Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“Come on, baby.” I extended my hand to her across the table. “Let’s do this.”
Her eyes stayed on mine before they dropped to my hand, sitting in the middle of the table for her to take. A solid minute passed, and her breathing changed, becoming deep and labored. But then she raised her hand and placed it in mine, her fingers lightly touching my skin.
Once I had her, I grabbed her.
And this time, I wouldn’t let go.
I stood at the front of the church with Theo beside me, waiting for the ceremony to commence. Everyone was back in their seats, quiet now that they knew a wedding would truly take place.
The music started, and the procession began.
The bridesmaids came down the aisle, and then Scarlett’s little cousins came down as the flower children. The music changed when it was time for the bride to arrive, and everyone stood up to greet her.
Dante and Scarlett appeared in the double doors, her hands gripping the white bouquet. Dante cradled her arm in his and guided her forward, the tight dress beautiful over her curves.
It was the first time I actually looked at her in her dress. She had been hidden under my coat and in too much distress for me to take in her entire appearance earlier. But now I did…and she was breathtaking.
It was a long walk down the aisle, everyone turned to face her.
She looked at the people she passed, looked at the priest at the front, and when she ran out of things to look at, she finally looked at me. When her eyes locked on mine, they stuck, the intensity in my gaze capturing her the way a predator captured its prey.
Closer and closer she came, almost within reach, almost mine.
Once she was my wife, once she carried my name, nothing would divide us again. Dante’s power and influence would be limited because I would be her family, not him.
Dante stopped in front of me, kissed his daughter on the temple, and then finally gave me her hand.
I took it and squeezed it tightly, finally claiming what was mine.
I guided her next to me, in front of the priest, and took her other hand.
She’d fixed her makeup and adjusted her hair before the ceremony began. Now it looked like her escape attempt had never happened. Her cheeks had color because she was warm, and her eyes had a luminance I couldn’t describe. Her touch was still hesitant, but her gaze was passionate.
The priest began the ceremony.
And I married her.
15
SCARLETT
The ballroom was lit with chandeliers, the round tables covered with champagne-gold linens and tall vases of white flowers. Friends and family were everywhere, mostly on my side since Axel’s parents had chosen not to come, and therefore, his other family members chose to opt out as well.
It was a beautiful wedding, but it still didn’t feel like mine.
Axel came up from behind me and took my hand. “Dance with me.” He pulled me with him and didn’t pause for an objection. A slow song came over the sound system for our first dance, and after he spun me around, he pulled me close, his hand in mine, and swayed from side to side with me, his big palm flat against my lower back.
His blue eyes were on me, his jawline shaved clean for the special day, and he looked at me the way he always had—like I was the only thing that mattered. “I like that dress.” A faint smile moved across his lips, a playfulness entering his eyes.
It was the Axel I remembered, but he was here in the present, not in an old memory. I bowed my head and focused on his tie and his dark blue suit.
“Baby, look at me.”
I lifted my gaze and looked at him again.
The playfulness was gone, replaced by that hard intensity that made him look almost angry.
“You’re fucking beautiful.”
My instinct was to look away, but his fingertips caught my chin and kept me still.
“Eyes on me.”
At the end of the night, we left the ballroom in disarray, champagne spilled on the floor, a half-eaten wedding cake still on the stands, dirty dishes still scattered on the tables. Some people took the flowers out of the vases to enjoy them at home.
Axel and I left and stepped into the elevator to take us to the top floor.
My heart started as the size of a plum but quickly grew to a coconut. It took up all my chest, made it tight, made it hard to breathe.
Axel stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking straight ahead as the floor numbers changed on the screen. Then the doors opened, and we entered an empty hallway, taking the long walk down the maroon rug to the last door at the very end, in the corner of the building.