Chapter 18
Angel
My heart pounded in my chest, my body trembling as I was ushered into one of the parlor rooms on the bottom floor of my family’s estate, where my father was waiting. Electricity hummed in my veins. Every nerve ending in my body had been awakened by Gaven’s sinful, dominating touch.
Why the hell had I let him do that? Why had I responded? The answer to my questions evaded me, making my head feel murky and my confusion more pronounced.
I’d fought him at first, resisted, but once it became clear that he wouldn’t stop, I’d … just accepted it. His mouth was positively wicked and I had a feeling that he would easily control me and make me come again and again with that damn thing.
I strode into the small space that had been prepared before the wedding to find my father there, adjusting the cuffs of his white shirt sleeves beneath his charcoal gray suit coat.
The sight made me all the more aware of how soaked my panties were and how my skin burned with the memory of Gaven’s touch and tongue.
I only hoped he would assume that the pink on my cheeks was blush from my makeup.
“Ah, there we are, Angel. Come, let me look at you.” My father smiled and held his arms out for me. Carefully, I moved toward him. “You look absolutely stunning, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, stepping into his embrace.
The hug was slightly awkward. Considering that the last time he’d seen me, he’d been angry and disappointed over my attempt at running away, it made sense.
As he pulled back, I gripped his arm and stopped him from retreating.
“I love you. You know that, right?” I asked.
Raffaello Price was a big man, a strong man. Before my very eyes, though, his expression softened in a way I hadn’t seen since my mother had been alive. He reached up, and the entirety of his hand cupped my cheek.
“My sweet child,” he said. “I know you do.”
“I never wanted you to be disappointed in me,” I told him. “I just … felt trapped.”
“This is what’s best for you.” His words sounded like an assurance, and for the first time, I wondered if they really were.
Perhaps the idea of leaving behind the world of criminal organizations and danger was genuinely impossible.
As if he could hear my inner thoughts, my father continued.
“You are my daughter,” he sighed, “and that means that there are many eyes on you. Eyes that you never see. Eyes that you will likely never meet. They are there, nonetheless. Gaven is a man who will protect you from those who mean to harm you.”
“I—”
He shushed me with a finger over my lips before dropping his hand away. “I know you don’t understand it now, but someday you will,” he said. “If I could have given you the life you wanted—the normalcy you craved, I would have. I’m sorry I couldn’t. All I can do now is find safety for you.”
Silence descended between us, but thankfully he didn’t move away. Instead, he allowed me time to collect my thoughts as I formulated my response. “Will…” I inhaled sharply as my eyes began to burn. “Will I still see you?” I asked.
My father’s face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean … well, I assume that I’ll have to move out—to go live with Gaven.
I just…” My eyes were watering quickly and I tilted my head up to keep the tears from falling.
After a moment, I lowered my head back down to meet his gaze.
“I want to know if I’ll still see you often.
” Despite everything, I would miss my father.
As much as I disagreed with what he was doing and the decisions he’d made in his life—I could hate a man’s job but still love the man. I still loved him.
“Of course.” My father gripped my arms and pulled my back into his wide chest. “You’re not going anywhere, Angel. My child, did you think that? Is that why you were so afraid?”
I sniffed hard. “What do you mean I’m not going anywhere?” I asked.
“Gaven is moving here.” My father’s response shocked me enough that I pulled away from him and scanned his face for a sign of dishonesty. I found none.
“He’s moving here?”
He nodded. “Gaven is going to be the next head of the Price Family,” my father replied, “with my beautiful daughter at his side.” He tucked a strand of hair that had fallen loose behind one of my ears and gazed at me.
“You will see me as much as you want, and as much as my schedule will allow. Perhaps, you’ll even be able to do some of the things you want to. ”
“I have to give him an heir, though,” I said.
My father nodded again. “Yes, but I’m sure that won’t take long. Then there will be months between your pregnancy and the baby’s birth. You can do whatever you want, love. We will give you all the opportunities—so long as you remain safe within the fold.”
I bit down on my lower lip as my eyes sought the floor.
Safe within the fold—still a part of the organization.
Still a mafia wife, but … maybe he was right.
Maybe it would be easier after I gave Gaven what he wanted.
An heir and then … freedom. The next question would be however, would I be able to leave a child behind?
I doubted it. In fact, I’d shied away from the thought, but the second Gaven did impregnate me would be the moment I’d be locked to him forever, more so than by any ring or wedding.
“My sweet Evangeline,” my father said, distracting me from my thoughts as he took my free hand that wasn’t squeezing my bouquet tightly. “I know this isn’t the life you envisioned for yourself, but this is the life for you. It was the world you were born into. You were meant for this.”
I stood silent, waiting for him to continue. There were no words to describe the mess of emotions that snaked through me since I’d learned my fate. Betrayal, hurt, anger, curiosity, and now … even lust.
“I don’t know what I would do if anything were to happen to you because of who I am,” he continued, his words lowering to a whisper. “But now I know you’ll have someone to protect you after I’m gone.”
A knife sliced into my heart at the grave comment, and I squeezed his hand. “Please,” I begged, “let’s not think like that. You’ll be around for a long time.”
“Long enough, maybe, to see the next generation of Price Heirs,” he teased.
My heart stuttered to a stop, but I pressed the dizziness they brought forth down. “Maybe,” I squeaked out.
He grinned ruefully and, for a brief moment, I could see the handsome man my mother had fallen in love with. Despite the darkness that plagued our family, what he did and who he was, he was still the man who had held me in his arms and shielded me when I was a child. I couldn’t help but love him.
“All right, my Angel, we can save all other conversations for after your wedding, but I want you to know that while you may not see it now, this is what your future needs. Do you understand?”
Not even a little, I thought, but I murmured my assent, leaning in for another hug.
While still in my mind, the thoughts of only a few minutes prior had quieted, my focus shifting to the music playing in the ballroom where my wedding waited to begin.
With a deep, steadying breath, I hooked my fingers in the crook of my father’s arm and started forward.
Doors opened to reveal the hundreds of people who now stood as the signature bridal song started to play.
Elaborate white flowers hung over the ceiling in strings.
I’d chosen the lilies, my mother’s favorite, but other than that, I’d had very little to do with the day’s preparation.
The floral scent was nearly overwhelming.
I didn’t know where they’d managed to get so many real flowers for the occasion so quickly, but someone had obviously worked very hard to turn the room into an interior garden.
Vines and leaves were woven over the chairs that had been set up and they even lined the walkway.
Candles were lit, but overhead the chandeliers provided the most light.
The room was devoid of windows, and it wasn’t lost on me that it was likely because the guests in this room—Gaven and my father included—were probably enemies to very powerful people who wouldn’t hesitate to see them dead, even at a wedding.
All eyes turned to my father and me as we made our way down the aisle.
People I didn’t even know eyed me with a myriad of expressions; awe, happiness, judgment, and hate.
There were more, but I couldn’t pick them all apart.
All of them were focused on me. I knew, vaguely, who they all were.
My father’s business partners, members of our family, and I was sure even a few enemies who wanted nothing more than to see a bullet in my father’s back.
Perhaps one of them had even attempted to kill me on the street the day that Gaven had demanded the wedding to be moved up.
Whoever they were, they were not nearly as important or as all-consuming as the man at the end of the long path I walked down.
All there was, was Gaven, standing straight and tall at the end of the aisle.
A wolfish smile curled his lips with each step closer I took.
I was about to seal my future with the man who scared me more than I’d cared to admit, even to myself.
The closer I drew to the end, the more nerves whipped through me. Slowing to a stop, we waited for the officiant to ask my father for his permission to have me marry Gaven.
“I do,” my father agreed proudly, kissing my cheek.
With a final squeeze of my hand on his arm and passing off the bouquet to Gertie as she came forward and took it from me, he stepped away.
Now, it was only Gaven and me. As the officiant ran through the obligatory lines, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Gaven’s intense stare, and I was very aware of his hands holding mine.
“Please repeat after me, Mr. Belmonte,” the officiant prompted.
Gaven echoed each line with confidence, the words searing into my soul.
“I, Gaven Belmonte, take you, Evangeline Price, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”
I was frozen in place by the time he finished.
Everything was finally coming to fruition.
This wasn’t some sham or a simple business deal like my father had planned.
It was real, and I knew that as Gaven said the vow, it was binding the two of us together.
No matter for how long, no matter how far apart.
I would forever belong to Gaven Belmonte.
“Now for you, Evangeline.” The officiant glanced at me, a reassuring smile on his weathered face, and I nodded, echoing his words each time until I got to the end.
“… from this day forward until death do us part.” The words sounded weird, steady, and smooth despite the slight tremble radiating through my body.
“Then I proudly pronounce you, Gaven and Evangeline, man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Price. You may now kiss your bride.”
Gaven didn’t need any more encouragement to do so, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
Cupping my head with one hand and pulling me into him with the other, he ensured I was looking him in the eye for a long moment before finally pressing his lips to mine.
Possessive and intense, I felt the significance of that single kiss all the way to the tips of my toes and in the deepest recesses of my heart.
I was officially Gaven’s.
Until death did we part.