CHAPTER 42
NOW
NICKY
Rico parks our SUV at the far corner of the lot where we’re able to avoid detection as we watch the attendees of tonight’s festivities filter into the venue.
Tonight is Daph and Lucian’s rehearsal dinner, though Belinda’s taken it upon herself to extend invitations far beyond those in the wedding party. She’s even invited my parents. That woman loves an excuse to flaunt her money.
My invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail.
Woman’s gonna shit a brick when she finds out I’m her new son-in-law.
Daph’s inside. I saw her walk in about thirty minutes ago when she arrived with Lucian. Just the thought of her sharing a space with him as he parades around like the doting husband-to-be makes me want to lodge a bullet in his brain. It’s the first time she’s had to deal with him since returning from the Cape.
After Caleb’s cover got blown, Luc took the initiative to come clean to Daph. By the time I returned her phone after our wedding, she’d had close to a hundred missed calls and texts from him.
When she finally did call him back, he seized the opportunity to spin a tale painting himself as the victim, explaining how he’d been blackmailed by the Bratva due to his father’s business dealings with me and Maverick. He admitted their relationship may have begun under false pretenses, but said he’d fallen in love with her and begged her not to leave.
She told him she needed time to think and asked him to respect her space while she did so. It bought us the extra days leading up to tonight, so I could keep her with me. She returned to the apartment this morning, informing Luc she’d decided to move forward with the wedding. It was hard enough to let her go today; there was no way I would’ve allowed her to spend the last week playing house with him.
That being said, she hasn’t been cozying up to the idea of life as Mrs. Conners, either. Daph’s pissed at me, to say the least. That stunt with the tattoo sure as hell didn’t earn me any brownie points. It doesn’t help she hasn’t had my sister to talk through all this with. Jonsie’s been blowing up Daph’s phone for a couple weeks trying to touch base. Even more so now that Mav beat that bogus murder charge and she doesn’t have to spend her days investing effort into keeping him out of prison.
She and Mav have also both forgiven me for the baby—a kindness for which I am abundantly thankful.
When I returned Daph’s phone, I was certain J would be her first call. However, as the days passed and J’s calls continued to go unanswered, I came to realize the truth—Daph doesn’t want to lie to my sister. So, until she can tell her the truth about us, she’s trying to avoid her entirely.
“I need you to keep your head in the game.” Rico reaches into the back seat, retrieving a small laptop, which he props open on the center console between us. “Kellerman needs the room number where the meet’s going down or else they’re not gonna be able to bug it in time. We’ve got one shot at this.”
“He’s never going to allow himself to be caught on camera. What does that leave us?”
Rico shifts the computer into his lap, frantically tapping away at the keys as he hacks into the hotel’s security feed. “I have intel that the back loading dock has a busted camera that hasn’t been replaced yet. It’s connected to a service stairwell that the hotel didn’t bother to install cameras in when they remodeled a few years ago.”
“How many floors?” I ask, peering over at the screen.
“Eleven.”
“Shit,” I hiss, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’ll have to go floor by floor.”
“I’ll monitor the feed checking for blind spots. We’re looking for entrances to rooms that manage to evade camera angles. You ready?”
“I want to check on her before we start.”
“Nicky,” Rico chastises me, slamming his laptop closed with a groan. “She’s surrounded by plenty of witnesses. Your parents are in there. Mav and Jonsie will be here soon. JP’s had eyes on her all day. Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“I want. To see. My wife.” I stare off in the direction of the hotel for several more seconds before turning my attention to my best friend. “This isn’t negotiable.”
“Okay,” Rico reluctantly relents as he pulls at the handle of the car door. “Let’s make it quick.”
***
We manage to quickly locate the ballroom hosting her dinner, slipping inside to find most of the guests have still yet to arrive. The room is set up like a cocktail hour as the various attendees I recognize as members of the social elite flitter about, seizing the opportunity to bullshit with one another.
My gaze frantically scans the space, my anxiety threatening to suffocate me the longer I’m unable to locate her. Just when I’m ready to say “fuck it” and burn this place to the ground, she appears, emerging from one of the doors that lead to what must be the kitchen. A woman in a chef’s coat exits alongside her, the two of them taking several more seconds to engage in their discussion before Daphne smiles, thanking her and shaking her hand. The chef nods, turning to disappear back into the kitchen, leaving Daph standing alone.
Initiating a tentative step in her direction, my advance is suddenly cut short when Luc slips up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He spins her, my heart seizing when he pulls her in for a kiss and every second his lips stay pressed to hers is another tortured ounce of restraint I’m forced to exert.
Rico inches closer on my left, startling me when his hand slips behind my back to pull the weapon from my waistband.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper to him in a low hiss.
Rico remains calm. Continuing to scan the room, he speaks to me through the gritted teeth of his fake-ass smile. “Preventing a murder.” He slips the piece into the back of his pants, adjusting his shirt to cover it. “Now, we’ve seen your wife. She’s okay. Can we please go finish what we came here to do?”
Easy for him to say when he’s not the one volleying between unleashing a homicidal rampage and hurling his lunch all over the floor. Still, when he grips hold of my shoulder to guide me from the room and down the hall, I don’t resist.
“Nick!” Her melodic voice calls out behind me just as we exit the hotel.
I spin to find her hot on my tail, the quickening steps of her high heels clicking rapidly against the floor.
“Make this fast.” Rico points to me as he continues to back away, his expression as he retreats letting me know he’s not fucking around.
Dragging a hand through my hair, I spin to face her just as she reaches me. Gripping hold of my shirt, she drags me off to the side so we’re somewhat out of view.
“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be looking for the room.”
“We are. I just wanted to check on you real quick. Make sure you were okay.”
Shifting her weight, she juts out her hip, her arms coming to cross over top her chest. The sunlight catches her ring, the resulting sparkle of light reflected against the oversized stone calling my attention to how it completely blocks the N on her finger from view. The sight incites an irrational rage within me, sparking the urge to bend her over right here and fuck that ring off her finger.
“I can handle my own, Nick.”
“Looked like it. You seemed to be handling him just fine.”
Daph’s eyes narrow, shooting tiny daggers my way. “You got something to say?”
“Playing the part a little too well, aren’t you?”
“Of the soon-to-be wife at my rehearsal dinner?!” she whisper-hisses, her gaze shifting back over her shoulder before pulling me further off to the side. “You are ridiculous. You know that? The only reason I’m subjecting myself to this is because of you. All of this—” She gestures wildly around her. “—is for you.”
“Well, I appreciate your dedication to the cause. Maybe I should have you screw him on the dance floor just for good measure.”
Her palm collides with my cheek, the resulting sting of her slap severing the last of my control, plummeting me into madness.
“I wish I never met you,” she seethes.
Something inside me fucking snaps.
I lunge forward, pinning her back against the wall of the building as my hands come to rest along either side of her head. “Fuck you, Daph.”
“That’s it. Show me exactly how little you care.” My palm plants itself over top her mouth, effectively silencing her as she attempts to wiggle free of my hold.
“You think my life wouldn’t be easier without all this? My world used to make sense. Wins, losses, risks, rewards. It had order. And then you came along.” The grip I have against her mouth loosens, shifting instead to cradle her chin. “You embedded yourself so deep inside my brain, breeding a chaos you ensured only you could cure. I have sacrificed for you, bled for you… I have killed for you. And you want to accuse me of not caring? You’re my undoing, demon.”
Releasing her chin, I push off the wall to slowly place some space between us. “I have never wished for a world where I don’t know your name… but I’d sell my soul for one where I’ve never hurt you.”
Daph’s head falls into her hands, her fingers frantically working to swipe at the tears attempting to flow freely down her face.
“It’s all you ever do, though, Nicky. Can’t you see that? From the stupid less than three comments, to denying me time and time again. Hell, you’ll tattoo another woman’s lips on your body, but I can’t even get you to entertain a conversation about where we stand? How many times do I need you to show me I don’t matter before I take the hint?”
***
NOW
DAPHNE
Nicky rushes forward, fisting the fabric at the side of his shirt and ripping upward, exposing the tattoo in question.
“You see this?” He gestures to it before gripping hold of my hand and pressing it to the ink. “You want to know whose lips these are? You should know. You stare at them every morning when you look in the fucking mirror.”
Time seems to slow, the sounds of the world fading around us as my eyes snap up to his. “What?”
“The night Tommy put you in the hospital,” he explains. “You were all hopped up on pain meds when I climbed into bed with you. You were complaining I didn’t smell like me, so I took off the shirt I had borrowed from Mav.” He reaches to my face, his thumb gently tugging at the cushion of my lower lip. “That motherfucker had split your lip. It opened back up while we were lying in bed talking, but you wouldn’t let me clean up the blood. You kissed my side as you were falling asleep.”
They’re mine. The lips I’ve spent the last four years obsessing over, plaguing my mind with jealousy, belong to me.
“You think you don’t matter to me?” Nicky releases the side of his shirt to cradle my face with both hands. The fabric falls, covering the hand I refuse to remove from the space I now know to be mine. “The only moments I even bother to commit to memory are the ones where we were together. They play on an endless loop inside my mind, keeping me sane ‘til I can see you again.”
He presses his forehead to mine, our mouths inches apart when he begins to speak once more.
“Daph, I—”
“Whoa!” a man’s voice calls out, causing us to break apart. The large muscular body spins off to the side, narrowly missing us as he carefully lowers the woman he has slung over his shoulder to her feet.
The blonde whips around, revealing herself to be my best friend, her eyes widening when she takes notice of me.
“Daphne.” Jonsie lunges for me, pulling me in for a hug. “What the fuck, Daph?! I’ve been calling you nonstop. Why haven’t you answered me?”
Because I’m married to your brother, but I can’t tell you yet and I’d rather chew my left arm off than lie to you.
With a quick swipe to my eyes, I ensure I’ve removed all traces of any tears before forcing a small smile in place. “I’m sorry, boo. I’ve been busy. Speaking of, we really need to get inside and get this rolling.” I shimmy my shoulders, managing to wiggle free of her hold before making my way toward the door.
“Daph, wait.” She attempts to reach for me once more, though I’m able to evade her. “Later, okay? I promise. We gotta get inside before Mom goes nuclear.” My gaze shifts over her shoulder, first to Mav then moving to a distraught-looking Nicky. The sight of him in the wake of his confession thoroughly fucks with my head as I begin to analyze every interaction we’ve ever had over the last seventeen years with new eyes.
“Nicky!” I call out to him. “Get home safe.” I spin to retreat inside the hotel, worried I”ll run straight back into his arms and blow this entire plan to hell if I don’t.