Tales of Obsession Epilogue

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

AXEL

A CHRISTMAS WEDDING

“Can you focus for five fucking minutes, Levi?”

Levi scrolled through his phone, unbothered. “My job is to manage your security and reputation. Not to figure out the seating arrangements at your wedding.”

I gritted my teeth. “Your job is whatever the fuck I say it is. Remember that when you cash in my overpaid checks.”

“You wouldn’t overpay me if I sucked up to you instead of giving it to you straight.”

He had a point. As Piya had so lovingly pointed out, Levi wasn’t just my manager and head of security. He had somehow become a friend. It was an annoying development even I hadn’t seen coming.

“If you’re not going to help, at least find someone who can,” I barked.

I glared at the string quartet sawing away at Pachelbel’s Canon while wedding guests in silk dresses and tailored suits took their seats.

There were fewer than one hundred people inside the tent, whereas our guest count was six hundred. “Where the hell’s the wedding planner?”

Levi shrugged. “No idea. I only know of Jordan’s whereabouts. We’re working on tomorrow’s headline—Zane Trimalchio, Retired Musician Formerly Known as Axel, Ties the Knot with the Former Mrs. Ambani.”

I scowled at him. He knew the mention of Piya’s previous marriage would piss me off and did it anyway to push my buttons.

I was already in a shitty mood. Piya and I were tying the knot today.

Legally. The ceremony was taking place inside a heated tent on the beach that ran perpendicular to our home in Sands Point.

The reception was inside, and I made the mistake of putting the bar there, too.

Most of our guests were in the ballroom getting a drink rather than in the tent watching us get married.

Unless five hundred people could be herded to the ceremony in the next five minutes, the wedding would be further delayed, and I had already waited too many fucking years to marry Piya.

“Why the hell did I invite all these people?” I grumbled. If only I hadn’t invited anyone, then I would be (legally) married by now.

“I believe you did it as a final fuck-you to Piya’s first husband,” Levi replied, voice cool as a cucumber. “Ambani invited five hundred guests to their wedding. Naturally, you had to invite six hundred.”

I wanted to break the welcome table over his head. Piya would have calmed me down by now, whereas Levi’s impassive face had the opposite effect. I also wanted to strangle the fucker who created the superstition that it was bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony.

“This is a celebrity wedding.” I tried to mimic his unruffled posture. “A big guest count is expected.”

“Uh-huh. Whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better.”

I tried to scorch him with my eyes. “The guests were supposed to be seated ten minutes ago. Most of them are still inside the house.”

“It’s a Christmas wedding. It gets cold even inside a heated tent, and your guests wanted to warm up with a few drinks.”

“Christmas isn’t for two more days.”

“It’s still the middle of winter.” He waved a hand around the tent. It was decked out in winter-wonderland-theme decorations. “And this is a Christmas wedding if I’ve ever seen one.”

“This is a disaster, is what it is.”

“You’re being dramatic. All weddings run late,” he explained dismissively, smoothing a hand down his black tux. “You can’t rush things because you’re worried Piya will come to her senses and make a run for it again.”

My fists clenched reflexively, and I barely caught myself mid-motion. I wouldn’t be able to get married (legally) if I murdered Levi with this many witnesses to spare. Better to do it after the wedding.

His lips quirked as if he knew exactly what I had plotted for him. “Relax. She won’t run away again.”

I exhaled slowly, my chest tightening. “But what if she does?” It was as close to a confession as I was willing to admit.

He shrugged. “You two always find your way back to each other.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“Isn’t it, though? She lived the perfect life her parents chose for her and still found her way back to you. She chose you with her eyes wide open.”

“She also left me,” I spat out bitterly. I might have been holding on to some bottled-up resentment.

Levi scoffed. “Haven’t you heard the rumors about Piya? A widow of only five months holding such a grand wedding is considered obnoxious and tacky.”

I wound my fist again. Levi was really asking for it today. “What will be tacky is the bloody nose you’ll have to explain for the rest of the night.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t kill the messenger. Those weren’t my words. These are things people in our circle are saying, your guests included.”

I let my hand drop to my side. Again, too many witnesses. “Fuck the guests.”

“Yes, exactly. Fuck the guests. That’s the attitude Piya has adopted over the last few weeks.

She doesn’t care about anyone’s opinion other than yours and Poppy’s.

She is having an over-the-top wedding because you insisted on it, with six hundred guests she doesn’t care about, wearing a ridiculously overpriced dress you chose.

She agreed to all of it despite the ridicule she faced for it.

Does that seem like a woman who’ll run away from you? ”

Well, damn. The spiel shut me up and put a stop to my impatience. I didn’t spare any expenses on this lavish wedding because we had waited fifteen years for this moment. What were a few more minutes?

My new positive attitude lasted about five minutes. The remaining guests filed in, the event planners finally doing their jobs. I was at the altar with Levi by my side. The pretentious music had started, but there was no wedding party in sight.

“Where the fuck is Poppy?” I hissed at Levi. We couldn’t start the ceremony until Poppy walked down the aisle, followed by Jordan, and finally, Piya.

“Relax. Your daughter will turn up.” Under his breath, he added, “I’m almost positive.”

“Don’t call her that out loud,” I warned in a low voice, giving a cursory glance to our audience.

The walls had ears. Poppy’s life would crumble if anyone found out she was biologically my daughter.

Jay Ambani raised her, and I had left the matter at that.

I didn’t know how to be a good father, but despite what she thought of me, I wouldn’t ruin her chances of following in Ambani’s footsteps. It was her dream.

Levi slipped his phone in his pocket. “Poppy was spotted on the premises. Don’t worry, she’ll be your bride’s perfect little maid of honor tonight. You explained to her what was at stake, right?”

I pressed my palm against my sternum, trying to ease the constriction there. “Yes.”

I probably shouldn’t have blackmailed Poppy into being Piya’s maid of honor; it was hardly the way to start a healthy father-daughter relationship.

However, she was vehemently against this union, and I had to do something to tip the scales in my favor.

Poppy was my only child, and we had already missed all the important days in each other’s lives.

Sue me for wanting our daughter to stand at the altar with us and watch us get married.

It was a calculated risk. Poppy would eventually realize that I was a better match for her mother than Jay Ambani, and then she would regret not being a part of today’s ceremony.

Clearly, that realization hadn’t struck yet. Poppy walked down the aisle, looking like she was sucking on a lemon. The black dress she wore only played up her disappointment in having to attend our wedding.

My eyes darted from face to face as I waited for her to reach the altar. From this vantage point, I saw a silhouette somewhat lost in the sea of perfumed bodies and designer suits.

“What’s he doing here?” I nodded at Damon Maxwell seated at the back.

“Jordan brought him along as her plus-one,” Levi replied.

Interesting.

Jordan, my public relations representative and Piya’s best friend, was also a part of the wedding party.

Her fiancé was a Maxwell, too, and flat-out refused to set foot in an event associated with the Ambanis, although Piya was no longer one.

The Maxwells hated the Ambanis. It seemed Jordan had chosen a different Maxwell for her plus-one.

Damon was known to be even-tempered, so I understood her decision to bring him instead.

What I didn’t understand was his reasons for wanting to be here.

As far as I knew, he had no vested interest in anyone at this wedding.

My eyes followed his to find him watching my daughter.

Before I could march to his seat and punch him in the face, I was presented with the same problem as before.

Witnesses.

Just as I considered keeping an eagle eye on the boy from now on, his gaze flicked to mine. He looked between Poppy and me, as if trying to figure something out. Did he see the resemblance? Fuck.

Perhaps I was making too much out of innocent glances. Poppy was walking down the aisle, and I was the groom. Who else was he supposed to look at? Everyone else was also looking at us.

Levi was right. I needed to relax instead of imagining things.

My fingers drummed anxiously against my thigh as Jordan walked down the aisle and exchanged a polite nod with me. The music changed, the guests rose to their feet, and the makeshift entrance opened wide. Still, no Piya.

Just as I was about to march out there, the most beautiful fucking thing I had ever seen walked through the tent entrance. Piya seemed almost shy as she took her first step, her head bowed. Meanwhile, I fought the urge to rush to her just to confirm this miracle was happening in real time.

The white gown clung to her figure, the train of the dress dragging behind her like she was royalty.

Her chocolate-brown hair was in loose waves, reaching down to her back.

Her lace veil was bejeweled, making her hair glisten under the light.

I knew she would wear at least one item that sparkled, but when I saw her glittery shoes, I couldn’t help my sly smile.

She was a real-life princess, and I would spend the rest of our lives treating her like one.

When her eyes landed on mine, our disapproving guests and disgruntled daughter faded into the background. Time suspended itself like the first time those brown eyes had found mine at a different wedding. She had belonged to me since that moment, though our reunion had taken many years.

That was all I could think about as she walked down the aisle, blinking back tears.

As the ceremony unfolded and we exchanged vows, both of us remembered a very different ceremony we shared at a nearby beach.

She felt my erection against her when I kissed her to ‘seal the deal.’ My libido wasn’t tampered down by six hundred guests or the cold weather.

Piya’s mouth curved when the sky lit up with fireworks just as we were announced husband and wife.

I mirrored her smile. Finding her had been my purpose in life.

I knew it then, when we took symbolic pheras around a fire and got married without witnesses in the dark of the night.

I knew it now, as we legally wed in front of the world under the spotlight, so no one could ever again deny that she was mine.

My princess.