Chapter 57
FIFTY-SEVEN
KIRA
“And do you, Kira Elizabeth Roberts, take this man to be your husband?”
Drew’s had my hands in his grip ever since my father handed me over to him. Like a piece of livestock they don’t want to get away.
When I’m silent a breath longer than I should be, the fingernails of Drew’s bony fingers dig into my skin.
“I do!” I blurt before I can think better of it.
There’s been a loud, panicked buzzing in my ears throughout the entire ceremony, and my eyes dart around to try to figure out an exit plan. Surely during the elaborate celebration afterward, I’ll be able to slip away? Drew will have to take his eagle-eyed gaze off me at some point… right?
Yesterday, this seemed like the only sane choice. But what is sane when I’m dealing with a psychopath? Was Drew ever planning to let Isaak out of jail?
“If anyone objects to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Me. I object!
But my lips stay sealed as Drew’s grip on my hands gets tighter and my wrist aches remembering the punishing, bone-breaking hold he had on me in the changing room.
The pastor continues to drone on and on as panic grows in my chest.
Some stupid part of me hoped I had misdiagnosed Drew. That he was just pushed to desperate measures because of the pressure from his father. And that he would never really hurt me. But any last ember of hope I had for him is gone. He’ll continue to hurt me and worse.
I can’t live with him. I’ll marry him if I have to, but I won’t stay.
I gulp, my eyes shooting back and forth, and I’m even more panicked when the pastor begins his next statement: “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!”
Drew’s smarmy hands latch around my waist, and everything in me recoils in ick as he starts to bring his mouth toward mine.
“I object!”
My heart all but leaps out of my chest as my head whips toward the back of the church. It can’t be.
But it is.
It’s Isaak.
I don’t know how he’s here, or how he could have kept believing in us after every horrible thing I said to push him away, but he is.
And he’s in danger.
“Security!” Drew shouts.
I use this moment of distraction to shove away from him. Drew swipes for me, catching a bit of organza that tears away in his grasp as I sprint down the aisle toward the man that I love.
Gasps erupt from all sides, and phones pop out to record us. Which is when I realize… If I pull a runaway bride right now, Isaak and I could be on the run forever.
And we aren’t the ones in the wrong.
Halfway down the aisle, I stop, breathless, and turn back towards the altar with an accusing finger.
“I’ve had a stalker all year and last week I found out it was Drew! He drugged me when I tried to run away from him! And he’s been holding me hostage all week after I tried to call off the wedding. He only wants to marry me to prove to his father he’s a real man!”
Each revelation elicits more surprised gasps and murmurs that get louder and louder.
But even I’m surprised when the crowd suddenly leaps to their feet and starts screaming. I finally hear something that causes my body to freeze. “Gun!”
Gun? Oh shit, Isaak didn’t bring a gun with him, did he? He just got out of jail. He’s not that stupid.
But when I look back at him, he doesn’t have a gun. He’s sprinting toward me, and there’s absolute terror in his eyes.
Oh. He’s not the one I should be worried about.
But by the time I swing my head back around to the front of the church, it’s too late.
Drew is standing there with a gun aimed right at me.
I hear an explosive noise go off, but I don’t feel anything at first.
I’m just on the floor suddenly, a hard blow knocking me down. When I hold my hands in front of my face, all I see is blood coating them.
My ears ring so loud I can barely tell up from down in the chaos of everyone screaming and the pounding feet fleeing to get away.
I’m still waiting to feel the pain. Expecting it. I sit up awkwardly, and the front of my gown is covered in red.
It’s then I see the body slumped in front of me.
“Isaak!”
I turn him on his back and scream to find his face pale and his breathing short as he clutches his side.
“No!” I scream.
He took a bullet for me.
He leaped in front of me and took the bullet.
My hands scramble across his torso, feeling for the wound. He’s wearing a black shirt, so it’s only when I see where his hands are clutching that I find where he was shot.
“Call an ambulance!” I scream, tearing away more cloth from my dress to press against the wound, taking over from Isaak. He looks ready to pass out any second.
The church has emptied, but surely someone’s already called nine-one-one after the gun went off? And ambulances automatically show up with the cops, right?
“You fucking slut,” comes a voice from behind me, one I recognize but don’t at the same time. I look up and gasp.
Drew didn’t run with the others. He’s slowly walking down the aisle toward us.
Isaak grunts and tries to move, but I press him down by his chest. The white cloth against his side is already completely red, and I can tell blood is pooling beneath him in spite of the stupid fucking red carpet my mother insisted on rolling down the aisle. It’s royal , she said. We’re Texas royalty .
We’re both about to be dead.
I look down into Isaak’s eyes. I guess he was right.
It has been a horror movie, after all.
I’d cup his face if I wasn’t using all my strength to keep pressure on his wound.
“I love you,” I whisper, tears falling down my cheek.
“Oh, well, isn’t this the sweetest scene? The whore weeping over her dead bodyguard.”
I look up with hatred at Drew standing over us with smug satisfaction on his face. “Fuck you! You’ll spend the rest of your life in prison for this!”
“Ohh, they don’t put people like me in prison, darling.”
“You literally shot him in front of an entire congregation of people. There are hundreds of witnesses. Even you can’t get away with murder.”
“You mean rescuing you from a thug?” His face transforms then as if he’s getting into character. “He was reaching for a gun, I swear, Officer. I had to protect my new bride. Women can be so easily fooled, and he was trying to take her for all she was worth.”
I shake my head. My whole body’s shaking, really. He’s so fucking evil. “You’ll never get away with it.”
“Of course I will. Men like me get away with whatever we want. Money and influence make you a king in this world. My father’s got both, and now, with that ring on your finger, I’ve got all the money I could ever want?—”
“You’ll never, ever please your father. You’re a pathetic waste of a son.”
“Take it back!” His hand slams against my cheek, knocking me sideways away from Isaak.
Drew’s still looking my way when Isaak yanks something from his boot and heaves an arm upward between Drew’s legs.
Drew screams in pain as blood blooms on the white tux at his groin. He drops to the ground beside us, and the next thing I see, the men are wrestling one another.
“Isaak!” I cry.
But before I can pull them off each other, two gunshots go off in quick succession. I scream and run forward, only to see Isaac pushing Drew off him.
Drew, who no longer has the top of his skull.
The relief that hits me at the gruesome sight is probably sinful, but I don’t fucking care. I’ve never been glad to see somebody dead, but I am now. I’m so glad he’s dead. He reaped what he sowed.
Isaac is dripping blood as he grabs at the edge of a pew to drag himself to his feet.
“No, don’t!” I race forward, bracing my shoulder under the stubborn bastard’s arm, when I realize he’s determined to walk out of here.
He’s barely standing, barely breathing, but as we walk, blood trailing behind us, the best man I’ll ever know whispers, “Love you, too, Red.”