Page 31 of Deceptive Vows (Bound by Vows #3)
Chapter Twenty-Six
THEA
Dawn crept quietly into the Waldorf Astoria suite, pale winter light slipping through a gap in the heavy curtains.
I’d been awake for hours, perched on the window seat, watching Chicago slowly emerge from the darkness.
Sleep had been elusive, my mind too full of tomorrow’s dangers to find rest. My wedding day—a phrase I never thought would apply to me, yet here it was.
The ivory silk dress hung from the wardrobe door across the room, its presence both alluring and unsettling. In a few hours, I would wear it to marry a man I’d known only weeks—a man who had somehow found his way past defenses I’d spent decades building.
From my vantage point, I could see the city I knew so intimately stretching toward Lake Michigan.
Nazar was likely awake too, perhaps staring out at the same skyline, thinking of me.
Maybe a little too confident to assume, but it was there nonetheless.
Even if I were wrong, the thought sent an unexpected warmth through my chest.
“You’re up early.”
Aunt Helen’s voice startled me from my reverie. She stood in the doorway connecting our rooms, already dressed in a silk robe, her silver hair loose around her shoulders.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I admitted.
I wouldn't mention that I'd spoken to Nazar just a few hours ago.
One of his men had infiltrated the Gray Wolves and found where the women were being held.
We had no choice but to continue as we were, but as soon as we got into the limo, I would change clothes and we would hit that location to free those women.
I'd wanted to move quicker, but Nazar had convinced me it would be less expected if we waited until we were supposed to be at the reception.
She crossed to me, settling beside me on the window seat. For a moment, we sat in comfortable silence, the bond between us requiring no words. She’d stepped in after Ma died, becoming the maternal presence I still desperately needed even as I pretended I didn’t.
“Cold feet?” she asked gently.
I almost laughed. If only it were that simple—the normal jitters of a bride before her wedding. Not the weight of knowing innocent girls’ lives hung on the legitimacy of my vows, or that Marco Moretti would be waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
“Just... thinking,” I said instead.
Aunt Helen took my hand, her fingers warm against mine. “Your Ma would be so proud, kardoula mou . She always said you’d find your match one day—someone who could keep pace with you.”
I swallowed hard against the sudden tightness in my throat. “Ma said that?”
Helen smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “She knew you’d need someone extraordinary. Not to tame you—she never wanted that—but to match your fire.”
“And you think Nazar is that person?” I couldn’t keep the vulnerability from my voice.
She studied me for a long moment. “I think you wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t. Arranged or not, you’ve never been one to do something your heart truly opposed.”
Before I could formulate a response, a knock at the outer door announced the arrival of room service—breakfast and coffee for the bridal party. The momentary reprieve from Helen’s too-perceptive gaze was welcome.
By the time Claire and Anna arrived, bringing with them a flurry of garment bags, makeup cases, and barely contained excitement, I had regained my composure.
If my sisters-in-law noticed my distraction, they were kind enough not to mention it, instead filling the suite with cheerful chatter that gradually eased the tension I’d been carrying.
“Let’s get you in the chair.” Claire steered me toward the vanity. “We have a masterpiece to create.”
Anna laughed, unpacking an alarming array of styling tools. “ Don’t scare her!”
I caught my reflection in the mirror—dark circles beneath my eyes, hair tousled from my restless night. For the first time in recent memory, I surrendered control completely, letting the three women who loved me transform me into a bride.
As Claire worked on my makeup and Anna began styling my hair, Aunt Helen moved around the suite, laying out accessories with reverent care.
“These were your Ma’s.” She opened a velvet box to reveal a delicate strand of pearls. “She wore them on her wedding day. And these—” she gestured to the tiny pearl pins Anna was weaving into my updo—“were her mother’s.”
Something deep within me ached at the thought of Ma—what she would think of this marriage, of Nazar, of the circumstances that had brought us together. Would she understand that what begun as a strategy somehow shifted into something else—something I wasn’t yet ready to name?
“Tell me about her wedding day,” I said suddenly, surprising myself with the request.
Helen smiled, settling onto the sofa with a distant look in her eyes. “It was a warm day in May. The church was filled with flowers—peonies, her favorite. Andros couldn’t take his eyes off her from the moment she appeared in the doorway.”
“Was she nervous?” I thought of the butterflies currently taking flight in my own stomach.
“Terrified,” Helen admitted with a small laugh. “She’d spent the morning alternating between pacing and sitting absolutely still, like a statue. But the moment she saw him waiting at the altar, everything else fell away.”
Claire met my eyes in the mirror, a knowing smile playing at her lips. “That’s how it was for me too. All that worry, and then... just Lucas.”
“And for me,” Anna added softly. “Even with everything that happened before our second wedding, seeing Ari waiting for me changed everything.”
I stayed silent, absorbing their words. Would it be that way for me? When I walked down that aisle and saw Nazar, would the complications, the dangers, the uncertainties fade into the background?
The morning slipped away in a haze of preparations. My hair was arranged in an elegant updo, secured with Ma’s pearl pins. Claire’s skilled hands had created makeup that enhanced rather than masked—subtle enough to still feel like me, elegant enough for a bride.
“It’s time for the dress,” Anna announced finally, her voice hushed with anticipation.
The ivory silk was cool and heavy as they helped me into it, the material sliding against my skin like water. Claire worked on the row of tiny buttons running down my spine while Aunt Helen arranged the skirt, smoothing invisible wrinkles with practiced hands.
When I turned to face the full-length mirror, I barely recognized the woman staring back. The silk hugged my curves in a clean, elegant line, the lace cap sleeves adding softness to a silhouette that still felt like me.
I looked... bridal. Beautiful. But most surprisingly, still myself.
“Oh, Thea,” Aunt Helen whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. “You’re breathtaking.”
Claire blinked rapidly, fanning her face. “Nazar is going to lose his mind when he sees you.”
“Agreed.” Anna adjusted the veil on its temporary stand nearby.
I was saved from responding by a knock at the door. Claire answered it, revealing Lex in his charcoal suit, a small box in his hands.
“Lucas sent this up for you—” He stopped short as he caught sight of me. “Wow, Thea. You look... incredible.”
I shot him a nervous smile, accepting the box. Inside was the ring I would give Nazar, a simple platinum band, engraved on the inside with my initials and the date. It was heavier than I expected, solid and real in my palm.
“Are you ready?” Lex studied my face with the careful attention he’d always shown, able to read me better than most.
Was I? Ready to walk into a church and promise myself to a man I’d known mere weeks? Ready to say vows that might be temporary, might be permanent, depending on circumstances largely beyond our control?
“As I’ll ever be.” I attempted a lightness I didn’t entirely feel.
A flutter of activity followed—final adjustments to my veil, Claire and Anna gathering their bouquets, Aunt Helen pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before departing for the church ahead of us.
Then suddenly it was time, the hotel suite emptying until only Lex remained with me, holding my bouquet of winter blooms while I gathered my thoughts.
“Lucas is waiting downstairs with the car,” he said gently. “But we have a minute if you need it.”
I nodded, grateful for his understanding. “How does it feel? Knowing Sofia will be there today?”
Lex’s expression darkened momentarily. “Complicated. But today isn’t about Gabriele or Marco or their schemes. It’s about you—and Nazar.”
I smoothed my hands down the silk of my dress. “When I was little, before Lucas found me, I didn’t dream of marriage or dresses, but this feels like what I might have dreamed of had I been that type of little girl.”
“I think Nazar is in love with you, Thea, for what it’s worth. I think he sees you as you are and appreciates your fire and independence.”
The words hung between us. I thought of the way Nazar’s eyes tracked me across a room, the way he’d noticed my affinity for knives before he even knew my name, how he seemed to understand my need for independence without feeling threatened by it .
“Yes,” I admitted, the truth startling in its simplicity. “I think he does.”
Something in Lex’s expression softened, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Then maybe this isn’t just for show after all.”
Before I could formulate a response, a text chimed on his phone—Lucas, waiting below.
“Time to go.” Lex offered me his arm.
I accepted it, gathering my skirt with my free hand as he led me from the suite. The veil cascaded down my back, not yet lowered over my face—that would come later, at the church.
The elevator ride to the lobby passed in anticipatory silence.
Through the glass doors, I could see the sleek black car waiting at the curb, Lucas standing beside it in his perfectly tailored suit.
My brother—the man who had saved me, given me a family, a home, a future.
Without him, none of this would be possible.