Chapter Nineteen
Will
When Beast’s eyes land on his daughter’s bracelet, I watch his jaw tighten. Then his eyes lift to meet mine. “You’re a dead man, Will,” my brother chuckles beside me.
I look over at my blushing woman and give her a wink. “She’s no longer Daddy’s Princess. She’s Will’s Property.” I smirk at my soon-to-be father-in-law and take a pull of my beer. He’s lucky I don’t tattoo it on her because I’m tempted as fuck. The trouble that she put me through and the shit I did made it all the more real, and claiming her has been the most important thing on my brain. She belongs to me like I belong to her.
I want everyone to know it. There’s no way it will go unnoticed now. Soon, everyone will see it in a different way. In a few years, her belly will be rounded as fuck. I have plans for her that her father won’t approve of, but I don’t care because I did what he didn’t, what he couldn’t. I protected her. She’s mine.
“Tomorrow’s your wedding. Are you ready?” my father asks. That’s a dumb question and he knows it, but I think he enjoys teasing me. After all, it’s the rehearsal dinner, and we have a bunch of guests around to try and mess with me.
“Of course. I live with the love of my life, and all I want to do is make sure she’s mine in every way. Well, in almost every way. One day we’ll start a family, but I’m in no hurry for that.”
“One day, we’ll all be ready for grandkids, but I’m glad you’re waiting because your sisters are driving me nuts and I can’t imagine them having boyfriends yet. Beast is enjoying the subtle digs about them finding husbands the second they turn eighteen.”
“Yeah, well, it’s better than them sleeping around at sixteen with some limp little bitch in high school who is just going to dump them and move on to the next girl. I get that Melanie is too young to get married, but it’s not going to change a thing.”
“It will take time for him to get used to it.”
“Will, may I have a word with you?” Beast asks, stepping up to us. He’s in a well-tailored suit. It’s truly a wonder he is in the Riders in the first place, having been an attorney all these years.
“What’s up?” I say.
“I saw the bracelet, but her necklace is gone. Please tell me it isn’t because of the attack.”
“It is, but the bracelet is made of the same material, and they can’t strangle her should someone dare lay their hands on her again.”
“You can’t think like that. She loves that necklace; you know that, and I know it. Don’t let the fears get to you. As a man obsessed with his wife, I’ll tell you that there will always be times you’ll worry, but it doesn’t mean you take away the things that make them happy.”
“I can’t let her be hurt like that again. They nearly choked her to death because of it.”
“No, they probably wanted to choke her. The charm could have been broken, but they didn’t bother doing so. I’m happy that you love her, even if it’s a bit unnerving how strong that love is. Still, her happiness matters most to me.”
“Understood.” I nod, and then he pulls me in for a hug.
“Congratulations, son,” he whispers. I stare at my beloved Melanie over his shoulder, who smiles radiantly.
****
The veil covers her face and hair, sending a growl through my chest and out my throat. I don’t like her covered up in my presence. As she reaches the altar, I lift the offending thin fabric from her gorgeous face, and I’m so stunned by her natural beauty that my heart nearly stops. They’ve styled her short hair into a pixie cut, and it’s dyed close to her natural black hair color. “Wow, you are perfect, Melanie.”
“You’re just saying that because it’s our wedding day.”
“I’m saying what I see. Now marry me, woman, before I lose my mind.”
She blushes so perfectly that I can’t wait to get this over with so I can show her what she does to me. “Well, Mr. Steele, I’m waiting.” She turns to the priest and takes my hand.
"If anyoneobjectsto the marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace."
“I object,” a woman’s voice comes from the back of the church.
“Beth?” Melanie gasps. She’s dressed in a white dress that’s so damn similar to Melanie’s I could swear it’s the same one. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you not to marry him.” She’s holding a bouquet of flowers, but I don’t trust it. Dusty is right behind her. I nod to him. “You were supposed to choose Damon, and you didn’t. I threw him in your face for months. I made excuses. If that stupid bitch Chrissy didn’t get in the way, my plan would have worked, and you wouldn’t have taken my man. You just have to have everything, don’t you, Melanie? Well not anymore.” She stretches out the arm of her bouquet, but Dusty tackles her to the ground. The gun flies out of her hands and across the church to the altar. Beast snags it and tucks it away.
“So now you know who else was involved,” he tells me.
“You thought someone else was in on my kidnapping?” Lanie gasped, clutching my arm.
“It just didn’t make sense that they knew where you were. You told me that you went to get coffee and, well, they couldn’t have anticipated your detour.”
She gasps, allowing reality to sink in. I hold onto the love of my life because there’s no way in hell I’ll let her crash now. She looks up at me and smiles. “Thank you, but I promise, Mr. Steele that I am perfectly fine.”
Law’s deputy arrives five minutes later to take Beth out of the church in handcuffs. As the commotion begins to settle, Beast says, “Well, no offense, but since these two have waited long enough, how about we get this show on the road?”
“I couldn’t agree more. Ms. Melanie Brandon, will you marry me?”
“I would love nothing more.”
The ceremony is quicker than I expected, and I’m now the proud husband of Melanie Steele. The world has finally been set right in my eyes as I stare at the most beautiful woman, and we belong to each other.
The celebration doesn’t last long because we have to deal with the uproar that Beth created. She went on and on about Damon’s plan to kidnap Melanie and how she helped them and that we probably killed him. Luckily, the only people to hear her outlandish comments were the cops who worked with us.
Damon’s death had been ruled legal in the rescue attempt of the daughter of a government official off a public college campus. Of course the shooting didn’t quite take place there. We moved it to the outskirts of Steeleville where our men could handle the bodies, while Miles men cleaned up the warehouse on the docks.
Chrissy didn’t survive the transport, but that wasn’t Melanie’s fault. Let’s just say not all of Miles’ men are forgiving. I reassured Mel that the bitch only lied about being pregnant to so she’d let her guard down. Frankly, I’m glad she’s dead because that’s one last problem to worry about. If Beth is going to be an issue, she’ll have to go as well.
“Stop frowning, son,” my mother strolls in. “Your guests are going to think you made a mistake.”
“I’m supposed to be enjoying my reception, but I’ve just got back from the police station with that crazy bitch trying to ruin everything.”
“What? Didn’t you hear what just happened? She can’t ruin everything anymore.”
“What?”
“Beth wasn’t completely disarmed before she got in the back of the police car. She had pills stashed. She popped them after we left. She killed herself.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes,” she says with a sigh.
“That’s good and terrible. Where’s Melanie?”
“She’s with her father.” My mother points toward the dessert table where Melanie pretends to straighten the already perfectly organized treats. Her emotions were visible on her gorgeous face. I could get lost just staring, but she needs more than that. She needs me and I need to act like the husband I signed up to be. The one she deserves.
“I need to tell her.” I pass my mother and walk over to my wife who looks as if she’s barely holding it together. Her father steps back, understanding it’s now my place to step in. I give him a respectful nod and he walks away.
I whisper, “Raven.”
Her tear-filled eyes meet mine. “It’s all my fault.”
Cradling her face, I stare into her beautiful eyes and tell her the truth that she needs to hear. “No, it’s not. Don’t say that shit.”
She shakes her head, scrunching her eyes shut and refusing to believe me. “First Chrissy and now Beth.”
“If that’s the case, baby then it’s all my fault. They were after me not you.”
“I killed them,” she hisses under her breath. I pressed her to my chest.
“No, you didn’t. No, you didn’t. Come take a walk with me, Mrs. Steele.” I take my beautiful wife’s hand and lead her outside the reception area. It’s a gorgeous night; the breeze is just perfect with the fall leaves beginning to land on the ground. It would be a wonderful day if it wasn’t for the mess that those we buried had created.
“My beloved Raven, Chrissy died because they refused to allow her a chance to attack you again. That was their choice, not yours. I agree with them. If you had let her attack you that day, Miles or myself would have killed her then.
“When it comes to Beth, your father had gotten more information from her parents. There’s a reason they cut ties with her. Those bastards knew how crazy she was. I wasn’t the first guy she’d gotten obsessed with. You weren’t the first woman she’d gotten close to or the first she tried to kill. Her real name is Elizabeth Anne Smith and she’s twenty-one not eighteen.”
She gasps, knees buckling. “I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“That’s not what I mean. One day I was over, I saw the ID and she nearly freaked on me, but then she quickly corrected herself and said it was her fake ID to get into clubs in Dallas.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s my fault for introducing her into our lives.”
“No, it’s her parents. They tried to deny what their daughter was, and they got her out of trouble the first time. They thought she was safe, but she wasn’t on her meds.”
“Enough,” Melanie huffs, throwing her hands down at her sides. “I want to celebrate us. I don’t want to deal with anyone else’s problems. We made it and we had an entire banquet hall full of hundreds of people there for us. Let’s go in and cut our cake, dance, and then you can strip me bare and worship Mrs. William Steele.”
“I can’t agree more.” I scooped her up and carry her back inside with loud cheers as we enter.