My father nodded again. “Yes, but I’m sure that won’t take long. Then there will be months between your pregnancy and the baby’s birth. You can do whatever you want, love. We will give you all the opportunities—so long as you remain safe within the fold.”
I bit down on my lower lip as my eyes sought the floor.Safe within the fold—still a part of the organization. Still a mafia wife, but … maybe he was right. Maybe it would be easier after I gave Gaven what he wanted. An heir and then … freedom. The next question would be however, would I be able to leave a child behind? I doubted it. In fact, I’d shied away from the thought, but the second Gaven did impregnate me would be the moment I’d be locked to him forever, more so than by any ring or wedding.
“My sweet Evangeline,” my father said, distracting me from my thoughts as he took my free hand that wasn’t squeezing my bouquet tightly. “I know this isn’t the life you envisioned for yourself, but thisisthe life for you. It was the world you were born into. You were meant for this.”
I stood silent, waiting for him to continue. There were no words to describe the mess of emotions that snaked through me since I’d learned my fate. Betrayal, hurt, anger, curiosity, and now … even lust.
“I don’t know what I would do if anything were to happen to you because of who I am,” he continued, his words lowering to a whisper. “But now I know you’ll have someone to protect you after I’m gone.”
A knife sliced into my heart at the grave comment, and I squeezed his hand. “Please,” I begged, “let’s not think like that. You’ll be around for a long time.”
“Long enough, maybe, to see the next generation of Price Heirs,” he teased.
My heart stuttered to a stop, but I pressed the dizziness they brought forth down. “Maybe,” I squeaked out.
He grinned ruefully and, for a brief moment, I could see the handsome man my mother had fallen in love with. Despite the darkness that plagued our family, what he did and who he was,he was still the man who had held me in his arms and shielded me when I was a child. I couldn’t help but love him.
“All right, my Angel, we can save all other conversations for after your wedding, but I want you to know that while you may not see it now, this is what your future needs. Do you understand?”
Not even a little,I thought, but I murmured my assent, leaning in for another hug. While still in my mind, the thoughts of only a few minutes prior had quieted, my focus shifting to the music playing in the ballroom where my wedding waited to begin. With a deep, steadying breath, I hooked my fingers in the crook of my father’s arm and started forward.
Doors opened to reveal the hundreds of people who now stood as the signature bridal song started to play. Elaborate white flowers hung over the ceiling in strings. I’d chosen the lilies, my mother’s favorite, but other than that, I’d had very little to do with the day’s preparation. The floral scent was nearly overwhelming. I didn’t know where they’d managed to get so many real flowers for the occasion so quickly, but someone had obviously worked very hard to turn the room into an interior garden.
Vines and leaves were woven over the chairs that had been set up and they even lined the walkway. Candles were lit, but overhead the chandeliers provided the most light. The room was devoid of windows, and it wasn’t lost on me that it was likely because the guests in this room—Gaven and my father included—were probably enemies to very powerful people who wouldn’t hesitate to see them dead, even at a wedding.
All eyes turned to my father and me as we made our way down the aisle. People I didn’t even know eyed me with a myriad of expressions; awe, happiness, judgment, and hate. There were more, but I couldn’t pick them all apart. All of them were focused on me. I knew, vaguely, who they all were. My father’s businesspartners, members of our family, and I was sure even a few enemies who wanted nothing more than to see a bullet in my father’s back. Perhaps one of them had even attempted to kill me on the street the day that Gaven had demanded the wedding to be moved up.
Whoever they were, they were not nearly as important or as all-consuming as the man at the end of the long path I walked down. All there was, was Gaven, standing straight and tall at the end of the aisle. A wolfish smile curled his lips with each step closer I took. I was about to seal my future with the man who scared me more than I’d cared to admit, even to myself.
The closer I drew to the end, the more nerves whipped through me. Slowing to a stop, we waited for the officiant to ask my father for his permission to have me marry Gaven.
“I do,” my father agreed proudly, kissing my cheek. With a final squeeze of my hand on his arm and passing off the bouquet to Gertie as she came forward and took it from me, he stepped away. Now, it was only Gaven and me. As the officiant ran through the obligatory lines, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Gaven’s intense stare, and I wasveryaware of his hands holding mine.
“Please repeat after me, Mr. Belmonte,” the officiant prompted.
Gaven echoed each line with confidence, the words searing into my soul. “I, Gaven Belmonte, take you, Evangeline Price, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”
I was frozen in place by the time he finished. Everything was finally coming to fruition. This wasn’t some sham or a simple business deal like my father had planned. It wasreal,and I knew that as Gaven said the vow, it was binding the two of us together.No matter for how long, no matter how far apart. I would forever belong to Gaven Belmonte.
“Now for you, Evangeline.” The officiant glanced at me, a reassuring smile on his weathered face, and I nodded, echoing his words each time until I got to the end.
“… from this day forward until death do us part.” The words sounded weird, steady, and smooth despite the slight tremble radiating through my body.
“Then I proudly pronounce you, Gaven and Evangeline, man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Price. You may now kiss your bride.”
Gaven didn’t need any more encouragement to do so, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. Cupping my head with one hand and pulling me into him with the other, he ensured I was looking him in the eye for a long moment before finally pressing his lips to mine. Possessive and intense, I felt the significance of that single kiss all the way to the tips of my toes and in the deepest recesses of my heart.
I was officially Gaven’s.
Until death did we part.
Chapter 19
Angel
Cocktail hour and photographs blew by in a flurry of activity. Posing this way and that with my new husband, greeting every single one of the hundreds of guests until finally we arrived at the reception.
“Here,” Gaven instructed, holding out a flute of champagne he’d snagged from a passing waiter’s silver tray. “You look a bit nervous.”
