19. Ivy #3
Other brides walk down the aisle with beautiful bouquets of flowers, but here I am, discreetly checking if Emmett has finally read my messages.
He hasn’t.
I can’t do this.
“Ivy,” my mother hisses, jarring me back to reality. She gestures for me to move, so I do.
I place one foot in front of the other until I’m right in front of Vaughn.
Vaughn offers me his hand to take, but I can’t breathe.
He clears his throat slightly and reaches for my hand, and we move along to where the priest stands.
He starts saying some words in Italian, but nothing enters my ears.
A question is asked of Vaughn, and he quickly says, “I do.”
The priest repeats something in Italian, then he looks at me and asks the same question in Italian.
“What?” I croak.
The priest smiles patiently and repeats the words in English, then he asks the question in English and stares at me.
I look up at Vaughn. He’s smiling, watching me with almost twinkling eyes.
I can’t breathe.
My chest is tight. The room is spinning. My heart is out of control.
I’m about to have a panic attack!
“Ivy, what’s the holdup?” Senator Hughes questions with a faux smile on his face. “Go ahead.”
I notice the evil glint in his cold glare.
A manipulative man who’s only fuel in life is his greed and ambition for even more greed.
I’m not his daughter and I think he knows it, but it doesn’t matter to him, so long as I’m a pawn he can use and discard.
I promised myself that I wouldn’t be like this anymore…
No one is coming to save me. I have to save myself.
I clear my throat and look directly at the big boss, Grandpa Armando, feigning confidence that I don’t feel.
“Is this the right time to get something off my chest?” I ask, my voice clear, loud enough, not at all revealing the chaotic mess of fear surging in me.
“Ivy, what’s wrong?” Vaughn questions with a tight smile, but I ignore him and keep my gaze on his grandfather.
Grandpa Armando looks at me with a smile and nods slightly. “You can say whatever you want.”
Senator Hughes stands up and chuckles, but it’s dry and cold. “I’m sure it’s nothing, sir,” he says, then looks at me. “Ivy knows this is not the time to be mischievous and say nonsensical things.”
The cold light in his eyes is a warning, a warning I choose to ignore.
“I believe Grandpa has allowed her to say whatever she wants, Theodore.” Scarlet suddenly speaks for the first time in a while, her tone colder, meaner, and so damn badass, I almost fangirl. She glares at Senator Hughes. “Who are you to defy him?”
Senator Hughes straightens up and glances at Grandpa Armando in fear.
“No, not at all, that’s not what I meant, sir,” Senator Hughes stutters, looking panicked at Grandpa Armando.
“Then shut up and let my new granddaughter speak,” Grandpa Armando says.
All eyes swing to me, including Senator Hughes’s threatening glare.
Vaughn is standing tensely beside me, staring at my profile, but I ignore him.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
“Grandpa, the Hughes family are pulling a trick on you. They want to gain your support for power through deceit!”
“Young lady!” Senator Hughes snaps. “Watch your mouth!”
I ignore him.
“And to do that, this man has lied to you. Senator Hughes is not?—”
But before I can finish, I feel and hear a gust of wind coming at me just before I hear the loud smack as my face is slapped, hard.
I gasp, feeling stupefied.
The pain is horrible.
I can taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.
Stunned, I clutch my cheek then turn around slowly to see Senator Hughes looking monstrously at me, his eyes filled with violent rage.
This man just slapped me, in front of everyone!
He raises his arm high in the air, ready to strike me again, but before he can bring it down, the unmistakable sound of gunfire explodes in the room.
In horror, I watch Senator Hughes let out a wretched scream, clutching his wrist that’s now riddle with blood.
Without pause, two more shots are fired and this time, Senator Hughes goes down with a scream and starts rolling on the ground.
I realize he’s just been shot through both knees, and they are bleeding like a torrent.
Everyone is shocked.
Melissa and my mother are screaming, looking at Senator Hughes in horror, but when I look at Vaughn, as well as the rest of the Easton Family, I see their gazes are trained in one specific direction, and it’s not at Senator Hughes writhing in pain on the ground.
Just then, the phone in my hand buzzes suddenly, I almost drop it.
With a gasp, I quickly turn it over only to see a text… from Emmett!
Emmett: You look beautiful as always, Angel. So fucking gorgeous, I can’t look away.
A loud gasp escapes my lips.
When I look up, the sudden piercing sound of glass shattering multiple times rings in the room sharply.
Before anyone can react, the sound of a machine gun breaks the shock and bodies starts dropping around the garden like dominoes.
Immediately, Vaughn tenses, but when I glance at the old man in the wheelchair, he’s sitting calmly, completely unbothered by what’s happening.
Somehow, he catches my eye and winks at me.
He actually winks in the middle of the shouts and bullets that start ringing out.
Panicked, I look to where Vaughn is standing, only to see he’s aiming a gun with a silencer straight across the aisle that I just walked down.
With my heart in my throat, I follow the aim of the gun.
Everything in me freezes when I spot the tall, huge, broad-shouldered shadow walking evenly, not rushed at all, moving from the shadows to the light.
I gasp when I see his white shirt is stained with blood.
The sleeves of the shirt are rolled up to his forearms, exposing his muscular, tattooed arms and they too, are covered in blood.
A number of men rush in to stand behind us, all of them aiming their guns at Emmett, just like Vaughn.
But Emmett isn’t bothered at all, without a gun in his bloody, bare hands.
“Am I late?” Emmett questions sarcastically, calmly, not rushed at all. “Apologies. I had an errand to run.”