Chapter 39
MATTEO
I’m not worried at first.
Sierra’s family shows up on time, all decked out. We don’t have a wedding party, but we encouraged both sides to dress up for photos after the ceremony. They look ready. They look happy.
Sierra isn’t with them.
Her mom catches me scanning the doorway behind them. “She’s right behind us, honey. Coming in a separate car with Harper. She had to run back in for her phone.”
I nod. My two guys aren’t with her parents, which means they’re with Sierra. Good. A couple minutes. No big deal.
Ma fusses with my tie, which is apparently crooked. I let her fix it because it gives me something to focus on besides the empty doorway. Dario slides up beside me, voice low.
“No sign of Viktor or anyone else outside. Perimeter’s clear.”
Good. Maybe the bastard won’t show today. I thought I had him figured out. Thought his obsession with Sierra would make him stupid enough to crash the wedding. But I might’ve been wrong, and for once, I hope I was.
I can hunt him down another day. Today, I marry the woman I love.
And I’ve been a coward about telling her.
I’ve been holding back, telling myself I needed to prove something first. Eliminate the threat. Show her I could keep her safe.
But Sierra doesn’t need that from me.
I see it in the way she relaxes against me when we’re alone. The way she laughs at my shitty jokes. The way she touches me like she’s not afraid of what these hands have done. She called me a protector. Said I was important to her.
She doesn’t need proof. She needs me to stop being a coward and tell her how I feel.
Today, I will.
I check my watch. Ten minutes since her family arrived.
My chest tightens. Not panic. Not yet. Just... awareness. Something prickling at the base of my skull.
I scan the church. Her cousin Audrey stands near the back, phone in hand, frowning at the screen. In the pews, Sierra’s parents lean close together, voices too low to hear.
Fifteen minutes.
I pull out my phone and call one of the soldiers I stationed at her parents’ house. The line rings. And rings. Voicemail.
I try the second guy. Same thing.
Ice slides down my spine.
I call Sierra. It rings and rings, then her voice fills my ear, bright and warm and recorded. Hey, you’ve reached Sierra! Leave me a message and I’ll call you back. Promise!
I hang up and try again. Voicemail.
Something’s wrong.
My hands flex at my sides, ready to hit something, but there’s no one to hit. Just empty air and a doorway where she should be. I know this feeling. I fucking hate this feeling. It’s the same paralysis that locked me in place at sixteen, listening to my mother scream before I finally moved.
Fuck that.
I’m moving before I make the conscious decision, cutting through the pews toward her parents. My shoes echo too loud on the stone floor. Guests turn to stare. I don’t give a shit.
“Where is she?”
Sierra’s mom flinches. I know I’m intimidating on my best days, and right now, there’s thunder in my voice I can’t control.
“We’re trying to reach her.” Her dad puts an arm around his wife. “Harper isn’t answering either. I’m sure they just hit traffic.”
He doesn’t sound sure. He sounds like a man trying to convince himself.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I try to push the rising panic down as I leave them there and scan the church. Her family can’t help me right now. I need my people.
Sierra’s parents are still watching me, confused. They don’t know who I really am. What I’m capable of. But if something’s happened to their daughter, they’re about to find out.
Dario and his uncle, Paolo, are near the back, talking in hushed voices. I cut through the pews toward them, and they both straighten when they see my face.
“Sierra’s not here. She’s not answering. Neither are my guys.”
Dario’s jaw tightens. Paolo’s eyes go sharp.
“I’ll head over there,” Paolo says. “See what’s going on.”
“I’ll go with him.” Sierra’s cousin, Audrey, pushes forward from somewhere behind me, jaw set despite the fear in her eyes. “I have a key.”
Paolo nods, and they leave with two soldiers.
Lorenzo and Dario are moving through the crowd now, mobilizing our men with quiet efficiency. Soldiers drift toward the exits, checking weapons, checking perimeters. The guests sense something’s wrong. The murmuring grows louder.
“Matteo.” Nina touches my arm, and I stop pacing.
“I talked to Sierra yesterday,” she says carefully. “At the spa. Just for a minute, but she... she mentioned having some doubts about the wedding.”
My blood pounds in my ears.
“Maybe…she decided not to go through with it?”
For one second, every reason I don’t deserve her lines up like bullets in a magazine. Then logic kicks in.
No.
Sierra wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t leave me standing at the altar without a word. Even if she changed her mind. Even if she woke up this morning and realized she didn’t want to marry me. She’d tell me to my face. She’s too good for anything less.
“She didn’t run.” I put a hand on Nina’s shoulder, gentler than I feel. “If she’s not here, it’s because someone’s stopping her.”
Nina doesn’t look convinced. That’s fine. She doesn’t know Sierra like I do.
My phone buzzes. Paolo’s name on the screen.
Dario’s at my side before I can answer. “Let’s move this to the minister’s office.”
The office is cramped and smells like old books and candle wax. Lorenzo’s already inside when we push through the door, his face carved from stone.
Sierra’s parents shove in behind us.
“You can’t be here,” Dario starts.
“She’s our daughter.” Her father’s voice shakes with barely controlled fear. “Whatever the hell is going on, you’re not shutting us out.”
Lorenzo gives a curt nod. Dario closes the door and puts the call on speaker.
There’s noise on the other end. Men’s voices. And underneath that, Audrey’s voice, high and panicked.
“That’s blood! Oh my God, that’s blood!”
My vision tunnels.
“It’s bad.” Paolo’s voice is flat. “No sign of Sierra or Harper. Our two guys are down. Looks like they got jumped from behind. Both dead.”
Sierra’s mom makes a sound like she’s been hit. Her husband pulls her closer, but his eyes cut to me. Our two guys. I can see him starting to put pieces together.
I don’t have time to help him along.
“I found her phone,” Paolo cuts in. “Just Sierra’s, though. Maybe Harper held onto hers?”
I grab onto that sliver of hope like a drowning man. “Dario, go get Shaw. We need to track it.”
Shaw’s at the desk within minutes, fingers flying over his laptop. Guy never goes anywhere without it, and I’ve never been more grateful. The room is dead silent except for the clatter of keys and Sierra’s mother’s quiet crying.
Every second feels like an hour. I can’t stand still. Can’t stop my hands from shaking. I clench them into fists and press them against my thighs and force myself to breathe.
She’s alive. She has to be alive. Viktor wants her too much to kill her outright. He’ll want to make her suffer first, and that gives me time.
Time to find her. Time to put a bullet between his eyes.
“Got it.” Shaw looks up. “Phone’s at a warehouse on the east side. Owned by Dixon Shipping.”
Sierra’s father goes pale. “That’s... that’s our company. I don’t understand. Why would they be there?”
I can tell by the look on his face that he has no idea what’s going on. Whatever brought Harper, and hopefully Sierra, to that warehouse, he’s not part of it.
“I’m going.” I meet Lorenzo’s eyes, ready to fight for the right if I have to.
He just nods. He understands now. He’s got a woman he’d burn the world down for, too.
“Bring her back.”
I strip off my tux jacket and shove a gun into the back of my pants. Sierra’s father watches me with sharp eyes. He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t try to stop me. Maybe he’s realizing that right now, a man like me is exactly what his daughter needs.
Dario falls into step beside me.
“I’m coming with you.”
I don’t argue. Don’t thank him. There’s no time for words.
Sierra’s out there. In the hands of a man who’s already proven he’ll hurt her. Every minute I waste is another minute she’s scared and alone and wondering if anyone’s coming for her.
Hold on, Sunshine.
I’m coming.