Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Waverly
We pull into the hotel, and my staff has set everything up to perfection. I give Reggie, one of our bellhops, the lowdown about where the bags should go. I planned for Lukas and I to spend the night in my cottage, but I’m still waiting on the safety inspection, so the executive suite it is. Angie’s parents got bumped to a smaller room, but since they haven’t made their third payment for the venue, I felt comfortable making that decision.
Angie’s parents are in deep trouble, but I’m wiping the debt clean and only paying for the staff and supplies. I’m already in the hole a few million, what’s another 80k.
Carol has her head in her phone, horrified, whispering “I don’t understand.” She shoves the phone in her husband's face. “Are you seeing this? People are posting that my dress is a knock off.”
He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t care. And don’t you have bigger fish to fry,” he hisses. “Adam was totally out of control. Publicly showing off his date like that. Poor girl looked like she wanted to die.” He catches my eye and mouths, ‘I’m so sorry.’
I shrug, “It’s fine.” Really it is. After all, I brought a date too. I’ve got no reason to feel bitter or upset when I’m winning this breakup.
“My designer said it was an original and now Sheila Mcleod is walking around with a better version and she’s having dinner with the Olympians? What? Ugh, my yoga instructor liked Sheila’s dress. Are you kidding me?” She glares at me with an arctic chill. “You did this.”
Not me, but my evil mastermind friend with limitless resources did.
Richard grabs her arm, his eyes blazing. “Enough with the dress already. There are more important things happening right now. If you don’t want to focus on your son’s behavior, how about focusing on our daughter’s wedding? A wedding we can’t afford because money is missing.”
Carol slides her phone into her purse, her best contrite face plastered on like a mask. “I’m sorry.”
She’s not. I know she’s dying on the inside about the Instagram posts. Team Waverly is winning this for sure.
In a private room, filled with flowers and excellent lighting, we get ready for pictures. The groom and the groomsmen take theirs first while we touch up our makeup and hair. Lukas is in a much better mood, so hopefully he won’t be all frowny for the pictures. Fingers crossed they can photoshop Lukas’s angry death glare from the ceremony shots. Most likely, the photographer will crop him out.
I hate the attention I’ve already gotten. Adam groping his poor date was one thing, but the pity glances from both sides of the family toward me are too much. When will this day be over? I want to get drunk, eat cake, and let Lukas fuck me.
Everytime someone asks about how I’m doing with the breakup between me and Adam, Angie tenses like she’s being forced to touch a hot stove. The rift I had been avoiding for years is finally becoming a chasm. I broke her trust, and ruining her day might be a bridge too far. But I lied to her for years, or at least I hid the truth from her. Why was I worried about her knowing what was going on between me and Lukas? Or about how unhappy I was with Adam? I told Izzy and Alana almost instantly. Kyle seems to be way more excited about Lukas and me than Angie is. That’s not really best friend behavior in my book.
The bridesmaids take a few pictures alone before the photographer merges the two groups. I take my spot next to Angie and make eye contact with Lukas as we all line up. He looks amazing in a tux. Absolutely incredible. His neck tattoo peeks out of his collar, a tiny hint of what’s mine. He’s always been like a work of art to me, but it’s hidden, my little secret.
Pictures are going great, people are laughing, smiling, and the nastiness of the ceremony is forgotten until Adam walks in with his date. This poor girl. Not only is she being paraded around like a missile during a third-rate dictatorship’s military parade, but she’s also stuck having sex with Adam. Quite frankly the punishment fits the crime.
Adam is sweaty, blotchy, and his lips have a weird bluish tint to them. Why didn’t I think I was worth true love until now?
As my ex moves closer, literally dragging his date with him, Lukas’s hackles are instantly up. He moves noticeably closer to me as he seethes at Adam, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m family. More than you are,” Adam snarls in reply.
Lukas flinches. Strike one. It’s not a blow Lukas hasn’t heard a million times before, but it still hurts every time he gets hit.
Any retort is lost in Lukas’s mouth. Maybe he’s trying to keep the situation from getting worse. Or maybe it’s hard to encapsulate years of trauma into one sentence.
Adam claps his hands. “Ok, let’s do this thing. Where should Kimberly and I stand?”
By clapping his hands, he’s freed Kimberly from his grasp. She takes a step back and waves. “Oh no. I shouldn’t be in this picture.”
Kimberly’s blonde hair hides her face. Her dress is too short for this event, and I have a strong suspicion she only wore it because Adam told her to. Did he even tell her they were going to a wedding?
Angie crosses her arms and spears her brother with a demonstrative glare. “Your revenge fuck won’t be in my pictures.” Then she glances over to Kimberly, her voice and stare soften a touch. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Kimberly crosses her arms and gives a sort of a side-frown smirk as she motions to the door with her thumb. “I should go.”
“YOU FUCKING STAY RIGHT THERE!” Adam’s malice spreads throughout the space, sending me flinching, my throat closing from the recall of his attacks.
“Adam, she doesn’t want to be in the picture,” I say. He can’t hurt me now.
“Fuck you, Waverly. You did this!” Adam snaps and the room turns. Half of them stare at me with disgust and the rest are annoyed at the grown man having a temper tantrum.
Lukas steps closer to Adam, pointing his finger like it’s a sword. “Don’t fucking talk to her like that.”
But it’s Kimberly’s high pitched squeak that quiets everyone. “Wait, she’s your ex? You said she was mentally unstable.” Oh, really? Strike two, buddy. “She gave me a tampon in the bathroom, fixed my hair and my eyeliner, all while giving me a pep talk. She’s super nice. She’s not the one screaming like a psychopath.”
Adam tries to make his plea to win over the room. “She kicked me out of our home.”
Lukas defends my honor a second time. “Because you were cheating on her, in her house, on her bed.”
“It was the shower,” Kimberly corrects, then squeaks, “Sorry.”
I wave her concerns away. “No, it’s all good. It gave me the push I needed. I do owe you a new bag though. Go meet me at the bar. We’ll have some shots and pick one out together.”
She presses her hands to her heart and pinches her lips in one of those frown smiles. “Oh my god, you’re like the nicest.”
And I’m fucking tired of it. “Kimberly, leave,” I say, letting my anger seep into my voice for the first time all day. She doesn’t deserve any of it—being with Adam is punishment enough—but she needs to leave before she becomes collateral damage.
This time she’s out the door before Adam can catch her. The room is thick with tension, reasonable heads try to prevail and talk to him, but he’s narrowed his attention on me. His father’s voice finally breaks through the dull mutterings. “Son, we have a lot to talk about. I think it’s best you leave.”
But Adam doesn’t move.
“The only decision that needs to be made right now,” I say, “is if Angie wants Adam in the picture, or if she’s telling everyone he was in the bathroom when we took it?’
“He’s ruined my day enough,” she confirms.
I agree. “This can all be dealt with in the morning.”
“Fucking bitch,” he hisses, and now Lukas is beyond livid. His fist lands on Adam’s jaw with a satisfying smack.
Their mother screams like she’s the one who’s been hit. “You animal!”
I’m not about to let any more damage happen to Lukas and his family. He’s breathing deep, his eyes pinpoint black. I press my hand to his rapidly beating heart and say, “Red.”
Adam pants a few times before taking his eyes off his brother, still too stunned to speak.
Lukas doesn’t like this answer either and stomps his foot and waves the arm furthest from me at his brother. “He can’t speak to you like that.” His anger rolls off him as I take his cheek in my hand.
“He can’t hurt me anymore,” I say, rubbing my thumb on his neck.
Adam stands, holding his cheek as blood trickles out of the side of his mouth. “You’re with him?” Adam says with disgust. “Shit, Waverly, I might not have treated you right, but at least I didn’t treat you like a fucking little whore like he will.”
“How he treats me is no business of yours,” I state.
“I went to an Ivy League school.”
“You failed and didn’t graduate.” There’s a gasp from Carol. Oops. I guess they didn’t know.
“I have a successful job.”
“He makes $250 an hour,” I counter.
“I fucking saved you from his shit,” Adam says, and my stomach sinks to my feet. No. No. Oh, no. I shake my head, silently begging him to stop talking. “I found his pathetic little journal and threw it out before you wasted your life on him, a loser who draws on junkies.”
Strike three.
“You threw out the journal?” Lukas says in a hushed tone.
“OH, SHIT!” Darren yells from the back of the room.
There are general whispers of ‘What journal?’ coming from the crowd of people.
Adam shakes his head. “I tried being nice about this.” He pulls out a glock from his inside pocket. The room gasps but I’m unphased, even as he points the gun at my head.
Lukas grabs me and pushes me behind him. I’m vaguely aware of the movement around the room, but time stops as I duck under Lukas’s arm and step forward. “You won’t shoot me. You might shoot him, not me.” My voice is icy and cool.
He’s jumpy, edgy, the last braincells of rational thinking imploded a while ago “What the fuck do you know?”
“There’s a million things I know. For instance, you don’t have the balls to be a killer.”
There’s a blur of motion. Adam’s arm snaps back and the gun arcs behind him in the air. A pair of hands catch the gun, drop the bullets from the magazine, then tosses the gun to the man next to him who pops the bullet out of the chamber. Uri and Dimitri are standing behind the spot where Adam once stood threatening my life. Alana has his arm twisted behind him, her knee on his back and his face pressed into the carpet.
“My friends were trained by the KGB,” I add, because it sounds fucking cool.
Uri glances at Adam and sneers, “I literally hate everything Waverly said before Alana kicked your ass.” My old friend looks up at me, sad and pained. “Wave, you should’ve come to us.”
Dimitri’s hand is on Uri’s arm. “Now is not the time. We have other matters to attend to.”
Alana calls out, “Darren, secure the room,” and he starts to usher the family away from the scene and pushes them out toward the hallway.
Lukas stands by me, refusing to leave. Alana tsks her tongue. “Some boyfriend you are. Can’t even disarm an assailant with a gun.”
“I didn’t read that in the boyfriend handbook.”
“Which edition did you read?” Alana asks, but turns her attention to Adam on the floor. “Sooo, how long have you been The Deviant’s little bitch?”
“Fuck you.”
Uri shakes his head, “Wrong answer,” as he stomps on the back of Adam’s leg.
Adam yells and cries, “A while.”
“What did he ask you to do?” Dimitri asks as Alana pulls Adam’s arm back, and there’s an audible pop before he bellows.
“I owe him money, a lot. I wasn’t really going to do it. I swear. I tried to buy time by mortgaging my parents’ house. I’m so close to paying him off.”
Uri grabs one of Adam’s fingers and says, “You’re not answering the question.” There’s another snap of bone.
“He wanted Waverly.”
The color drains from my face. Me? But I’m not a part of the Four Families. There’s an unspoken conversation happening between Alana, Dimtiri and Uri but Lukas wraps me into his chest and holds me.
Uri pulls his phone out and starts talking. “Yeah. No, we got him. We’re going to bring him back soon.” He looks over at me and drops his eyes. “Tell Thiago he was right about Wave… on both things,” he says darkly. “And she has a new guy.” Uri squints at Lukas and then punches Dimitri in the arm. “You know that’s the guy you were supposed to put a hit on. What the fuck happened?”
Dimitri rubs the back of his neck and glances sheepishly around the room. “I didn’t do it.”
“Obviously.”
Dimitri waves his hand toward us. “I went to his shop. He was so sad. I’ve never seen a man that depressed before, and I grew up in Russia. I figured he didn’t hurt Waverly on purpose, and he gave me this cool tattoo.” He rolls his sleeves up to show the octopus.
Uri glares at me. “New tactic. Wave, it’s your choice.” There’s a long silence between us when he realizes I’m not going to talk. “Pig farm or hospital, your choice.”
I’m not saving his life out of love or a good time we once had. I just don’t want Lukas to bury another family member. “Hospital. He needs help.”
Uri still has his ear to the phone. “Yeah.” He pulls the phone away from his mouth, “The new guy has to come to the next family dinner.”
As Dimitri opens a black case with a needle, I play my one card and save Angie’s brother’s life. “And this one goes to the hospital?”
“Yeah, do we have a deal?”
I throw up my hands. “Fine.”
Dimitri pulls at Adam’s shirt. “Go to sleep, you piece of shit.” He looks at me and Lukas. “It will make the car ride easier.”
With the family business taken care of, Alana gives me a hug. “How are you holding up?”
“I’ve had better days. How did you get here?”
“Darren called in for backup when he left the church. I’ve got a few guys out in the lobby securing the area.” She pauses. “Damn, Waverly. One word: Hot!”
“Thanks.”
She points over her shoulder toward the reception hall. “Ok, I’m gonna hit the open bar while you let Angie’s family in. Go take some pictures, get drunk, and have some much-deserved fun.” Alana reaches out and pulls me into another hug. Huh, I didn’t think she was a hugger. Her warm breath grazes my ear as she whispers, “You had a fucking gun to your head, go take care of him.”
She lets go and motions with her head for the boys to follow her. Dimitri lifts an unconscious Adam over his shoulder with a grunt, mumbling something in Russian.
Uri gives a small nod over Lukas, “See you next week.”
Two arms wrap around my waist. As he pulls me into his body, Lukas buries his head into my neck. He whispers, “You said red.”
“And you stopped, like a good listener.”
He snickers a little in my ear, “Well, communication is key.” Lukas squeezes me tighter, “I almost lost you, again.” His voice drips with fear.
“But you didn’t. Members of the Four Families are pretty hard to kill.” I twist around in his arms, embracing him. “Last night we rewrote our story, today we start the next chapter.”
The evening goes on, Adam all but forgotten. I take a shot with Kimberly and buy her a new Michael Kors bag. It isn’t as cute as the first one, but she seems happy with it. Angie and Kyle dance, drink, and kiss all night. We eat cake and are all properly buzzed, love and joy washing away all the horror of a few hours ago. I’m amazed at how quickly humans can rebound.
After the band packs up, Angie pulls me to the side. Her perfect updo is on a forty-five degree tilt, her skin flushed from dancing and having the time of her life.
She hugs me. She’s sticky and sweaty, with wine heavy on her breath. “Thank you for being a great maid of honor.” I’m about to say you’re welcome, but she continues, her eyes watering. “You were the best best friend in the whole world.” She releases our embrace and wipes the tears from her face. Her bottom lip quivers as a shift happens. “But you don’t belong with my family anymore.” My heart stops. “You hid your relationship with Lukas for years. You lied to me. And right now, your family is beating the shit out of my brother, and you’re letting it happen.” Her eyes turn icy. “I don’t know who you are anymore, and I don’t know if I ever did.”
Words are trapped in my throat, held back by my building sob. “But…”
She puts up her hand. “Please stop before you embarrass yourself.”
What? Any remorse I had vanishes and I unleash the side of me I’ve hidden for a lifetime, the real reason why my family kept me away from the crime. I match her coldness. “Lukas is mine.”
She’s about to speak, but this time it’s my hand up, halting the conversation. “You say you don’t know who I am? No shit. I’m the person who planned your dream wedding and paid for it. Who sacrificed her happiness and self worth for your perfect day. But that’s over.” I square my shoulders. “Your family has one year to pay me back, or I’ll find other ways to even out your debt.”
She might not know who I am, but I do. I’m Waverly Fucking Mcleod.
Want to find out why Dimitri rushed out of the family dinner to take a phone call? Or why he came back so happy?
Meet Katya the spy who fell in love with her asset: Dimitri.
He’s so freaking adorable, she never stood a chance.
Fate and Family Book 3 of the Four Families series is coming Spring 2025.