Page 162 of Sin & Sapphire

As we pulled into the church, my eyes searched the sidewalk, looking for the familiar faces of my father’s men.

Enzo stood in front in a suit, looking like the debonair guest he pretended to be. I held two fingers up to the window as the gates to the church opened. He nodded imperceptibly and melted back into the crowd. The car started again. I clutched my seatbelt, wishing all the training in the world had prepared me for this.

It had.

My father had beat me stupid as a child. He’d ripped out my piercings. He’d degraded and derided me. And then he’d turned around and made me desperate for the faintest note of praise. Taught me how to keep my cool no matter what was going on around me. Explained how the mafia world worked, then pimped me out to the worst of it so he could seal the deal.

I pulled my veil over my face and steeled my spine.

I’d already been through hell and back.

I would survive today.

And then I would thrive.

61

LUCA

Ana’s carpulled into the courtyard, followed by a second. Her face was pale and beautiful, visible to all of us. Her bridesmaids, all Russian, surrounded the car and opened the door.

Ana stepped out, a vision in white brocade and lace, the first time I’d seen her since she snuck out the night her other lovers’ parents were taken. The dress skimmed her figure, high necked, with long sleeves, flaring out into a full skirt that didn’t impede her stride. It was nothing like the simple elegance she would have chosen for herself.

Her eyes skimmed over the crowd through her veil, meeting mine for half a second before cutting away. Every crime family in Yorkfield had received an invitation— my father declined, but I had to see her one last time.

Dmitri clapped his hand on my shoulder. “How are you doing?”

Boris Tchérnov exited his vehicle and walked to join his bride. My vision narrowed, only for Dmitri to move his hand from my shoulder to the hand that gripped my weapon.

“Don’t. He’ll take it out on her.”

All the Italian families were here. Sofia and one of her husbands were already inside the church, but I’d had to see Ana with my own eyes to believe that she was going through with this farce. She’d refused to marry me, but didn’t hesitate to jump into bed with the bratva to save someone else.

It wasn’t fucking?—

“Easy,” Dmitri said. “She’s made her choice, and you’d be an asshole to try and take that away from her.”

Her choice.

She’d chosen Boris Tchérnov instead of me, and I hated it.

My eyes focused on her stiff gate, nothing like her natural grace. My woman was in pain, and there wasn’t a goddamned thing I could do about it.

Boris took her hands and brought them to his lips, as if this were a love match and not a fucking travesty.

Ana pulled away, but he held her hands tight, glaring down at her as he whispered fiercely. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, then jerked her hands away, throwing herself backward, her expression a perfect distillation of feminine rage.

I moved toward her, but Dmitri’s fingers tightened on my arm, and he dragged me two steps back.

“What the f?—”

The courtyard exploded.

Ana’s body flew through the air an instant before a blast of fire and brick threw me backward, the heat searing into my skin.

I lay there for a moment, my entire body screaming in pain. “Ana!” I yelled, dragging myself to my feet and stumbling toward the entrance of the church, ignoring the agony of every step.

“Ana!” I yelled again. I couldn’t hear a fucking thing. My ears rang with the force of the blast, and smoke obscured my vision as I fought my way through the crowd of screaming guests. Where was she? Was she okay?Ana!

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