Chapter 7
ANGEL
Iwent searching for my family across the ballroom floor.
My parents abandoned their plates of wagyu beef, baby potatoes, and Caesar salads as soon as they spotted me.
My sisters rushed to me, wrapping their arms around me, then Mum held me close, lending me her comfort.
‘How are you?’ she murmured, peeking up at me.
‘Surviving a train wreck, mother,’ I muttered. ‘Ask me again in a week.’
‘It’ll be alright, Angel,’ Mum whispered in her soft Midwestern accent. ‘We’ve got you.’
Dad stood right behind her, arms crossed over his chest, eyes gleaming with fury, not at me, but at the fuckin’ fire Reese was flinging our way.
‘That’s fuckwit is asking for it,’ my father snarled. ‘I’m going to dump three tons of manure right on his country house driveway. Better yet, I’ll introduce his precious lawns to a gallon of industrial weedkiller by midnight.’
Even though he’d lived in Nashville for decades now, Dad remained a pure Australian larrikin at heart, with a street fighter’s spirit, rowdy but good-hearted to the core.
He was brawling for a fight, unaccustomed to backing down from an assault on his family.
He muttered under his breath; his retaliatory schemes grew wilder by the second, each one more illegal than the last.
‘Chill, Dad,’ I drawled, somewhat amused, wrapping an arm around his broad shoulders. ‘Let me handle it. Reese promised not to touch our family now that I’ve married Roxy, and I’ll make him eat his promise if he violates that trust.’
My mother shook her head and sighed.
‘Poor Roxy seemed devastated at the altar.’
‘Wouldn’t you be if your own father blackmailed your daughter’s ex to marry you for a cool million to protect his reputation?’ Marnie muttered, crossing her arms.
I had zero capacity to think about my new wife’s feelings, let alone my own, as my brain hovered on the precipice of mental collapse.
Yet, during our brief wedding dance, when I pulled her to me for the first time, my heart kicked with an unexpected lurch.
I’d always considered Roxy to be beautiful in her own way, with her freckles, her expressive hazel eyes, and that pixie cut that made her appear almost elfin.
Her lips were lush, and she had a stunning smile.
Her body had curves in all the right places, and if I hadn’t been in love with Evangeline in the past, I might have tried my luck with her.
I also liked her energy; she always maintained a quiet grace, especially today.
‘Roxy never asked to be collateral damage in the wake of Evangeline’s mess,’ I growled. ‘We all need to be kind to her.’
I made a silent oath to myself right then and there: to shield her from the storm and my own bitterness.
‘On that note, are we taking the money?’ Clair asked.
My dad’s mouth twisted.
‘It’s tainted; I won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.’
That was one of the reasons why I loved and respected this man; his integrity knew no bounds.
‘I’m with Dad; I’m not willing to take the cash,’ I rasped. ‘It’ll come with strings, or given Reese’s true rep, it’ll be dirty as hell. However, if he ever makes good on it, which I doubt, and my lawyers give it a green light, I’ll give the one mill to you and Mum for your nest egg.’
‘You can’t -,’ my father protested.
‘I don’t need it; put some of it towards paying off Marnie and Clair’s university fees too.’
My sisters clapped in glee, then sobered up when I arched an eyebrow at them.
‘Really?’
‘Sorry bro,’ they said. ‘Nothing to cheer about.’
‘Damn straight,’ I growled.
We exchanged a few more words before I signaled one of the hotel’s attendants to summon a private town car for my family’s departure.
Walking them to the venue’s entrance, I gathered my loved ones in a final embrace under the stone portico.
‘I’ll be fine,’ I promised, kissing Mum’s forehead. ‘I’ll call you when we touch down in Italy.’
Dad gave me a long hug.
‘Stay strong son and be kind to Roxy, she’s as lost in this mess as you are.’
I jerked my chin in acknowledgment.
‘I’ll do my best, pops. Love you.’
He climbed into the waiting vehicle along with the rest of my family.
Moments later, the sedan rolled down the driveway, their taillights bleeding into the thick Nashville night.
I let out an exhale and pushed a hand through my hair and over my face.
Damn, how had my life got twisted upside down in just a few freakin’ hours?
I needed companionship and a stiff drink.
With an inhale, I went in search of both.
The humid Tennessee night formed droplets on my face as I strode out onto the manicured lawn.
I found the rest of my Six Sinners brothers in a far corner of the estate, having taken over a cluster of Adirondack chairs by the lake.
They’d shed their formal wear, tux jackets on the backs of the seats, bow ties abandoned on the grass, white shirts hung open, exposing their jewelry, chains, and ink.
In their hands were beers, and I prowled towards them with a hankering for one too.
Jude surged to his feet first, followed by Bishop, Deacon, Levi, and Reign.
‘How’re you holding up, man?’ Bishop asked, throwing an arm over my shoulders for a quick hug, his eyes scanning my face with concern.
‘Like garbage warmed over in a microwave,’ I growled as he let me go.
I sank into an empty wooden seat.
Deacon passed me a beer, and I took it with a grateful nod, sucking back the liquid.
Heck, it tasted good.
‘You probably dodged a missile, my friend,’ Deacon rasped. ‘Any woman who pulls a stunt like that at the altar is a straight-up witch. If you’d exchanged vows with Evangeline, trust, she’d have wiped you out in less than a year.’
I glared at him for a moment until he threw up his hands in mock surrender.
‘Just saying. ’
Levi cursed under his breath.
‘This wasn’t just a standard case of cold feet, it was a diabolical betrayal.’
Reign huffed in agreement.
‘Dropping the ball on the day of your wedding is twisted as fuck.’
‘Can’t say I’m surprised,’ Jude muttered. ‘I say good riddance. That said, I hope she figures out whatever demons she’s running from.’
Despite my disgust at my runaway bride, worry for her spiked through me, and I pushed a hand through my hair.
‘I know y’all are trying to comfort me, but you’re not helping.’
Bishop pointed a finger at me.
‘We’re stating the freakin’ obvious, son; all these years, you’ve been her rock and anchor, Angel. You’ve shown up over and over again, yet she chose to bolt every time. I’ve no cares left to give for her.’
‘As for Roxy,’ Deacon added. ‘How’s she doing?’
I sighed, rubbing the back of my head.
‘Shell-shocked, and dropping apologies. The shitshow isn’t her fault, though. Reese blackmailed her and me into walking down that aisle.’
‘We knew he twisted both your arms but brother you haven’t given us the details. Spill.’ Jude growled.
I hadn’t had a chance to share Reese’s terms with my brothers, caught up in the whirlwind of exchanging a bride out and getting myself ready for the nuptials.
Now, I went on to tell them about Roxy’s father’s offer of one million, and the threats he intimated if we refused to get married.
Levi cursed long and hard. ‘The hell? I’m about to mess him up.’
‘Chill, man,’ I rasped, waving him back into his chair. ‘Calm down, all of you. We can’t fight Reese without a sound strategy. Remember he’s one of the most lethal operators in this entire state. He’s in with the cops, the senators, the mayor’s office, and big business.’
The guys blinked at me in unison, their expressions locking down.
‘Why would a man do that to you, to his own daughter?’ Levi blurted.
‘Roxy’s biological father isn’t Reese,’ I revealed. ‘Her mother had a secret affair decades ago. She and Evangeline are only half-sisters, and Reese used that leverage to terrorize Roxy her entire life.’
‘Damn,’ Bishop whispered. ‘What a jackass.’
‘I concur, but I won’t allow Roxy to take the fall for this, nor let that tyrant touch my family,’ I vowed. ‘For now, I’m going to go along with his game until I come up with a play to untangle us from his grip.’
‘We’ve got you man,’ Jude rasped as we clinked our bottles in solidarity.
I downed the last of my beer and rose.
‘Grateful for y’all having my back, brothers. Now I have to pack for a fake honeymoon in Capri.’
Jude nodded.
‘Not a hardship. Take your time to sort this out, Angel. Six Sinners is on hiatus for the next month. Use your time away to script your play.’
‘I plan to,’ I muttered. ‘Reese won’t be left standing when I’m finished with him.’
The same protective instinct that drove me as a ten-year-old kid to floor a bully and keep him down in the sandbox surged through my chest.
Back then, I used my fists to shield girls from playground ruffians.
Now, the stakes involved my band and my family’s survival.
Along with figuring out how to deal with Evangeline, I intended to make Reese Béliveau Rosedale Snr regret the decision to target those I loved.