Page 111 of Broken Prince

“You love the woman, that much is clear, but why get married now? It was not in the cards two days ago.”

“It was always in the cards, but I almost lost her yesterday and it was enough for me to realize that waiting one more day would be wasting my time. I want her as my wife so why wait. Time is precious, and so damned fucking short, Carter.”

He nodded. “Good answer.” He looked at his watch. “Okay, time to go and get you a suit. I won’t fail at my best man duties and let you get married looking like a tramp.”

I picked a dark-blue three-piece suit with a white shirt and matching tie. We stopped at Carter's gentlemen’s club for a glass of expensive bourbon and a nice cigar—his version of an express bachelor party—before taking a shower there and changing into my suit.

We arrived at City Hall at the same time as Matteo and Romero exited the car.

“Matteo.” I bowed my head to him. “Romero.” I I maintained eye contact, daring him to challenge me. Romero was an older member of the council; it was probably the reason why Matteo chose him as a witness. Nobody would doubt Romero’s words and he was too old to hold any kind of petty grudge.

“Luca Montanari. I’m glad to see you. I didn’t expect that your nuptials would be the first time we met again,” Romero said, cocking his head to the side. “Can I assume that an heir is in the making?”

Ah, yes, pregnancies had been the number one reason for shotgun weddings within the family and I’d fuck Cassie bare from the first time, without knowing she was on the pill.

“Not impossible,” I said evasively. It was true enough and this would reinforce Cassie’s position as my wife.

Romero chuckled. “The message is clear. I’ll see you in there. I have a judge to see for a minute or two.”

Matteo chuckled once Romero was out of earshot. “Better for him to believe you got her pregnant than to know how pussywhipped you are. I understand.”

“No, you really don’t.”

He raised his hands in surrender, a mocking smile on his face. “No, I don’t, and seeing you I’m even more grateful.”

“So what are we doing with…you know.”

Matteo looked straight ahead, burying his hands in his black pantsuit pockets.

“Benny and Savio have been killed by the Albanians. They tried to steal from them.” Matteo shrugged. “Traitors die. The kid is free; he’s working for me now. Quite a step up. He’s grateful enough to keep his mouth shut.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do it to spare your bleeding heart.”

I looked at Carter who was waiting at the top of the stairs, knowing better than to eavesdrop on this conversation.

“But we still need to figure out wh—”

“Get married, Luca. Enjoy your wife and new life for a while. Impregnate her, make sure the stray you’re adopting will follow the rules, and then come see me; we’ll deal with that then. For now, I have a lot of cleaning to do.Capisce?”

“Understood.”

Matteo nodded, throwing me a side-look. “Go get married, Gianluca; you are such a blushing bride.” He went up the stairs slowly, laughing at his own joke.

I went up the stairs after him and joined Carter.

“Is everything okay?”

I sighed with a nod. “As okay as it will ever be.”

Carter jerked his head toward the doors. “Let’s go. Nazalie just texted me; they’ll be here any minute.”

My stomach squeezed with anticipation at the thought of getting married.

Carter and I walked into the room where the clerk was already waiting. Matteo and Romero were sitting at the back of the room.

A couple of minutes later Nazalie walked into the room. She winked at me and sat in the front row, and then the door opened and my breath stalled as my heart skipped a beat.

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