Fearless Hearts (Forsaken #3)

2. Niko

Niko

The entire morning had been a clusterfuck of emotions. Seeing Ivy getting ready with Ros and Frankie had been enough to shatter my heart into a million pieces. I was supposed to be standing at the front of the church waiting for her. She had been mine since the first time that I laid eyes on her. Not fucking Abraham Wells. The wedding was a farce.

She sacrificed everything for me to ensure the safety of Maya and Katya. She was trying to keep my family together, and that made everything worse. My throat was thick from the tears I refused to shed, and my eyes stung. This was the end, the climax of a love story doomed from the beginning.

I’d kept it together until I saw her standing at the end of the aisle, wearing the most beautiful black gown–a funeral shroud instead of a wedding dress. She looked like an avenging angel with red lipstick and hair curling around her face. Even with her makeup, I could make out the thin, silvery scar on her cheek from Arabella’s knife.

She’d gotten everything she deserved. I should have taken care of her before I had, but my hands were tied given who her family was. They hadn’t sought vengeance for her yet, but eventually, they would. Her death was a time bomb hanging over our heads, waiting to explode.

Caleb appeared and kissed her cheek, and the thing barely beating in my chest splintered further. Mournful music filled the air as they took a step forward together. I could have accepted it if Caleb had married her. He would have given her the life she deserved—a beautiful house, kids, and a white picket fence. Not Wells, though. Not after everything he had done to her and us.

Out of everything that could have destroyed me, I had never imagined that love would be the thing that broke me. Love was something that none of us knew. Not even Caleb.

It should have been me. Did she know that I would have given up everything for her? If she had given me the signal, I would have burned down Clearhaven. When I was at my most broken, she had pieced me back together again. The two of us understood each other in a way that no one else did.

But now she was ripping the healed parts of my soul to shreds.

And then Caleb left her with that fucker. Just stepped away from our girl and left her there. As Wells whispered to Ivy, his hand latched onto her arm, Caleb sat beside Trey. Whatever hope still lingered died with every second that passed. I had secretly hoped that Caleb would be the one who saved Ivy. That somehow, he had known of some loophole that would keep her from the Order. After all, he was caught up in their web. The brand on his skin proved that.

Another part of me had hoped that Ivy’s brother would intervene. The set of his jaw and the tenseness of his shoulders told me he wasn’t happy. Something about him and his friends gave me a sliver of hope. But why was he letting this happen? Why hadn’t he taken Ivy and hidden her away from the rest of the world?

Warm fingers twined with mine and squeezed. I didn’t want to look at Cam and see the pain in his eyes. If I did, it would break me. The tears I had been holding back would break free, and I would never be the same.

Cam had more regrets than all of us combined. He had tormented Ivy long after we had stopped. He thought she wanted to take part in the Order’s games, but she was a victim—just like Maya, just like me.

So, when Deacon Jensen cleared his throat and flashed an icy smile in our direction, I took a deep breath, knowing that Ivy’s sacrifice was to keep our little family safe. And when he said, “Let us begin,” a part of my soul died.