Page 106 of Cruel Betrayal

Not for a moment.

Those men are always smiling, some of them tearing up, all of them looking like there’s nothing they’d rather do than spend the rest of their lives with the woman walking toward them.

But as I look at Aiden, waiting for Zoe to finish her walk down the aisle, the tears start streaming down my face.

Aiden looks like he’s finally found peace as she stops in front of him, handing off her bouquet to Gia.

Gia takes the flowers, tears rolling down her cheeks and running into her smile too.

I take a sharp breath and lean into Ezra’s side as his arm wraps around my shoulders.

He kisses my temple, but he’s stiff.

It’s been a hard couple of weeks, getting him adjusted to the family, and I’m still not sure things are good between him and Aiden, but he won’t talk about it. I’m not pushing him either. Not when the last two weeks have been busy with the last-minute wedding planning.

Only Aiden and Zoe would decide that two weeks is enough time to plan an entire wedding and get married.

Ezra’s lips hover against my ear. “You’re going to start cutting tracks in your foundation if you keep sobbing.”

I laugh and take the tissue he holds out, dabbing away the tears as Zoe and Aiden start to read their vows.

My heart is so full. “Do you think one day that’s going to be us?”

It’s impossible for him to get any stiffer, at least it should be. But he does.

I laugh nervously, clutching the tissue. “I mean, I don’t want to get married anytime soon, but I was thinking about the future while they’ve been planning this, and I started thinking that one day, it might be nice to get married, but I understand if that’s not what you want because it is a lot to think about, especially when we’re just starting to get our shit together.”

A slow smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I’ve never thought about it before these last two weeks when I finally had time to sit and think about what a future was going to look like.”

Zoe and Aiden seal their marriage with a kiss.

Another tear slides down my face. “And what do you see?”

Ezra lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses the back of it. “I don’t know. Noah is still a problem. But what I do know is that I want to spend every day for the rest of my life with you, whatever that might look like.”

“Has he reached out to you?” Panic rises in my chest.

“Family pictures! All the Lynde siblings get your asses in front of the rose bushes!” Zoe yells as she walks down the aisle hand-in-hand with Aiden.

I laugh, all thoughts of the future on pause for a moment as I get up and tug Ezra with me. “That includes you now.”

His cheeks tinge, and he shakes his head. “I don’t think it does. Your brothers still aren’t happy I’m here, and I’ve caught Skyla looking at me like she’s going to put a knife in my back.”

“She’s a serial killer, so that’s not surprising.” I look at him as the color drains from his skin. “For someone who was stalking me, you don’t seem to know a whole lot about what goes on in my family.”

His fingers skim my waist as he follows me. “You were the only one I was really interested in.”

“Shoddy work, then.” I tow him with me over to the rose bushes.

Aiden glares at him, but Zoe is quick to step on his toes and offer Ezra a smile, pulling him into the mix.

Everyone is bumping into each other as they try to find a space to stand.

Ellie grins, leaning into Sean while Joshua and Skyla look like they could kill anyone at any time. Royce and Gia are busy wrangling Bianca, who keeps running out of the picture, andDominic, who won’t stop screaming. Summer already has a drink in her hand, making a peace sign at the camera.

I guess the family pictures are going to look like a dysfunctional family portrait.

Not that it’s entirely wrong, but at least one of them besides Ellie could smile.