Page 129 of Brutal Collateral

When she leaves, Ava whispers, “You got her wrapped around your finger. I bet I can tell her you made me marry you in a T-shirt with your gun in my ass and she’ll still be crazy about you.”

“I don’t care to test that.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Ava

In a glamorous ballroomwith double-height beamed ceilings, dazzling chandeliers, and arched stained-glass windows, Griffin and I say amuchdifferent set of vows from a couple of weeks ago.

In front of a majestic stone fireplace, Griffin leans in to take his marriage kiss, and whispers, “Said I do pretty easily this time. And I didn’t even have my gun in your ass.”

I kiss him with a smile and say, “I now have a knife. Watchyourback hole, husband.”

“Ouch.” He grins like he loves being threatened by me.

After the ceremony, Griffin starts introducing me to people in the lobby where the staff set up a cocktail hour. The ballroom is being converted back to a dining room for the reception. We didn’t have a big engagement party, so I haven’t had a chance to meet his closefriends. TheotherIrish family he and his brothers had worked for.

And killed for.

Griffin steers me to several towering built men in flashy suits with beautiful wives. They all stand in a huddle near a piano under glittering lace draperies that hang from the ceiling. Immediately, I can tell all these marriages are real. A pit settles into my stomach because ours isn’t.

My new official husband does the introductions, and the names go over my head, there are so many of them.

But one name stands out.

“This is Kieran O’Rourke and his wife, Isabella,” Griffin says.

“Isabella O’Rourke. You run the O’Rourke Women’s Center,” I say, shaking her hand.

“I do.” She smiles at me. “It’s funded by my foundation.”

“That’s amazing,” I say, feeling naked without my hair compared to Isabella’s beautiful, long dark locks.

“I’m always looking for volunteers or help on committees,” she boldly hints. But it’s refreshing to hear a mafia queen runs a foundation that funds several businesses empowering women.

“Of course,” I say without thinking.

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