Page 79 of The Vow

He had vowed to protect her. He had vowed to love her. And he’d already broken that vow. He hadn’t been there for her, he hadn’t managed to protect her.

He bit his lip, “Lena, I…” but the booming organ was too loud.

She saw him now, closer up, and sobbed. Oh yeah, he had a bruise on his head somewhere, didn’t he? And he probably generally looked like shit by this stage. He watched her lip wobble as her eyes locked onto him. He saw the hurt, the betrayal, the sadness. But it wasn’t aimed at him, it was aimed at her family. She glanced at them with that sadness clear to see, the fight gone from her, defeated.

He felt his heart break right then and there. He tried to walk forward to greet her, to pull her into his chest and hold her, to tell her he loved her and he would always be there for her.

But his legs didn’t work, he stumbled. The floor spun and rushed up to meet him in slow motion. She looked concerned, and raised a hand, her mouth forming the words to exclaim, leaning forward to come to him. Carmelo tasted the carpet, and sprawled out on the floor, in both agony and also bliss at the same time for being practically flat on his face. He groaned and turned his head as the organ finally stopped.

Kavan stood up then and used the opportunity to turn and speak to the shocked crowd. “He’s clearly not fit to be a husband, this can’t go ahead, our Princess will not marry this excuse for a man… I insist on taking his place…”

Colt jumped up, all promises of acting cool tossed out the window as his pure rage burned through. “You fucker, he was drugged-”

“My more senior age only ensures a wise match, my heritage is pure and my loyalty is unquestioning-”

There was a gasp and mutterings from the crowd. Jovan stood now, anger on his face. “What is this?”

Colt wouldn’t be silenced, he turned on Jovan. “Some Zakarian fucker drugged Carmelo last night, was this sanctioned by you?”

“Not by me.” Jovan was outraged. “Why the fuck would I want this kind of disturbance on my daughter’s wedding day?” Jovan asked, perplexed and genuine.

Colt relented “By someone in your family-”

The noise from the crowd was louder now, gasps and full on conversations with each other, pointing, eyes wide, exclamations of shock.

Kavan took a breath and started trying to speak again but he couldn’t make himself heard.

So he wrenched himself out of the pew he was in, strode to the front of the altar.

“Kavan, what are you doing? Get back here-” Jovan started to scold him.

But Kavan wasn’t listening. Kavan had his eyes fixed on Carmelo, he pulled his gun out, pointed at Carmelo, bearing down on him. “He’s a traitor, he always will be, he can’t be trusted-” Carmelo had a vague thought that this might actually be the last time he saw anyone. Lena, Colt. He might actually end up dying today after all, Kavan was out for blood and people were reacting too slowly.

“Kavan, no!” Jovan tried to call him back like an angry owner calling a misbehaving mongrel back to heel.

But Kavan wasn’t listening anymore. “We simply cannot have an American cop in the family-”

“Too late, he is already my husband!” Lena shouted, stepping in front of Kavan and shoving him roughly.

Her claim echoed dramatically around the high vaulted ceiling, wedding guests gasped, everyone froze. It was like a scene from a cheap soap opera. Carmelo almost got the overwhelming desire to laugh.

“What?” Kavan spluttered, his face looking puce.

Lena pushed him again. “Yeah, we married in Vegas, ‘cause I do actually love him, as crazy as that sounds, but we wanted to do it our way, not your way-” she hissed in the general direction of her family, sitting frozen with horror in the stands.

Carmelo groaned on the floor, he had to move, to say something, to do something. He attempted to stand up, pushing himself up with his hands, onto his knees. He felt so fucking helpless but things were sliding sideways and his body wasn’t obeying his brain.

“Fuck!” Kavan shouted to the ceiling, deranged now. “Fuck!”

Jovan turned to look at him as if seeing him in a new light. “Kavan, for God’s sake man, this is not your place-”

Kavan pointed his gun at Carmelo and, without further hesitation or procrastination, Kavan shot.

Carmelo felt the impact of the bullet before his brain registered what had happened. He felt it before he’d even heard the gun go off with that dreadful crack that echoed in the big room. He felt a hot, wet feeling in his shoulder, and he felt himself being knocked down again.

And then, out of the shocked silence, all hell broke loose.

Guests stood and shrieked. Some ran and tripped over to the exit. Babies cried. People shouted.

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