Page 80 of Brutal Legacy

“I have to go and get the lamb dressed. I’ll see you at the ceremony. I’ve got a new hat to wear,” she said with a small smile, standing and rushing off.

I watched the bustle in the kitchen, a million miles away.

I hadn’t been lying. I didn’t hate anyone enough to stick them with me. I wasn’t a whole person. There was no hope for me. I was beyond saving.

I didn’t hate anyone enough to marry them…

Did I?

Inside the chapelon Casa Nera grounds, the incense was so thick, it was hard to breathe. I felt like I was suffocating as I watched Jimmy joke with his best man, making lewd gestures, right in front of the altar.

My suit was stifling, and my shirt and tie were trying to strangle me. I pulled at my collar and checked the time.

She was late.

Good. Maybe she got away.

Fuck. I was really losing it. If she had somehow gotten away, I’d just need to hunt her down again. I shouldn’t feel excited at the prospect. I was unraveling, and I didn’t have a fucking clue what to do about it. The memory of her lips on mine last night slammed into my head, taking over my vision, surrounding all my senses and filling them up. I’d lived in the dark for so long that one glimpse of her, my light, was going to drive me insane. I’d sat alone in the library for hours last night, glaring at the fire, drinking myself to a state, before going looking for her. Getting just drunk enough to stop make excuses for what I really wanted. I’d caught her just as she was climbing down the tree. Fuckingfate stepping in. And I’d continued to take what I’d really wanted. I could stilltasteher this morning.

I’d thought I’d protected myself from ever feeling like this again, and yet here I was now, fucking sweating in my best suit and trying to work out how to stop a wedding.

Renato was sitting with Charlie in the front row of the chapel. Charlie leaned in and said something quietly to him, and he stood and crossed over to me. I was standing on the other side of Jimmy, resisting the urge to kill the fucker before Georgia ever made it to church.

“All good?”

I nodded tightly.

“You know, I got some interesting intel from Giada this morning.”

I waited for him to go on. I wasn’t in a chatty mood.

He nodded, turning to the entrance to the chapel. “Hmm, looks like Jimmy’s been a naughtier boy than we’d expected. Very naughty, in fact. We’ll need to do something about him. Ah, here she is.”

My eyes followed Renato’s gaze, just as he gave me a smirk and returned to his wife. Music sprang to life, filling the air. Georgia was walking down the aisle.

All thoughts flew out of my head. It was a vision I’d tortured myself with a hundred times. If everything had gone down differently, would this have been my future instead of Jimmy’s?

I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, and to make it even more painful, she was staring right at me.

She walked toward me, her eyes never straying to Jimmy, the man about to be her husband.

She watched me up until the last moment, when the priest started to talk.

She turned away and focused on the priest as the guests sat. It was a little chapel and could only fit those closest to the family. In this case, it was Renato and Charlie, me, Carmella, and a few guys Jimmy worked with at the casino. He had no blood family.

The priest was saying something, and Georgia was responding, then Jimmy. It was happening. It was really happening.

The witnesses stepped forward to sign the register, and then the priest was telling them to kiss. Mafia weddings, as a rule, were short and sweet. Better to get it over with before someone tried to escape — or got shot.

“Now, you may kiss the bride,” the priest intoned solemnly.

No. This was wrong. It couldn’t happen. I’d been lying to myself that I could let it…

“Fucking A, Father,” Jimmy goaded and grabbed Georgia, pulling her closer.

She put her hands to his chest and pushed hard. The tussle was immediate and ugly.

Charlie covered her mouth with her hand and made to stand as Renato held her back from getting involved. His eyes turned to mine. My oldest friend, he could read my mind better than I’d ever been able to.

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