Page 45 of He Is Ours (Lovers in Crossfire #2)

Two Months Later

I

never

thought

about

myself getting married, but here I am, in a suit and tie. Xander, to my right, is the officiant at my fucking wedding. My backyard is all decorated with fairy lights and flowers; there are chairs in the yard, and we're under the big cherry blossom tree.

Over the last two months, Xander and I have been pouring ourselves into cleaning up the backyard.

Not just for the wedding, but as a way to heal.

After everything we have been through, this place needed to feel like home again.

The girls didn’t want an expensive venue; they wanted something simple and meaningful.

Just family and friends here with us on our day.

Olivia’s pregnancy added another layer to all of our madness and rebuilding.

Watching her move through these past weeks with strength and grace has grounded me in ways I didn't expect. Every morning, we spend time sanding down the old wood, hanging lights, and planting flowers. It all feels like stitching together the torn edges of our lives. This wasn’t just a wedding.

It was about reclaiming peace, piece by piece.

The music starts to play, and my head shoots up. We planned this wedding to be quick and intimate. We only wanted family here. Olivia's dad is here, Oliver is here with Alessio, my mom and siblings are here, and Rachel's Gram is here.

When the door to the house opens, I see Olivia's dad with both of my women walking down the aisle toward me, ready to give them away. My eyes start to blur as tears fill them. I'm at a loss for words. They both look stunning.

Rachel is on August's left arm; her hair is down in loose curls.

She is wearing a beautiful, strapless, plain white dress that hugs every beautiful curve on her body, flowing to the ground like a mermaid's fin.

I think she mentioned it being called mermaid style or something. I won't lie, I forgot what she said.

Olivia is on August's right arm, her hair is pinned up, and she has a lacy white dress that stretches around her growing belly. She is now 18 weeks pregnant, and the little man is making his presence known.

Both of my women are glowing, and I am sitting here starstruck by them. How the fuck did my dumbass end up with these two beauties? The world will never know, but I will never let them go.

"Hey buddy, are you good?" Xander whispers in my ear. I wipe the tears from my eyes and nod at him. I watch the girls, memorizing every single step they take towards our forever.

As soon as they make it to me, they are mine for good.

The reception is in full swing, and everyone is talking and dancing. Olivia is sitting down next to me, watching Rachel dance with my brother Javier. His tenth birthday was last month. We had a party for him at ma's house and made sure the wedding was far enough away not to interfere with his day.

Ever since Rachel met my family, he has been glued to her.

It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I have always been significantly older than my siblings and never got close to them, but ever since the girls went to meet my family, my siblings and I have gotten a lot closer.

I feel like we are over at Ma's house every other day at this point, between the little man growing in Olivia's belly and Ma wanting to get to know the girls.

It has been amazing to finally be close to my family.

Rachel finally has opened up to us about what happened to her parents, after months of us trying to get her to talk.

When she was eight, she was over at a friend's house for a sleepover. There was a drive-by shooting in the neighborhood, and the generator outside her parents' house was hit, causing the house to catch fire. Their home was quickly engulfed in flames, and her parents didn’t survive. She lived with her grandma until she met Andrew. Andrew’s dumb fuck self made Rachel cut off Gram. That shit still pisses me off.

I look out to the crowd and see Gram swaying to the music in her seat.

"Hey, babe, I think I am going to go ask Gram to dance. Are you okay here alone?" Olivia nods to me, leaning back and rubbing her little man, you can start to see her belly jumping from him kicking her.

I get up and walk over to Gram, she looks up at me with a twinkle in her blue eye.

"May I have this dance?" I ask her. She reaches out and grabs my hand. I slowly pull her up and walk her to the makeshift dance floor in the grass. We start to sway to the music, her long, silver hair swaying in the light breeze.

I look around at all the smiling faces and see Rachel run off towards Jose, my youngest brother, who is five years old. She picks him up and spins him in a circle, both of them laughing. This is my family, and they are making it the most amazing wedding day. There is nowhere else I would rather be.

"Alejandro," a deep Italian voice calls out from behind me. I stop mid-dance and turn, pulling Gram behind me.

I see a tall man with dark brown hair and brown eyes, looking at me. "Who are you? And why are you at a private wedding?"

"Antonio?" I hear Ma say from behind me. I turn and look at her.

"You know who this is, ma?" She looks at me with sadness in her eyes. Who is this fucker, and why the fuck is my mom sad, and why is he at my wedding?

"Well, as Maria said, I am Antonio." I blink at him, waiting for him to finish.

"Ma, what the fuck is he talking about?" I rub my face with my hand, trying to get the tension out.

"I am your father, Alejandro.” My world stops as I stare blankly at the man who is claiming to be my father.

"Excuse me?" I am blinking now out of sheer shock.

“I need you and Alessio to come back to Italy with me.” He says like it’s no big deal, and this is not my fucking wedding night.

"Absolutely not! He will not be leaving!" I hear Olivia's voice, looking over my shoulder to see her rushing over to me. I just sit here and stare at the man in front of me. I see the same brown eyes I have, I see the same nose structure, but I can tell I get most of my looks from my mom.

"He is ours!" Rachel screams out, both of my women now by my side, ready to fight anyone who dares to interrupt our peace.

That’s the end for now….

Don't miss the final book of the Lovers in Crossfire series, They Belong To Me.