Page 36 of Vendetta

Seething, I raced back through the blessedly empty halls to the bridal suite. I didn’t have any clothes—my sweats were probably still back at the spa where we’d changed—and I hadn’t thought to grab anything else while I was brawling with my ex-fiancé.

When I rushed in, Claudia jumped to her feet, her pretty pink dress swishing around her ankles.

“There you are. We need to hurry. The ceremony is in”—she glanced at the clock—“fifteen minutes.”

“Claud, I can’t do it. I just can’t,” I said, rushing behind the dressing screen and searching for literally anything to put on other than this flimsy silk robe.

There was my dress, tucked securely in its cloth garment bag. As I approached, I noticed a paper card in the clear plastic pocket. In bold, embossed print, it said Mrs. Monica Vasco.

Holy fucking shit. This was their dead omega’s dress. Probably her venue and wedding date too. I fucking knew it. Can’t lose those deposits, I guess.

I didn’t have time to be appropriately outraged by the audacity, so I tore open the bag, ignoring the name card entirely. There it was, a single yard’s worth of slinky satin. White and nearly see-through with lace cutouts. I might as well have been naked. That certainly wasn’t going to leave much to the imagination, but it would be better than this tiny robe with only a slippery belt holding it closed. I pulled the gown from the hanger and stepped into it, shimmying it up over my hips.

“What is going on, Rosa?” Claudia appeared around the edge of the dressing screen, getting a good look at my face for the first time since I’d come back.

She gasped when she saw it up close. It probably looked worse than it felt, but it was hot, and radiating a dull throbbing ache up the side of my cheek and down my neck.

“Oh my god, Rosa. What happened?” She hurried to me, her brows creasing with concern.

“That fucker flushed my suppressants.” I paused to wriggle the unforgiving satin over my tits. I clawed at the zipper, but it wasn’t budging. “And he hit me, then I broke a lamp over his head.” I hopped half-heartedly, trying to jolt the dress into moving. “And then he hit me again.”

“Wait! What? Lorenzo hit you? And your suppressants are gone?” Claudia hurried around behind me. “Here, let me get that.”

“Yes—all of that. Then Cruz came in and, well, I left. I’m sure Cruz can handle himself, but there is zero chance I am getting married.” I adjusted the neckline of the dress. It might have been pretty if it wasn’t two sizes too small, but this wasn’t about looks, this was about functionality. I just needed something to cover myself so I could leave.

“Then why are you putting on your wedding dress?”

“I needed to get out of there, and all of my clothes were on the opposite side of two very angry alphas. This was a better option than the robe. Barely.” I looked around for shoes. My options were slim. The white patent-leather stilettos were out—I knew how useless those would be—leaving disposable foam flip-flops from my pedicure or the flimsy white satin slippers the spa provided. At least the slippers had some kind of sole on them. That resolved, I slipped them on, bouncing from one foot to the other.

If only I had a gun. Too bad I hadn’t planned that far ahead.

Chapter 25

Cruz

Isaw red.

The door disintegrated in front of me as soon as I heard the crash, but nothing could have prepared me for the way my heart seized in my chest at seeing Lorenzo standing over Rosa. His hand was still in motion from the vicious strike. I had no idea what she’d done to elicit that response from him, but there was no excuse to justify what he’d done. Nothing could’ve been bad enough for an alpha to strike an omega, period.

Fury roared in my ears as I rushed Lorenzo, smashing his throat between my forearm and the wall. His gurgling breath was barely a whisper over the pounding of my adrenaline. My only thought was keeping him away from her, but once the slapping of her feet receded down the hall, I stepped back. Rosa was safe, but Lorenzo’s sweaty red face loomed in front of me.

“What the fuck, man?” He panted, trying to catch his breath.

Na, fuck him. I was done with this.

My knuckles slamming into his jaw and the resounding crunch of breaking bone was little consolation for Rosa’s absence. The alpha staggered for the briefest second before collapsing in a heap on the ground. It was too bad he’d passed out. There was so much worse I wanted to do to him. If only he’d fought back. I waited, willing him to get back up and give me the excuse I needed to pound his skull into so much pulp and gray matter. But he didn’t, and there was no more time to fantasize about the pain I wanted to inflict on him; I had a hellcat to catch.

I’d hunt him down and take him apart piece by piece another day.

I tapped my earbud. “It’s time.”

Everything was in place for the operation, but it was going to be a little different than I’d expected. The rest of Lorenzo’s pack were partying in the honeymoon suite, blissfully unaware of what was going on. That plan went perfectly. Sending them a case of champagne and a stash of the good shit kept them distracted and far from Rosa. Unfortunately, Lorenzo hadn’t taken that bait. But honestly, this was better. I’d wanted an excuse to beat the shit out of him for a long time. The one question I didn’t have an answer to was where Rafael had holed up. He’d never showed up, but that was a puzzle for another time.

There was nothing stopping me as I strode through the hall at a blistering pace. I had to get to Rosa before she did something stupid. With her, I wasn’t sure what that was. It could be almost anything.

At the far end of the hall, Rosa and her friend were hurrying in my direction, but when they saw me they stopped like little baby deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi. There was nowhere to run, and I watched that conclusion play out across their faces.

I wasn’t worried. I’d planned for this, too. “Ask me again.”