Chapter Eleven
Maximus
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Jake asked me, his face appearing in the mirror as I straightened my tie.
“When do I ever not know what I’m doing? I’m getting married, not invading a country,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
Roberto had gone mad trying to find Olivia. He had some of his best men searching for her, one of them had turned up at the final fitting of her wedding dress only I had changed the location at the last minute.
“I never thought I’d see the day Maximus Rossi allowed himself to be tricked into matrimony.”
“Olivia didn’t trick me,” I retorted, huffing out a laugh.
“I planned on marrying her ten years ago. The conditions just weren’t in my favour until recently.
” It was true, I knew that first day she found me hiding on the stairs that she was different in a special way.
Many years ago, Dad had told me that the secret to his long and happy marriage was that he had married his best friend.
“You could have eliminated that useless prick she was engaged to yourself,” Jake muttered, wandering across the room to pour himself a whiskey. “If this was your intended result, why allow her to roam free?”
He was one to talk, considering he had been in love with my sister for as long as I could remember.
He stood and watched her marrying Lucio, who was worse than Dale because he believed himself to be a significant player in our world.
At least Dale realised he didn’t belong in this world of violence and pain, and had planned to retire to the country.
“If I had killed Dale, Olivia would never have forgiven me. I knew Roberto would never allow her to marry into that family, so I could bide my time.”
Jake downed his drink in one, and set the glass on the counter. “And if she had become pregnant?”
My laugh echoed around the room. “Olivia may have believed herself in love with Dale, but you and I both know about his preferences.” They were the type that could get you locked away for a very long time.
He was the type of sicko who would have frequented the camps we liberated with Jordan’s crew a few months ago.
Jake chuckled. “If Roberto hadn’t put him down, his own brothers would have stepped in the first time he brought the family name into disrepute.”
It was the way of our world. Honour and the family name meant everything, and revenge was the ultimate adrenaline rush.
“Ready,” I said, turning around to face the man who was the brother I chose to have in my life since I didn’t have a biological brother.
“It’s a dark day in the world, and for all the women out there who were planning their marriage to you in their minds,” Jake said, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe that you’re getting married.”
I grinned at his forlorn expression. “I doubt my demise will affect your prowess,” I joked, striding past him to find my other cufflinks as I’d gone off the ones I had put into my shirt earlier.
I put my gun in the holder at the back of my belt, and a blade into my pocket.
“Going to war?” I turned around to face the female voice coming from my doorway to find my sister Willow standing there.
“You made it!” I said, moving toward her to engulf her in a hug. She froze for a moment before she returned my embrace, and I knew the shadows from her imprisonment still haunted her.
“I wouldn’t miss your wedding,” she replied in a soft voice. “My greatest regret was not being here to see Poppy getting married.”
I didn’t point out that she had been kidnapped and held captive, and that was the reason she hadn’t attended.
“Is Gabriel with you?” I queried, leaning back to stare down at her.
“Papa is interrogating him downstairs,” she replied. “Something about a business deal involving Alexandro.”
“Sounds like Dad,” I laughed. “He just can’t stop interfering in people’s business.” The wily old fart knew more than anyone else about what was going on in our world. He had learned a long time ago that knowledge was power, and that was why he had claimed the crown of this kingdom.
“So...” She elongated the word as she rocked back and forward on her feet. “How did my confirmed bachelor brother end up with a fiancée and a wedding today?”
“That is a long story, and entirely inappropriate for today.” I winked at her, and returned to hunting for my cufflinks, locating them on the mantlepiece.
Willow deftly took over the task of changing them in the way she had done for both me and Dad for years.
“I remember these cufflinks. You got them for your eighteenth birthday,” she said, tapping the one on my left wrist with her fingernail. “Mama used to joke that you were part magpie since you were attracted to shiny objects, and these have diamonds in them.”
“Diamonds are transformed under pressure,” I replied. “Everyone in the Rossi family finds their true strength in those conditions.”
She glanced up at me. “Even me. When I was at my lowest point and ready to break, Gabriel found me, and I discovered an entirely new life.”
A lump formed in my throat. Willow and I had been inseparable as children, playing outside in all weathers while Poppy grew into a princess.
I never realised how important she was to me until the day she was taken from us.
The woman who returned wasn’t my sister, she was a strange creature of darkness, and it suited her in a way her previous innocence didn’t.
“Any mention of marriage in your universe?” I asked, placing the flick blade that had been custom made to fit into my belt buckle.
“Do you need weapons at a wedding?” Willow asked, nodding at my belt.
“Weapons are as essential as your underwear,” Jake said. “You should never leave home without your gun and your knickers.”
“I would like to disagree with you, but Gabriel would agree. He threatened to shoot your security officer on the front door for trying to search him on the way in,” Willow replied, shaking her head in amusement. “No one is allowed to touch his gun but him.”
“Damn right!” Jake exclaimed. “There is nothing more sacred than a man’s gun.”
He was right. Every single man had a preference about the gun he carried, and I didn’t care what anyone said, it was definitely an extension of our dicks. No one touched my gun but me, and I would eviscerate any man who tried to take it from me.
My other possession I would happily kill someone over was the woman who had willingly walked into my lair, when I still hadn’t worked out how to convince her that she belonged to me.