’s been in here.
“Something’s wrong,” I say, bringing a hand to the back of my neck. A cool breeze whispers against my skin and I swallow hard. “Tell me. Is it your heart?”
He shakes his head and twists open a bottle of Pellegrino before pouring it into a glass. I watch as he takes a long sip of the fizzy liquid.
“I had a nightmare.” I walk over to the dressing table and toy with my eyelash curler, the scene exploding with color and vivid imagery in my mind. “You and I were walking together, talking about your daughter and granddaughter. And then everything went dark. Suddenly, we were under attack. Everyone was killed except me.”
I turn back to look at Boris. “And you. You just disappeared.”
He lets out a deep sigh. “It’s time for that to happen again. For me to leave.”
I smile. “You always say that, but it won’t be long before you’re back again. This is in your blood. You can’t live without the action. Admit it.”
But he doesn’t smile back. He just stares at me, his fingers steepled against his lips for a long minute, like he’s contemplating something.
“The action you speak of cost me everything, Valentina. I keep coming back to right the wrongs, and it’s time for me to correct the last one.”
