Page 71 of 4 Weddings and a Feud

Alex tapped on his camera’s flashlight, strode to the nearest window, and tugged the heavy curtain open. Outside, La Villa’s tower was a void against the streetlights and the neon of the nearby businesses. Shit. His building, and only his building, was dark on a Saturday night. He could almost feel the money draining from his bank account.

“What happened?” Ray Richardson’s voice rose above the others.

Mary’s face lit from underneath, just like when they used to joke around at Halloween when they were kids. Her voice wobbled. “It looks like we have a slight electrical problem.”

Slight? His entire fucking building was out of power. He could only imagine the chaos in the casino below them. In fact, he didn’t have to imagine it. Text messages erupted across his lock screen, and the device vibrated with a call. Two. Three.

“Everyone, if you could, please turn on your flashlights,” Mary said. “Stay seated if you can. Ushers, please help guide people to their seats. We’ll start in a few minutes.”

“Start?” Alex cracked his first knuckle. “How are we going to?—”

“We’ll get through this,” Mary said. “Don’t worry.”

Too late. Alex’s lungs felt a size too small, and his heart battered against his ribs. He’d lost control of the situation. He was as powerless as he’d been that night the investigators pounded on their door.

As his phone screen lit with a cascade of texts, it buzzed again with a call from his casino manager. “I’ve got to take this. Are you sure?—”

“Go.” She nodded at his phone. “Take care of that.”

In the dim light of the guests’ phones, he made his way out of the ballroom to the relative quiet of the hallway.

He was fucked, and not in the good way that he and Mary had been doing.

In fact, sleeping with Mary and letting himself be distracted by hormones and fuckingfeelingswas what had made him take his eye off the prize to begin with. He’d made a mistake in trusting Mary with this critical event.

He’d always known he could trust only himself.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

She knew what had happened. The rogue flames from the damned fire dancers Alex had insisted on, not to mention his ridiculous gladiator’s vegan leather armor, had burned the wall behind the curtain and shorted the wiring. And when she’d plugged the faulty screen into a nearby outlet, she’d overloaded the circuit. She hadn’t thought the screens were necessary in the first place since they weren’t at a flipping sporting event and likely wouldn’t need to do an instant replay of the I-dos.

Though she’d known from the beginning what a control freak Alex was. She should’ve known not to believe him when he’d promised not to interfere in her planning.

She still wasn’t sure why the overloaded circuit had taken down power to the entire hotel, but she knew one thing: she was the wedding planner, so it was her responsibility.

And from the squinty-eyed look Alex had given her before he’d turned away to take his call, he agreed.

Not that she blamed him. Losing power in the building had to be stressful. How many hotel guests, diners, and gamblers were complaining, blowing up Alex’s phone? Was anyone injured because of her mistake in plugging in the silly video screen?

She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. She couldn’t worry about that now. She had to get the wedding back on track.

Thank goodness her walkie-talkie system was battery powered. “Joey, do you have the judge and the groomsmen ready?”

Joey’s voice chirped in her ear. “Rohaan, the judge, and the guys are ready. I’ve even got the ringbearer up here. Want me to send him to you?”

“No, without the lights, better keep him there with his dad. You’ve got eyes on both rings?”

“They’re here, thanks to Evie’s needlework.”

Mary sent up a silent thanks to St. Anthony for helping her brother find the lost rings. She’d give one of her spa days to Evie to thank her for saving the day. Twice.

“Evie, are Rochelle and the bridesmaids ready?” she asked.

There was a brief silence. “I think we need you, Mary.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Are you in the bride’s room?”

“No, we’re outside by the pool.”

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