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Chapter Ten

Julia

“ I think you look beautiful,” Inessa tells me as I look at myself in the wedding dress. Since the wedding is pushed up, I have to find a dress fast. The current one I have on is a mermaid style that doesn’t fit me at all.

“It’s not me, Inessa.”

She sighs. “You’re right. But we’ll keep looking.”

I’m getting married in just a couple of days.

Viktor promised he’d pay extra to make sure I get the wedding of my dreams in such a short amount of time.

I asked him if he was sure about the decision to marry me to Connor sooner and he asked me if I had any reason to not marry Connor sooner.

Since my reason includes Matteo, I couldn’t tell Viktor that and he said the wedding was happening.

“I don’t even care to look beautiful,” I admit. “I just want to get this over with.”

“I know you’re not happy about Connor but this is still your wedding and this is your chance to choose a dress you love. Take it.”

Inessa’s right. This will be my only chance at a wedding. Bratva men don’t believe in divorce and I’m sure it’s the same for Irish mobsters. Once you’re tied together in this world, you’re tied forever.

I try on a handful of dresses and none of them make sense for me. Either too poofy or too tight or too lacy until I find the perfect dress.

It’s a simple satin, no lace to it, with long sleeves and a bodice that sits straight across my chest with a skirt that flows around my legs but overall hugs my body. It’s like something out of the 1950s but updated. It’s me.

“That’s the one,” Inessa says, squeezing my arm.

The dress may be right but the choice of husband isn’t. Matteo is the one I need and he’s the one I need to talk to so when I return home after dress shopping, I immediately call him.

He doesn’t answer. Probably busy with work but I can’t wait. I need to talk to him now. I need to tell him that the wedding has been pushed up and that he needs to kill Connor before then. It will hurt my brother’s power in the war but I’m being selfish right now and I’m never like that.

I keep calling and calling and calling until Matteo finally answers after a few hours.

“Julia?” He sounds breathless. “I didn’t get your calls. I was working on something.”

“I figured.” And I know better than to ask. “Matteo, the wedding has been pushed up. It’s happening this weekend.”

“Your wedding? To Connor?”

“Yes.”

He falls silent for a moment. “I just need to kill him before then.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where he is? Knowing his location will help.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. Connor has never shared his address with me. But… Viktor might know. I can check. I’ll call you back.”

Viktor is not in his office so it’s the perfect time to sneak in and see if I can find Connor’s home address. I could just ask Viktor for it but I don’t want him wondering why I’m asking so many questions.

I start going through his desk when I hear someone clear their throat. With a gasp, I look up and there’s Viktor, standing in the doorway, looking at me as I go through his desk. Damn it. I rip my hands away from the drawer like I was burned.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Uh…”

“Julia, why are you going through my desk?”

“I was looking for Connor’s address.” Might as well come clean. About this at least.

He frowns. “Why?”

“Because he’s going to be my husband this weekend. I might as well know where he lives.”

“Ok… but you could have just asked me.”

“You are… right.” God, why was I being so stupid? I’m so used to lying to Viktor that sneaking around has become my normal.

“And I would have told you that I don’t have Connor’s personal address.”

“Why not?”

“He always comes here. I never saw the point. But you’ll live with him after you’re married, so we’ll get his address then.”

“Of course. You’re right.” I quickly walk away from the desk. “What was I thinking?”

He stops me before I can leave the office. “Are you ok?”

“Yes,” I say too quickly.

“Julia, I said it before. If you have any reason why you don’t want to marry Connor, tell me now.”

“I don’t like him.”

“I need more. Has he hurt you?”

“No,” I whisper, hiding my hands behind my back. I don’t need to flaunt my wrist in front of him. It’s not as swollen but it’s still bruised. “Sorry. I should have just asked you. I guess I’m just nervous with all this wedding stuff.”

His eyes soften. “I get that. And you know I’m here for you. If there’s something on your mind, just tell me.”

I want to be honest with Viktor. I want to trust that if I told him about Matteo, he’d let me be with him and not kill him.

But I also know my brother and I know how stubborn he can be and how he doesn’t do well when people mess with the people he loves.

It’s better just to stay quiet and hope that Matteo can handle this for me.

“I’m fine. But thank you for asking.” I leave his office before he can ask me anything more.

Once I’m back in my room, I call Matteo. “I don’t know Connor’s address. I’m sorry. I won’t know until after I’m married to him.”

“Damn it,” he mutters.

“Matteo?”

“Yes?”

“Are you ok?”

He laughs a little but there’s no humor to it. “I should be asking you that.”

“Can you stop Connor from marrying me?”

“I’m going to try. When exactly is the wedding happening?”

“On Saturday at the catholic church on 5 th avenue. It’s at two in the afternoon.”

“Ok. I’ll make sure I kill Connor before then. I will save you, Julia.”

And I believe Matteo with all my heart that he will.

Matteo

“We need to kill Connor,” I tell Dante when we head into his home office. I give Nadia a nod on the way past and she smiles in return, though it’s tense. She’s just as nervous about this war as the rest of us are.

“Of course we need to kill Connor,” Dante says, settling back in his seat. I remain standing. Nothing can calm me right now, knowing that Julia is days away from being married to Connor. Fucking Connor.

“No. I mean soon.”

“Are you ok, Matteo? You seem… frantic. You’re usually the calm one.”

I run my hand over my head. “Listen, I have some intel. I know that Connor and Julia are getting married this weekend. We need to kill him before then to stop that from happening. If Viktor marries his sister off to Connor, then he has guaranteed access to the Irish mob. They could best us.”

“You’re right. That isn’t good but I thought their wedding was happening later this month, not this weekend.”

“It got bumped up to this weekend.”

“How did you find out?”

“Uh… my contact.”

Dante frowns. “You have a contact that works closely with Viktor or Connor? Why have I never heard of this before? Last I checked, you didn’t have any contacts within Viktor’s circle.”

“It doesn’t matter how I know. What matters is that we kill Connor before then.”

“Fine. But do you know where he is? Where he lives?”

“No,” I admit.

“There you go.” Dante falls silent, pondering something as he steeples his fingers together. “Unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless we attack the wedding.”

Panic squeezes my chest. “The wedding?”

“We could attack the wedding. We’ll know for sure that Connor is getting married that day. We attack the wedding. Kill Connor. Kill Viktor. It’s perfect. They won’t be expecting us.”

“But you don’t even know where they’re getting married or when.”

“But you do. I’m sure your contact told you when and where, so tell me.”

“I… I’m not sure I want to.”

Dante stares at me for a long moment. “Why the fuck would you not want to?”

“Innocent people could be killed.”

“So? We’ve accidently killed innocents before. You helped me kidnaped Nadia years ago.”

“But I never shot any people that day. But if you want to kill Connor and Viktor, then the best way is to go in guns a blazing. Which means innocent people will die.”

He leans forward on his desk, looking at me with intense eyes that scare most people. They’ve never scared me before… until right now. “Why this sudden worry about what will happen? Viktor and Connor are the enemy. Everyone associated with Viktor is the enemy.”

“What about Inessa, Viktor’s wife?”

“So? What about her?”

“She’s friends with Elena, who last I checked, was married to Aiden, one of your closest allies. She won’t appreciate her friend dying because of your reckless behavior.”

“She can deal. Finn killed her father and she forgave him.”

I sigh. This isn’t going well. “I just think we need to be more careful. We could die if we go in there without a plan.”

“We do have a plan. We go into that church and we blast everyone away. Problem solved. War won. Elena can deal with the death of her friend. She’ll mourn and move on. Besides, she hasn’t even spoken to Inessa in years.”

I hesitate and Dante narrows his eyes.

“Matteo?”

“I know from Aiden that Elena and Inessa sometimes talk on the phone.”

“What?! And no one ever told me this?” He stands up and begins pacing around the room. “Un-fucking-believable. Is that how Viktor knew to come to my club that night? Because Inessa and Elena still talk?”

“I don’t think they discuss any plans about their husbands. Aiden was sure about that.”

“I’m going to have a talk with him, don’t fucking worry. And you. Don’t keep things from me. Now, tell me which church and when this wedding is happening.”

“Ok.” Dante is still my boss at the end of the day. “It’s the catholic church on fifth avenue. It’s at two.”

He nods. “Good. Which day?”

“Saturday.”

“We can make this work.” He eyes me over. “Tell me who your contact is.”

“What?” My spine stiffens and my chest constricts.

“Your contact , Matteo. Who is this mystery person that told you all of this? And how has Viktor never found you talking to this contact that knows so much? I know Viktor. He’s a secretive man.

He doesn’t share information from just anyone which means your contact has to be someone close to the source. So who is it?”

“I’m not sure I can tell you.”

He slams his hand onto the table. “Who the fuck is it?”

“Julia.” It comes out before I can stop it. “It’s… Julia.”