Page 26 of Convenient Mafia Vows

“We can hold the reception somewhere else if you’d prefer. I’ll leave it to you, Vict—Vicky.”

I dig my fingernails into the palm of my hand. Finally, something I can use to ground myself before I get carried awayon a rollercoaster ride of diamond rings, personal shoppers, and exclusive salons.

“Why would you leave it to me?” My voice has chosen now to desert me. “What if I choose a venue that you don’t like?”

He spreads his hands wide. “I’ll choose somewhere better.” He laughs, but it fades when he realizes that I’m still a little shell shocked. “Don’t all brides want to plan their own weddings? Haven’t you been thinking about this since you were a little girl?”

I don’t tell him that I never had time to think about weddings because I was too busy looking after Mason. And besides, I’m not a bride, I’m just a fake wife.

“Fuck,” he mutters to himself. “I’m sorry you don’t get to do the whole white wedding thing. Look, if you want to scrap the reception, we’ll figure out another way to introduce you to everyone we know.”

Put like that, I don’t know which is worse, meeting everyone individually or being on show at my own wedding reception like it’s a beauty pageant.

“No, I’d like to organize it myself,” I manage, my head still reeling from the whirlwind I’ve found myself in. “I’d like to be an event planner someday.”

Caleb sits back in his seat, catching the condensation on the outside of his glass with his thumb. “Think of this as a starting point then.”

I nod, thinking about Sienna and her meeting at the gallery today. “You said I could ask for anything.” Deep breath. “Myfriend, Sienna. She’s always been there for me, and the one time she needed me most, I let her down.”

I can’t tell him why; I just have to pray that he believes me.

“Five years ago, on New Year’s, she was involved in a car wreck. The asshole she was with left her for dead and saved himself. She suffered burns all over her body. She still needs cosmetic surgery on some of the scars, and she doesn’t like taking money from me, but well, I promised myself that one day, I’ll help her to open her own gallery.”

I wait for him to tell me that he isn’t going to be that generous. Not art-gallery generous. But instead, he says hoarsely, “Whatever you want, Vicky. I’ll keep my word.”

I smile, but I sense that he’s no longer paying attention, and there’s still so much more to discuss. “Where will we live, you know, once everyone knows that we’re married?”

“I haven’t thought about it.” He dabs his mouth with a pristine white napkin. “If you’ll excuse me, Vicky, I have a meeting to attend. I’ll have Lauren email the contract to you.”

He stands, lingering beside the table as if he has forgotten something important. “I’ll have Frankie bring Abigail back out when the cookies are ready.”

Then he walks away, and I’m left wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.

8

CALEB

I head backto my office before the meeting with my brothers. I need time to think.

Kyle was involved in a road traffic incident on New Year’s five years ago. Cash and Bash pulled him out. They got him to the ER, got his leg patched up, fabricated a whole story about an accident on a motorcycle, made sure it didn’t reach the press while I was fucking Sandy in a friend’s apartment, too busy to check the messages on my phone. They said the woman he was with was dead.

Fuck! I knew I should’ve checked it out for myself. You want something done, you’ve always got to do it yourself.

I ignore Lauren trying to catch my attention from her desk. Inside my office, I half-fill a glass with brandy and down it in one, disappointed when the burn vanishes almost immediately.

Same accident? What are the chances…?

Kyle and Sienna? I wrack my brain trying to recall the name of the woman Kyle left the party with, or the costume she was wearing, something to erase this crazy story from my head andstop me from jumping to any more conclusions. Because already I’m thinking there’s a tiny possibility that if Sienna was at the same party as me and Kyle, she might know Sandy.

Might.

A powerful word with a gigantic question mark attached to it.

But still… Can I afford to let it go? The best PIs in the city haven’t even come close to finding her, and here’s Victoria walking into my life with a best friend who might just happen to be the missing link.

Fate?

Perhaps. Do I believe in fate and chance and coincidences? Nah. We make our choices and we shape our lives into what we want them to be.

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