Page 51 of Borrowed Bride

“I can do this!” I yell back as gunfire erupts inside the church. “You didn’t have to turn this into carnage!”

“I may not agree,” Dante snarls. “But I won’t let my son walk into enemy territory armed only with a fucking pistol. Count yourself lucky I had you followed!”

As the cacophony of bullets floods the air, my heart punches up into my throat at the thought of any of those stray bullets hitting the wrong person.

Namely, Gianna.

“This wasn’t supposed to be a fight!” I yell, wrenching myself free of my father.

I charge into the church and I’m immediately met with carnage. Those people who were there purely as guests lay strewn across the pews and the aisles, nothing more than bodies in the way. My men tear through the sea of Leonardo’s men, using the element of surprise to their advantage, but it’s not long until Leo’s men begin fighting back.

I have no idea where Gianna could be, so my target is the back of the church where she might be hiding in one of these rooms. The church floods with men, and soon, there are far too many to decipher who is who. Guns are abandoned as the fight turns to close quarters and gunshots are replaced by the slick, wet sounds of knives and blades cutting into flesh.

Men drown in their own blood, dropping like flies, and I fight through the sea of them fueled by rage and panic. All it takes is one bullet and my life is over.

Without Gianna, I am nothing.

I punch, bite, and claw my way through anyone who tries to stop me, losing my father in the crowd. I am a man obsessed and no one stands a chance.

By the time I stumble through into the back rooms, my shirt is torn and blood soaks into me as if I’ve just swam through a pool of the stuff. My knuckles ache, my jaw throbs, and several lacerations litter my body but I made it.

The first door I stumble through is empty, but the second is like a breath of fresh air.

I charge into the room and a squeal rises from the woman there.

Gianna.

She stands before me in a pristine, floor-length white wedding dress, with her long hair scooped up into curls on top of her head. She has one hand over her mouth as she stares at me with wide eyes lined with black and glitter. Ruby-red lipspeek out from between her fingers and for a moment, she looks terrified.

“Marco?” she says, and her voice punches through me harder than any of those earlier blows ever could.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, or heard her, that I almost fall to my knees.

“Gianna,” I murmur her name like a prayer and a sensation like static rises behind my eyes. It’s her, it’s really her.

And she looksstunning.

“What—what’s happening?” she gasps. “What have you done?!”

“Me?” I wipe away blood that flows from a deep cut in my lower lip. “I didn’t do this.”

“People weren’t supposed to get hurt,” she whispers, and tears well in her big doe eyes. “I thought you would come round the back and we would talk!”

“This was my father. He thought I was in danger and he—” I wave one hand. I don’t know how long we have, and I don’t want to waste it talking about him. “Gianna, what did you mean in your note?”

“What did I mean?” she asks, pressing her other hand to the jeweled bodice of her dress. “I wanted to talk. I thought that was clear,” she whispers.

“About what? About why you left me?” I straighten up and hurt swells like a gigantic balloon in my aching chest. “Why you abandoned me? Why you broke my heart, and why the fuck you are marryingLeo?”

“I can explain!” Gianna steps forward, but her explanation has to wait as the door behind me crashes open and she flinches back with a cry. I spin around, expecting to see Leo but instead, it’s my father who stumbles through the door, gasping. Blood soaks his shirt and his skin is pale.

“Dad!” I fly forward, catching him before he can hit the floor and I drag him toward the nearest chair.

“It’s chaos,” Dante gasps. “I’m sorry, Marco.”

“It’s okay,fuck.Gianna.” I look up at her and she remains frozen in place. “Can you watch him? I have to end this. I will be back, I promise.”

Gianna nods hurriedly and as much as it tears my soul in two to do so, I leave Gianna with my father and sprint back to the fight.

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