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And I won’t rest until they’re at fucking zero.
I loop my arm through Boris’s and lean my head against his shoulder. Boris was my father’s oldest and dearest friend and having him close always makes me feel like Dad isn’t so far away, that he’s right here with us.
Tears sting my eyes. Dad wanted to stop my wedding to Dmitri. He came to me only a few minutes before, completely panicked about something, like he knew we were about to be targeted. But I told him my decision was made. I would avenge Charly’s death and destroy the people who took her.
He said he couldn’t lose me, too.
And then the wedding planner showed up to take him to the room where the ceremony would be held. I got a quick kiss, but the pain in his gaze… I’ll never forget it.
“I’m sorry.” Those were his last words to me.
My dress clings to me like a second skin. “I’m so glad Alexis is letting us wear whatever we want for the wedding. I can’t imagine putting on a long dress. Even at night, it’s still scorching hot. Where’s the sea breeze?”
We get closer to the tall grasses that shield the rows of white chairs. My brother Taras stands at the edge of the area, grinning at me like a lovesick fool, so unlike his normally prickly self. I guess love will do that when it’s right.
I wrap my arms around him. He looks so handsome in a white linen shirt and beige pants. His skin is a deep bronze, his blue eyes popping against it. He looks relaxed for the first time in as long as I can remember. “That huge smile is such a good look for you.”
He squeezes me tight. “I’m glad you’re here. We’ve missed you.”
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you all.” I pull away and look up at him. “But I’m back now.”
“Yeah, but for how long?” His eyebrows knit together and a scowl replaces the smile that lit up his face only a few seconds before. “You shouldn’t have left. We could have done this together. You didn’t need to do it alone.”
“Yes, I did.”
I had to keep Dad’s secret. I had to protect Mom.
Turns out, I couldn’t protect her at all.
Luka and Nik walk over and pull me into a sandwich hug. I breathe them in. “Mm, you guys smell so good. Like a Chanel Bleu cologne factory puked all over you.”
I take a long look at them, laughing, joking, and ribbing each other like I remember them doing. Danil and Zak wander over and we huddle together, almost complete.
“What? Nobody invited me to the party?” my sister Tori snaps playfully. She runs over in a cloud of pale pink, holding two bouquets of flowers in her hands. She thrusts one at me. “Come on, it’s almost time.”
She tugs at my arm. I look back to where Boris stood overlooking the sea but he’s gone. My brow furrows.
“Hey, did you see Boris?”
Tori shakes her head. “I didn’t think he was coming.”
“Sure, he’s here. He walked over with me. He’s staying in the suite right next to mine.”
“How much champagne have you had, Val? Wait, before you answer that…” Tori holds up her hand and grabs two flutes off a passing silver tray as we walk past a waitress toward the makeshift bridal tent a few feet away. “Add two more to that number. You’re drinking for me tonight.”
I take a long sip of one glass of bubbly liquid. It fizzles on its way down my throat. Bubbles rush into my nose, tickling the tip. I glance behind me one more time.
I walked over here with Boris.
Didn’t I?
I guzzle down some champagne, finishing one flute full. “So what’s Alexis going to wear? One of her famous leather bikinis that barely covers her? Did she have one custom-made in white?” I snicker and take a gulp of my second glass.
“Would you really expect me to beconventionalwith my wedding look?”
I gasp and flip around, champagne sloshing over the side of the glass and dotting my dress with wet spots.
Taras’s fiancée, Alexis, smirks at me and folds her arms over exactly what I just described. My jaw drops. “Sweet Lord, you are really doing it.”
