25. Julia
25
JULIA
T he ceremony and reception went on as if we weren’t waiting for the real guest of honor to show up. Della and Chesco had assured us she planned to appear shortly after the vows. But when the dinner had been served, and it was time to cut the cake, we still hadn’t seen any sign of her.
“Castor, what the fuck is going on?” Roman asked his brother.
He typed on his laptop and shrugged, glancing at us. “I don’t know. The people I’m tracking should be here. Like…right here.”
“Julia, Bear!” Ru called, waving us over to the cake at the other end of the tent. “C’mon. We’re all ready for dessert.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Castor said. He glanced at Lizard, whose club was responsible for guarding the perimeter. “Have you heard anything from your guys?”
Lizard shook his head and grabbed his phone, pressing a button before holding it to his ear. One of the servers walked back, his gaze connecting with mine for a moment, barely a heartbeat, but recognition shot through me. I could have sworn I’d seen him before, but I didn’t know where. He walked over to one of the tables to refill a water glass while alarms blared in the back of my mind.
“Let’s go cut our cake, mia cara,” Roman said, squeezing my hand and interrupting my train of thought. “Keep working on it, Cas.”
We walked to the group waiting by the three-tiered monstrosity, but the pit in my stomach only grew larger. She should have been here by now, and if she wasn’t, it could only mean one thing. She had planned something we didn’t foresee. Now we waited for the fallout. Today had been wonderful, something from a dream, and that made me more anxious because it was about to be brutally ripped out from under me.
I tried to calm myself.
Roman is wearing Kevlar. Your dress is reinforced with a bulletproof corset. It’s going to be okay.
That was, of course, as long as no one aimed at our heads.
“Here we go,” Ru said, handing the cake-cutting knife to me with a grin. I tried to reciprocate, but the tightness in my chest grew into a boulder, suffocating me. “Grab it together.”
Roman wrapped his hand around mine, and we sliced into the white dessert before plopping a piece down on a plate.
Something’s not right.
It rattled around my head like an echo as Roman cut off the tip of the piece and held it out to me to take. We were meant to feed each other a tiny bit, and when he put the portion between my lips, I regretted we had used our pretend wedding for this. I wanted it to be real. We deserved it to be real.
I smiled for the camera and kissed Roman’s icing-laced mouth, causing the crowd to applaud again. But after that, I needed a moment to get my head back in the game. Even though this had been my idea, I wanted nothing more than to grab my husband and our family and get the hell out of here.
“I have to use the bathroom,” I said to Roman, nodding back toward the house.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Stay. Take care of our guests.”
He narrowed his eyes and glanced around, seemingly uncomfortable with letting me out of his sight, but ultimately nodded. “Be quick. Or I’m coming to find you.”
“Always.” I kissed him one more time before turning to head back toward the farmhouse. I greeted the two Roses from New England standing guard by the door as I went inside and held my dress up as I climbed the old creaky stairs to the second floor. I went to the restroom in the bridal suite, did my business, and washed my hands. Then, I stared at myself in the mirror and wondered what I was doing— really doing.
The people I thought were my enemies had turned out to be the kindest, most loving allies I could ever ask for. And the ones I considered family were more likely to stab me in the back as to help me anymore.
I grabbed my phone when it buzzed, indicating a text message, and I frowned.
Della: Run!
Run? What did she mean?—
Movement in the mirror caught my attention and I jumped, gasping when a man in a staff uniform stood in the reflection, the same man I thought I’d recognized earlier.
It hit me in a split second. He’d been at Roman’s house the night of the attack. He was a Hell’s Knight.
Terror launching me into action, I only had a moment to reach for my knife before he wrapped an arm around my neck to put me in a headlock.
But I wasn’t the same woman who’d been attacked weeks ago. I stomped on his foot, causing him to let go enough for me to wiggle out of his hold. My blade was still sheathed on my thigh, but I had a million pounds of fabric between me and it. I tried to yank up my dress, but my attacker recovered enough to punch me in the face.
Agonizing pain splintered down my cheek and into my neck, and I stumbled back, unable to defend myself when a different pair of arms wrapped around my chest.
“Good to see you, blood traitor.” The voice ricocheted through me, and I froze. Suddenly, I wasn’t in the bridal suite bathroom anymore. I was back in that dusty cabin in the woods with those men kicking me and beating me. This wasn’t one of my uncles’ men or one of Chesco’s. No, this was the disgusting, sick bastard that worked for Gabriella, the one that took delight in making me cry.
“No,” I tried to say, but blood filled my mouth, tasting like copper, choking me.
“Oh, yes,” he said, fisting my hair to yank it back. “You didn’t think you’d lay this trap so easily, did you?” He laughed and pointed a gun at my head. “Oh, you stupid bitch. Of course, you did.”
“Lenny,” came a chilling, familiar tone from the doorway. “Enough.” Gabriella stood with her dark hair in a tight bun and her lips painted dark red. She wore her finest clothes, a suit imported from Italy no doubt, and the rarest jewelry. I bet she cost more than my trust in just what she had on. “Let’s go say hi, shall we?”
Then she set her gaze on me and shook her head like I was the biggest disgrace our family had ever seen. “Bring her.”
I struggled to walk with Lenny holding my hair and my face pounding in time with my racing heart, but we somehow made it down the stairs. When we got outside, I gasped at the two Roses slumped over. They weren’t bleeding, so they hadn’t been shot, but somehow, my aunt’s cronies and the other motorcycle clubs had knocked them out to get inside.
The roar of motorcycles echoed up the road, and a swarm of them appeared on the horizon. Hell’s Knights and Kings of Carnage, no doubt. But how did they get past the Roses guarding the perimeter?
We kept going, kept walking, and when we got to the tent, Gabriella strolled inside like she’d been a part of the ceremony since the beginning. The music cut off. The crowd parted as she passed. When the other Roses saw me being manhandled by one of her minions, they reached for their weapons.
But the wait staff reacted by pulling guns seemingly from everywhere—under tables, behind the bar, in holsters under their aprons. Castor was right. They’d been here the whole time. They infiltrated our reception staff and now stood with their pistols aimed at the Roses, who pointed their guns back at them. It had gone from a fake wedding to a real standoff in a heartbeat. The horde of Gabriella’s MC cronies parked their bikes and stormed toward the tent, and suddenly, both armies were pitted against each other.
This. This explains the knot in my stomach. God, I’d been so blind. I didn’t see this coming.
I locked eyes with my husband, who stood at the lover’s table with his hand on his nine, pointed straight at Gabriella.
“Easy now,” Roman said, shaking his head. “No one make any stupid moves.”
Sulli and Frankie walked out of the house to stand along the tent’s edge, Chesco at his father’s side with a scowl. I tried not to look at him. I didn’t want to give the game away, but I didn’t see my brother. Where had Leo gone? Did Gabriella snatch him too? Or had she already killed him?
“Well, well, well,” Gabriella said, stopping in the center of the crowd. “Is this all for me? I’m touched, truly.”
She nodded at Lenny, and he threw me to the ground where I landed in a heap at Gabriella’s feet.
“She’s got nothing to do with this,” Roman said. “Let her go and you and I can?—”
“Nothing to do with this?” Gabriella laughed. “My guess is this is all her doing.” She stared down at me with disdain, her nose scrunched, her eyes evil and menacing. “Oh, my dear.” Gabriella tutted and shook her head. “A coward, I’m afraid. Just like your father. It runs in the blood, you see.” She looked at Roman. “But what did I expect for someone who would whore herself out to a disgusting piece of Rose garbage?”
“Coming from you, that’s a compliment,” Roman said.
One of the Caputis stepped aside so another could come through, hauling Della with him by the arm. She’d been beaten and bruised, bloody tears running down her cheeks. She must have just had enough time to text me a warning before they did that to her. I started to stand, to go after her, but Lenny held me down by the shoulder.
“Oh, there she is,” Gabriella said, turning to me again. “Your rat.”
I swallowed, but kept my composure. I’d already known who it was, but I didn’t know what information she’d been feeding them. It must have been the plans for the wedding. It must have been the catering crew we’d hired so that they could sneak in like a Trojan Horse.
“Did you know she was the one who sold you out?” Gabriella raised her eyebrows. “Gave you up in a heartbeat. All I had to do was threaten her beloved Matteo, and she sang like Pavarotti.”
I sympathized with my dear cousin. Gabriella always knew how to use a person’s heart to get them to do whatever she wanted.
Della sobbed and wilted into her captor’s hold, murmuring, “I’m sorry,” over and over again.
“Well, what should we do now?” Gabriella turned back to Roman and clutched her hands behind her back. “I’ll admit, you’re not the Montgomery blood I wanted to spill, but a Rose by any other name and all that. I suppose you’ll have to do.”
“What makes you think you have the upper hand in this?” Roman scoffed.
“Oh, I know all about your trap.” Gabriella stepped toward him. “I know my nephew is lurking around here somewhere. I even know this was a charade to lure me out.” She turned around, glancing at the tense crowd. When she didn’t see him, she looked down at me. “Well, here I am. What do you want?”
I sat back on my haunches and stared up at her, my nose dripping, the space between my eyes pounding. “I wanted you out in the open.”
“For what, my darling liar?” Gabriella smiled like a monster. I trembled, my entire body shaking with the weight of what I knew I had to do. Hatred brewed in my gut, spewing through my molecules in a hot, disgusting wave.
The skirt on my dress hid my legs well, and they’d shoved me so haphazardly to the ground, they hadn’t thought to bind my hands. They’d been distracted, and I had gone for my knife without them noticing. Now, I had my opportunity.
Memories of me as a child floated to the front of my mind, when my mother was still alive and Gabriella had been someone I’d looked up to. She always gave the best presents at Christmas and knew how to make anyone laugh. When Alessandra died, a piece of Gabriella went with her, and after Benito, there was nothing human left inside my dear old Zia. Putting her down would be a mercy.
My hand shook. I stared up at her, my jaw clenched, tears in my eyes, knowing I could slash her across the throat and it would all be over. A queen for a queen.
Just as I went to do it, menacing laughter came from my right and I stopped. My brother weaved in between Frankie and Sulli’s men, patting Chesco on the shoulder as he passed him. Then, he stopped and clapped in a slow, degrading rhythm.
“Look at you,” Leo said, glancing around. “All this posturing. All this scheming. And for what? Why not just ambush the wedding and shoot everyone? Why not kill Julia while no one would see you?”
“There you are,” Gabriella said, her features softening. She turned to one of her minions. “Grab him.”
No one moved, not even Lenny. The Hell’s Knights and the Kings of Carnage seemed unsure about what to do. They looked at each other, confusion etched between their brows. They must be hesitant about who to follow. Their allegiance had been with Gabriella, but if the Caputis weren’t behind her anymore, was it still advantageous for them? Everyone else looked to Frankie, who pursed his lips and tilted his head.
“What are you waiting for? Grab him! Bring him to me!” Gabriella turned, aghast at how her orders were being ignored.
And now the time has come.
The walls were closing in on her, and the reign of her mania had finally ended.
“Gabriella,” Sulli said, holding his hands out to either side. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”
Her jaw dropped, her face turning a pale shade of ash as reality caught up to her. No one was on her side anymore. Maybe one or two of her goons would protect her. Maybe she would even have someone willing to go down with her. But the family had rallied behind Frankie and Sulli, and they’d put their faith in Leo. She’d been outmaneuvered.
“No,” she whispered, shifting her wide eyes between my uncles, my brother, and me.
“So you see,” Leo said, crossing his hands, “it’s over. The war, the bloodshed, all of it is over.”
“It’s time for a new reign. A time for peace,” Chesco added.
“I’ve got all of the underbosses,” Leo said. “The uncles, the Morellis, the Vitales, the Romanos. The only one here who wants the war to continue is you.”
Gabriella looked around, waiting to see if someone would stop them, and when no one did, not even Lenny, she let out a loud, mocking laugh. “Him? You’re putting your trust in him?”
A few things happened after that, and time seemed to slow down and speed up simultaneously. Gabriella lunged for Lenny and grabbed his gun. Roman must have thought she was coming for me, and he fired. I lurched to my feet, my knife in my right hand, ready to pounce. Gabriella started to turn toward my husband, aiming at his head, but Roman’s bullet hit her in the shoulder and she stumbled, her finger clenching around the trigger.
I stabbed her in the throat just as her gun went off, a bright white blast blinding me. Suffocating smoke filled my nostrils and coated my tongue as it went down my esophagus. Something hot and fiery burned through my dress, into my gut, and when I glanced down, I saw a bright crimson patch spreading over my beautiful wedding gown. It was completely ruined, of course. I’d never be able to get that stain out.
Then, my brain caught up with the pain. My stomach…Something had happened to my stomach.
Had I stabbed myself?
No, my knife still stuck out of her neck where she collapsed on the floor.
“Julia!” Roman cried, rushing toward me, a look of sheer panic echoing out of his wide eyes.
Oh…
My chest erupted into agony, the burning heat of having been shot cascading down my legs and up my spine. My knees gave out, and I sank to the ground just as Roman’s arms wrapped around me, holding me up.
This is it. It was real. The whole time.
But it wasn’t Roman that fate wanted. Oh no. This time, it came for me.
As I stared up at his beautifully frightened eyes, I remembered there was something I wanted to tell him, something important.
“It was real,” I said, reaching up to touch his face. My fingers were coated red with Caputi blood, both mine and Gabriella’s. Despite this, I couldn’t feel them, and I couldn’t feel his cheek. The world had started to fade away. “I love you, and it was real. The whole time.”
Then everything went black.