Page 84 of Pretty Broken Promises

“Then I showed up, and he thought I was taking something that belonged to him,” I think aloud.

She shrugs. “It’s possible. I don’t think he’s ever seen me as a person, but as a possession.”

Sin looks up into the rearview mirror long enough to catch her attention. “Was there ever a time when he paid less attention to you?”

She thinks for a minute. “About six months after he first left me alone in the house I stopped hearing from him. Before that he’d drop by, try and have dinner with me, stuff like that. Then I didn’t hear anything from him for about a year.”

“Do you know what changed?” Sin asks.

Tessa drops her head. “I heard he started dating a woman.”

Raven turns around. “Let me guess, she had a daughter about the same age as you?”

Tessa nods, and I can tell this is something she’s internalized and blamed herself for.

Cautiously, I reach out and brush my fingers along her cheek. “That is not your fault.”

“If I’d said something back when it happened—” She closes her eyes and tries to slow her breathing before she hyperventilates. “All of this is my fault. He almost sent Ford to jail years ago, and tried to split us up again. No matter where I go, he’s never going to give me any peace, is he?”

Tears cling to her lashes, and I look up to see Sin watching in the mirror again.

I know what he’s offering through that look. He fought Damien to protect Raven, and to escape a life of being an assassin, but because of his upbringing, he’ll always have the capacity for violence. Not only that, but his moral compass doesn’t work the same as most people’s. However, I no longer consider myself most people.

ChapterThirty-Three

TESSA

“Is this insane?”I ask Raven.

“I am so the wrong person to ask,” she replies as she pins another flower in my hair.

There’s a light tap on the door, and Raven runs across the room to open it. In the mirror, I can see Benji step into the opening and lean against the frame. I smile at him and turn around.

He inhales sharply, then composes himself. “You look just as I pictured you would. Only I thought you’d be walking to me, not having me walk you to another man.”

“This was too much to ask. I’m so sorry, that was thoughtless of me,” I sputter.

“No, Tessie, I’m honored. I don’t like the idea of giving you away, but I’m honored you still need me around,” Benji says.

“You’re really too perfect,” I sigh.

“Obviously not,” he replies.

“I don’t know. Lydia was looking at you like you hung the moon,” I comment.

His cheeks flame red, and he looks away, but not before I catch a hint of a smile. Benji will always be a white knight, and if I read the looks they were giving each other correctly, I don’t think he will be moping after me much longer. I think she’s more than willing to do some saving of her own.

It’s late in the afternoon, and in a few minutes, the setting sun is going to be perfectly framed in the large oval window in Raven’s library, which has been converted into a chapel of sorts today. I have to hand it to Ford, he doesn’t do anything halfway.

I mentioned a passing thought that it felt like it would be so much easier if we were already married, and in less than a half an hour I found myself shopping for a dress with Raven while everyone else ran around organizing a wedding.

When Benji showed up with Tracy, Lydia, and my mom and told me Ford called him and asked how fast he could make it here, I started to sniffle. Anyone can give flowers or write a cheesy poem. It takes a pretty confident man to call an ex-fiancé and invite him to your wedding because he knows you’d want him there.

Benji hung back with us, and Kendall brought his girlfriend Gina with him, since he has a private jet at his disposal. I feel bad that Ford’s mom isn’t here, but I don’t think he’s forgiven her for my dad showing up at the restaurant even if it wasn’t her fault. For some reason, he sent her out of town for the night on some made-up emergency, so if she finds out she can’t be mad at him. Not that he’d really care if she were.

Benji manages to keep me from running straight to Ford, but barely. “I never did stand a chance, did I?” he whispers.

I look over at Lydia and see the way she’s looking at Benji. “We weren’t meant to be, but—” I nudge him to look her direction, “if you open yourself to it, I think you can find the person you were meant for all along. Maybe you and I needed to connect to bring you to someone else.”

---