Chapter 45
Italian Weddings
Boyle
Seven months later …
“You are sure you want to do this?” I say as we sit in the car watching LaSalle Locatelli’s wedding from down the hill.
The place is buzzing with activity. Some powerful people are in attendance. Once this move is made, we’re not going to be able to back down. I don’t know if she’s thinking clearly anymore.
So much has changed now that the Alliance has gone into effect. They may not be at full capacity, but they are still strong and growing stronger. I think this is a mistake.
“Da, now or never. You have said yourself. Misha closing in on truth. Once he returns to Russia, he will know. Those women have made sure of it.
“I am now alone. I have only you. This time. We can hide behind Gormon. They won’t know we were here.”
I sigh. “Why not just go to Misha? Let him learn the truth from you.”
“Net, Misha one thing. My revenge another. I don’t want him know until I complete my mission.”
“But isn’t—”
“Enough,” she barks loudly, her ice-blue eyes blazing back at me as her nostrils flare.
I sigh. I have officially jumped out of the pan and into the fire. The boss has been calling me to find out where I’ve been. I go back to where he’s hiding and I’m a dead man.
However, I’m watching the woman before me lose everything, including her mind. If I had known then all I know now, I wouldn’t have joined forces with her. I get the feeling there is no name, no power at the end of this for me.
“Listen to me, my love,” she says as she cups my face and turns it to hers. “I don’t need them. I’m better off without those witches.
“He will kill them for me, and I will take what’s rightfully mine. Little time and patience will get us everything we want. We find Léan’s daughter, I kill her, we go.”
“Here’s Gormon’s people. Let’s go.”
Deja
I turn to the sound of snickering as I try to creep out of the room where Cole and I were just having sex. Val and Pam are watching me with amused smiles on their faces.
I groan and palm my forehead. I knew we shouldn’t have come up here. I mean, it was worth it, but now I feel like a child with my hand in the cookie jar.
However, when Cole comes out of the room with his tux jacket in his hand, his shirt open, and his tie loose around his neck, I want the floor to open and swallow me whole. I even notice a love bite on his neck. I can’t say I remember putting that there.
He walks over to me without a care in the world and dips his head to kiss me. It’s not a little peck either. He palms my bum and pulls me into his body, bending me backward as he devours my lips.
“See you all downstairs, ladies,” he says as he breaks the kiss and winks down at me.
Pam and Val burst into laughter. I bite my lip as I watch him walk away. Am I crazy for thinking he looks sexy with his gun holster strapped across his shoulders?
I shake my head clear and turn to my girls. I don’t know why I’m so embarrassed. I’ve caught them both in similar situations.
“What are you guys doing up here?” I ask.
“Tasha had to pee. She needed help with her gown. It was our turn,” Val replies.
“Oh, there’s so much to think about with all of this,” I say as I begin to daydream about marrying Cole.
“You guys planning on getting married soon?”
“I don’t know. Things are always so crazy. He doesn’t get to be just Cole. Brooklyn takes up so much of his life.
“I’m not complaining. I’m always here to support him. I know what I’ve signed up for,” I reply.
“It will happen at the right time for you guys,” Val says reassuringly.
“Phew, I thought I was going to burst,” Tasha says as she comes out of the bathroom, patting at her dress as Camille comes out behind her.
Suddenly, the sound of gunfire rings out through the air. I snap into action and pull the gun from the holster around my thigh. Val pulls two guns of her own.
“What the fuck?” Pam gasps.
“Tasha, get back into that room,” I bark.
No bride should have to deal with a shooting at her wedding. Val and I can hold this floor down if any threats appear. Before we can come up with a plan of attack, Cole reappears with his guns drawn.
“All of ye, into the room DJ and I were in, now,” he barks.
“I’m not hiding from shit. Where’s my husband?” Val growls.
“Heading out front with the others. LaSalle wants Tasha to remain up here. I’m thinking Uri and Nate would want the same. DJ and Cam, don’t start with me. In the room now,” he commands again.
Before we can all protest again, Blair and Callum appear and the gunfire quiets and comes to a stop. Cole comes to me and pulls my head to him while still holding his gun. Then he kisses my forehead.
“We’re leaving as soon as I get word that everything is clear here,” he murmurs.
I look up and see the anger in his eyes. I know immediately why he’s angry. We played the pull-out game one time too many. I’m two months pregnant.
Cole was so excited when I told him why I hadn’t been drinking at the wedding or last week at the engagement party. That’s how we ended up in that room up here. He hasn’t known for more than an hour, and now this.
I nod my head, not trying to argue with him. It was instinct. I didn’t think about the pregnancy.
I did what I was trained to do, but he wouldn’t know that. I don’t even know why I still haven’t told him. I’m somewhat afraid to.
He’s seen me in action. Well, not really, but he knows I can shoot. I’m going to tell him.
Brooklyn
As I stand here in Italy, in the study of the Locatelli mansion, it becomes painfully clear how real the Alliance has become—no longer a theory my grandfather murmured in my brother’s ear, but a reality. Tonight proves the other side is willing to take risks as much as we are.
Of all places to decide to challenge us—at LaSalle’s wedding after the announcement of his becoming the don. Shit is more than real.
However, what’s become more real than that is the fact that I’m going to be a father. I had planned to wait for things to settle a little more before I proposed to DJ and made her my wife.
Then we would start our family. Well, I fucked that all up. I think I remember the night it happened. I’d been drinking with my brothers at the bar. Once DJ shut the place down and locked up for the night, I bent her over one of the tables and fucked her right there.
I rolled that same table in the back the next morning because I had my way with her all over it. On top of it, face down, ass up, name it, I gave it to her. Now we have a baby on the way. The timing sucks, but I couldn’t be happier.
“I want answers. You have less than twenty-four hours,” Logan barks out, pulling me from my thoughts.
Pulling a hand down my face, I acknowledge what I need to do. I can’t move the same. Not when it comes to DJ.
I walk over to Logan and look him in the eyes. He looks pissed off and frustrated. I get it, this should never have happened.
“I need to take DJ back home,” I say to him.
“With all this going on? This wasn’t just an attack on LaSalle. This was disrespect to all of us.
“We need to be here to handle this. He’s leaving for his honeymoon. The least we can do is stick around and watch over his family,” he bites out in frustration.
I’m frustrated with the entire situation. I just found out I’m about to be a father, and the next thing I know, our friends’ wedding is being shot up. My heart was in my throat as I raced back for DJ.
Finding her with a gun in her hand, like she was ready to run out there and get involved, pissed me off for so many reasons. Not only is she pregnant, but I don’t want this for her.
“DJ is pregnant. I want to take her back home. I’ll be ready for anything you need, but I need to get my family home first,” I say, hoping he understands.
Shock comes over his face and then a huge smile. He tugs me into him and gives me a bear hug. I’m a little shocked at first.
While he’s been talking to me since our fight after his revelation about DJ and Ciara, there has still been a little tension here and there. Logan can be stubborn and I’m no better.
He cups my face in his hands. “I’m proud of ya. Ya and DJ were meant for each other. I’m happy for ye. Go home, protect our family, aye.”
“Aye,” I say as I get a little choked up.
Knowing he sees DJ as family means a lot. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about us after everything that’s transpired. I have to admit, the tightness in my chest begins to loosen up.
“There’s no feeling like it. Yer going to make a grand da.”
“We’ll see,” I snort.
In this moment, I feel like I have my brother back. I look up to my older brother. It was killing me for him to be so pissed at me.
I would do it again if it meant him getting to come home to that sweet wee angel. Shauna is everything to him, like I knew she would be. I know he would have been devastated had I not kept her safe.
I can accept his anger. He had every right to it. As long as we’re good now, I can handle anything else.
“I love you, man,” I say as I clear my throat.
“Aye, I love ya too.”