Page 107 of Hunter's Revenge

As the new day forms, I stand, ready to take on the next part of the journey.

It's time.

Time to get married, make Gwen my wife, and take over the Navarro cartel.

It’s also time to shut my heart down again.

No great leader ever allowed his heart to guide him into battle.

I’m about to open Pandora’s box and unleash my secret weapon—Gwen St. James.

My enemies won’t know what hit them until I strike.

ChapterTwenty-Four

Gwen

Istare at myself in the full-length mirror of the guest room Jeanne prepared as a makeshift dressing room.

I’m gazing at myself in my wedding dress which has an elegant Grace Kelly vibe with its long laced sleeves and a stunning flowing skirt.

I look beautiful.

Jeanne is behind me staring at me with pride. She’s just finished doing my hair and makeup. Both of which look amazing.

She’s given me smoky eyes and placed my hair in a neatly twisted chignon with a row of white flowers surrounding it. The style matches my dress. And I’m a bride. This is really happening.

It’s finally time to get married.

Before noon today, I will become Gwen Volkova.

This is a day most women dream of being the best in their lives, but it’s nothing of the sort for me. Nobody ever told me, I’d have to find a way to stop myself from falling for my husband.

How do you do that?

If there’s a manual somewhere, I need to read it straightaway before I fall apart.

The twist of angst in my core reminds me of how my body betrayed me again last night.

Each time Malik took me, I knew I was only setting myself up for disaster, but I kept going, giving as much as he gave me as if I’d lost my mind.

I told myself I could indulge and deal with the consequences in the morning. But when morning came and I saw he was gone again, I felt worse than

yesterday.

Jeanne told me Malik had already gone to the venue, but I knew he would have left anyway. Then to add more salt over my open wounds she also told me she wouldn’t be attending the wedding and that the guards would be taking me to the venue.

I don’t know why, but I felt her absence was done by design to send a message that this isn’t a real wedding so I mustn’t have real feelings.

I haven’t been around long enough to figure out the relationship dynamics here, but from what I’ve noticed, I can tell that Malik respects Jeanne the way you would an older relative. Almost like the way I am with my grandmother, or my grandmother’s friends, like Duke and Marybeth.

Jeanne is someone Malik would want at his wedding if this were real. The knowledge gave me another rude awakening.

My disappointment in everything made me wonder if I was really broken.

Broken like Mom was.

Mom made all sorts of crazy decisions that no sane or normal person would make. But it was falling for a man she could never have that broke her in the first place.

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