Page 24 of Wedlocked

She inhaled sharply. Then leaning closer, she murmured, “You might need to eat if you want to keep up your strength.”

My dick jolted, my shaft so inflated I wondered how it hadn’t yet exploded. I smirked. How would I explain away the mysterious stain at the front of my pants to my guests? I cleared my throat as wagyu steak with pear and rocket salad was set in front of me. “I never could say no to a prime piece of steak.”

She laughed, and this time it was my heart that jolted. There was something glorious about her delight, particularly when it was from something I’d said.

Perhaps that was why I noticed the more the night progressed, the more she seemed to withdraw into herself. I frowned. Did she wonder if this was her last night?

It wasn’t like she hadn’t mentioned her death more than a few times, enough that it was akin to peeling a barely healed scab off my already guilty conscience. I’d never asked her to spy on me! I’d never asked her family to kill my brother and turn my whole family against hers.

I might have given my word to Salvatore that I wouldn’t break her spirit, but I hadn’t given my word that I’d keep her alive. I couldn’t give anyone that promise, least of all my wife.

The MC broke me out of my sordid thoughts as he picked up his microphone and announced, “I believe it’s now time for the bridal dance. Would the bride and groom please take to the dancefloor?”

I stood, aware of all eyes on me when I pulled out my wife’s chair. I resisted scowling at the guests. I might have been raised by a corrupt, vengeful father, but it didn’t mean I had to act like a villain to my wife. While she was alive I’d respect her and I’d demand the same from everyone else in return.

I proffered her my arm and she took it before we walked together to where the lack of tables near the band signified the dancefloor. The band then broke into a love song and I pulled my angel into my arms, drawing her fluidly around the empty floor space.

I couldn’t deny holding her like that made me yearn for things…impossible things, like keeping her alive and growing old together. My spine stiffened along with my shoulders. I was falling under her spell already, allowing her to lead me by my cock!

She really would make me look like a fool if I wasn’t careful. And I couldn’t allow that, because doing so would be signing her death warrant.

Chapter Fifteen

Sabrina

Had I ever been happier? Considering a handful of hours earlier I’d silently lamented the fact my wedding day had rushed by me, now that I was dancing with my husband, I wondered if my day could get any better. It was sublime following his lead as he guided me across the floor with effortless grace.

For a killer he certainly knew how to move.

My breath caught in my throat, anxiety causing me to falter and misstep.

Ethan looked down at me. “Are you okay?”

The MC invited Salvatore and Isabella to join us on the floor, and I absently noted how reluctantly they complied. They made a dramatic couple, with my brother’s platinum blond hair a foil for Isabella’s darkness. Was that how others perceived me and Ethan?”

I nodded stiffly. “It’s my wedding day, how could I possibly be anything but okay?”

He sighed, his big hands sliding down my waist to cup my ass. “Only you could make a question out of an answer.”

“And yet you married me.”

“Touché.”

I snorted. He might one day be my killer and yet I was perfectly at ease with him. It showed just how fucked up my childhood was that I could find peace with it at the most random moments…like now.

The MC invited everyone else on the dancefloor then and I glanced over and noticed my brother and Isabella looking a whole lot more relaxed, maybe even cozy as they moved together, my brother so tall and imposing and my sister-in-law so gorgeous and slender. That Isabella’s father was standing with his arms crossed and his face frozen with fury made me smile just a little bit.

The bastard deserved nothing less than to feel vulnerable, with his power now in Ethan’s hands and his daughter not the puppet he no doubt hoped for.

I lost count of the songs we danced to, all I knew for sure was that Ethan seemed as reluctant as me to leave the dancefloor while the magic of the evening swirled around us and affected us so profoundly.

Even with the bliss filling me from the inside out, it was instinctive with my upbringing to take note of what was happening around me. Such as the older man, who had the hardened look of someone who’d been in the mafia for too long, who approached Lorenzo. I’d been around enough mobsters to know the stranger in his tailored suit was high up in the family. He carried himself with authority, as someone who demanded respect.

Ethan followed my stare. “That’s Carlo. He was my father’s consigliere. He’s my advisor and right hand man now.”

I watched as the two men conversed, then retreated through the crowd and out through a side door that led to the portico outside.

Ethan stiffened and immediately our mood was dampened. I looked up at him. “Is everything all right?”

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