Page 100 of Twisted Trust

“Do you think so?”

“Mmhmm!” He gapes at me and then lunges forward for a hug, much to Marcella’s alarm. I don’t mind. There’s nothing he can do that will spoil this moment, and anything he does to my dress will only make me love it more.

“You look so handsome!” I say while kissing his head. “My little handsome man!”

“Thank you!” he grins up at me as Chip appears in the doorway, slightly breathless.

“Sorry,” he gasps. “He ran like the wind!”

“It’s okay,” I assure him. “Are… is it time?”

After catching his breath, Chip nods. “Yeah, everyone’s ready for you.”

“Are you ready?” Marcella offers me her elbow and smiles brightly.

Looping my hand around her elbow, I nod and take Scott’s hand in mine. “I’m ready.”

One step in front of the other!

I recite it as we head for the grand double doors separating me from the rest of my life. This is no longer about some deal to save my son or Levi’s reputation. This is real. My son and I have gained a family and I couldn’t be happier. It’s just terrifying at the same time.

The doors open as the wedding march strikes up, and I tighten my grasp on both Marcella’s elbow and Scott’s hand.

The entire room is filled with color. Flowers matching the colors on my dress rest in bouquets lining an aisle created between two sections of white chairs covered in oyster pink bows. Red petals cover the aisle leading down to where Levi stands in a black suit nervously fiddling with the cuffs of his tuxedo jacket. Crystal lights flitter above and every single seat isfilled. There are far more people than I expected, but given the extension of Mafia families, I’m not too surprised. I recognize a few people from the guards who drift around the apartment and keep watch, and a few people from the engagement party.

But they all fade into the background as I approach Levi.

Our eyes meet and my world narrows. Chip sweeps Scott away to stand near Levi while Marcella parts my arm and takes her seat at the front next to a chair reserved for Elio. Beside her sits Donald, our driver, and he tips his head toward us.

A single black lily rests on Elio’s seat, and my heart pulls south.

But then Levi is close enough to take my hand, and nothing else matters.

His eyes shine. His smile widens, which makes my heart skip a beat.

“Maeve,” Levi murmurs as I stop next to him. “You look beautiful.”

“Careful,” I whisper. “I’m so stressed I might cry.”

“You’d still look beautiful.” Emotion mists his own eyes and he brings my hand up to his mouth.

His lips brush my knuckles just as the priest before us takes a breath to speak, but before he can utter a word the double doors suddenly blow open with an almighty clatter. Levi’s grip tightens on my hand and suddenly, he’s shielding me with his body as a rapid explosion of gunfire rains down from the balcony above!

36

MAEVE

“Levi!”

He covers my body with his, circling his arms around my body and turning me away from the worst of the gunfire. Scott screams somewhere to my left and I jerk my head as every instinct in me surges to protect my son. Levi stops me by tightening his grip around me and keeping me doubled over as the explosion of gunfire dies down.

Splintered wood cracks and groans. Injured people slump to the floor with soft thumps and weak gasps as their life leaves them. Then a voice.

A voice I haven’t heard in months but it’s painfully familiar, cutting through me like a hot knife.

Cameron.

“Years,” Cameron—Antony—says. “Years I have sat on the perfect plan and then within a few weeks, you toppled it all down without a fucking word, Levi. How is it that everywhere I turn, there’s still a Gallo to fuck things up for me?”