Page 95 of Cold Sinful Revenge (London Mafia Kings)

Epilogue: Nine Months Later

Ivy

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ISTOOD OUTSIDE THEdoor of the wood-panelled Council Chamber at Hackney Town Hall and sucked in a breath. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I was. Today was a life-changing day, and though I wanted it more than anything, I was uncomfortable putting myself on display in front of all those people.

I knew I’d feel better when I was back at his side—I always did.

We didn’t have many guests coming, and that was fine by me. I’d never been someone who’d dreamed of my wedding day, and now it was here, I was simply grateful we were here at all.

Memories of that day in the hospital car park came back to me.

My father’s bullet had only skimmed Jay’s arm, and somehow Jayden had managed to wrestle the gun off my father. The second shot had been Jay pulling the trigger, and my father had taken the bullet.

It had hit his hip, shattering the bone. He’d needed to have a hip replacement, something that he never would have been happy about—an operation he considered to be for old people—and the procedure had weakened him. While he was in the hospital, he’d ended up with sepsis, and it had almost killed him.

He was living in assisted care now down on the Dorset Coast. Despite what he’d done, it was the best money could buy.

The police had asked questions, of course, but those we had on our books had interfered with evidence and, in the end, a private word with the judge had the case thrown out of court.

Aiden had done the sensible thing and left; I wasn’t sure where to. I believed he may have gone abroad to start again. It was clear my family no longer had any standing in the city.

The doors opened, and Hallie’s head popped out. “Ready?”

I swallowed hard. “Ready.”

Music played, and I forced my feet to move.

We hadn’t gone for the traditional roles of having a best man or bridesmaids. Since it wasn’t as though my father could give me away, I hadn’t been able to entertain the thought of the rest of it either. Jay understood completely and supported my decision. As he’d pointed out, it wasn’t as though we’d done anything else the traditional way either. It was our wedding, and no one else mattered.

That still didn’t stop me missing the people who should have filled the empty seats, however, and the man who should have been giving me away. I would always carry this pain inside of me. I just needed to figure out how to live with it.

My new family definitely went some way to healing that pain.

I walked down the short aisle of the registry office, smiling self-consciously. Despite my protests about not wanting to do things traditionally—and clearly I was nowhere near a virgin—I’d still gone for the white dress. It had a boned bodice, my shoulders left bare. My hair was caught up in a French knot with white baby’s breath flowers woven through it. There was a fishtail train—simple but elegant.

I hadn’t wanted us to marry while I was pregnant, despite Jay’s insistence that I was still beautiful. I felt like an absolute whale, and I didn’t want the photographs I hoped to cherish for the rest of my life to be of me looking like a beach ball draped in a tablecloth.

Jayden stood at the front of the room in a dark-grey suit, a clove-red carnation in his lapel. We locked eyes, and I found myself choking back tears again. God, he was so gorgeous, I couldn’t believe he was mine. Even though I wasn’t pregnant anymore, I still hadn’t managed to shift the crying habit.

I reached him, and he pulled me in and kissed me.

“You’re supposed to wait until the ‘I do’,” Leo shouted from the audience.

A few people laughed and clapped.

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