Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Gem wrinkles her nose. “Can you imagine? She'd show up in a denim wedding dress and demand to take your place on the altar. Not even to get married. Just for the attention.”
“Then she'd end up passing out.”
“In the cake.”
“Death by fondant. What a way to go.”
“If only we were so lucky. She'd end up immune to drowning by dessert somehow. You know her.”
“Indestructible.” I hug Gem tightly to my side. “We're good. I'm good.”
“Sounds like you're doing a lot of convincing right now.”
I pick up the tea and sip it. I hope she doesn't notice the way my hands shake. “Before we go down there, I have one important question.”
Gem glances at the door. “What's that?”
“How's my groom looking?”
She laughs and tugs at her hair awkwardly. “You can't make me say. He's about to be my brother-in-law.”
“Come on. Tell me.”
“Stellan's the most attractive man I've ever seen in my life and he's looking like a movie star down there.”
I sigh and pretend to fan my face. “Lord have mercy. Now you get why I'm going through with this.”
“A pretty face? That's all it takes to get a ring on your finger?”
“And good muscles. The money doesn't hurt either.”
“My God, Kira, you're shallow!”
“Practical.” I finish the tea. I’m joking around to try to make myself feel more confident, but it’s not really working. “Come on, let’s get down there. I have a gorgeous man to marry.”
Gem doesn’t press anymore, which is a good thing. I’m not sure how much I could take if she decided to really pressure me into walking away.
I know the risk I’m taking. I just pray it doesn’t blow back to her.
Downstairs, I find the men waiting in the living room. They’re talking quietly over some glasses of what I assume is very expensive whiskey. My husband doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would drink the cheap stuff at his own wedding.
“There she is!” Matteo beams at me as I walk toward them. Stellan turns in my direction—and I swear, something passes over his expression.
It’s surprise at first. Followed by a ruthless, naked, unbridled hunger, like he’s been desperate and starving to see me in a wedding dress since we first met, and now he’s about to feast.
His gaze doesn’t pull away. “The priest is waiting,” he says, voice low and rumbling. “Matteo, Saverino, and Gem will be the witnesses.”
“No big ballroom and six hundred guests?” I ask him, only trying to tease. “You strike me as the kind of man who wants a public spectacle.”
Saverino barks out a laugh. “I like this one. Good choice in wife, Stellan. We all need a woman to keep us in check sometimes.”
He continues staring at me. “I prefer things to be simple. Just me and what’s mine.”
I shiver at the implication. What’s his is me in this scenario.
Gem interrupts the tension. “Should we get to it then?” she asks, looking around. “I mean, no time like the present?”
“Smart girl,” Matteo says happily. “Should I play the wedding march on my phone? Try to make this feel more—wedding-y?”
“No, thanks,” Stellan grunts, but he does offer me his arm.
I pause before taking it. This is probably my last chance to back out. Matteo and Saverino would probably help Stellan drag me out there, but maybe not in front of Gem. If I ran away, if I begged, I could get out of this nightmare.
But Stellan’s watching me. He’s holding out his arm, his muscular and incredible arm, and Gem was right upstairs. He looks like heaven. His hair’s freshly cut and styled, and the stubble on his cheeks makes him look like he’s fresh off a movie set. I don’t know how a vicious and dangerous man can be so obscenely attractive, but here he is, tempting me into all the wrong decisions.
I rest my hand on his bicep. We walk into the backyard.
The priest is an older man waiting on the porch. He smiles as we approach and spreads his hands. The folds of his robes fall open slightly, and I have the giddy thought that he might have a gun hidden in there. These are gangsters, after all.
But the priest is just a priest named Father John. He’s nice and likes bad jokes. I hate him immediately, nothing to do with him at all, but mostly because I think I hate everything right now.
I keep thinking about my father as the priest does his thing. There are a lot of words about God and faith and loyalty, and almost none of them penetrate.
Because these men killed my father.
That's what this boils down to. I'm the daughter of a traitor. He stole from the Corsettis, tried to take their most important asset, and I still don't understand why. I've been obsessing about it ever since Stellan told me the truth. Why would Dad steal from his own people? What would drive him to do such a thing?