“You listen to me, Mr. Hanson. We are going into that party. I’ll pretend that I’m mad at you. We’ll get in our fight. We’ll make it clear to anyone who’s watching that I’m lost as to why Vanessa is demanding money from you. If the Mob is watching, they’ll believe I’m in the dark about all of it. And then we start fresh in Paris. You, me, and Chloe. That is the only result I’ll allow. Promise me that, or we don’t get out of this car.”

  Jay scrutinizes me, scanning my face, and then his lip lifts into that classic smirk I love. “Fuck, I love you, Kitten. You drive a hard bargain, but okay. Happily ever after, that’s what you want?”

  My heavy breath escapes. “It’s what we’ve earned.”

  For a few moments while Grace walked down the aisle toward my brother, everything faded away. My guilt and stress ceased to exist as I watched the way my brother looked at his bride. It was exactly how Jay looked at me. With pride, affection, and overwhelming gratitude that she’d chosen him. That she’d forgiven him.

  With the two of us standing side by side, our relationship slipped back into place. We’d both made mistakes. We’d both been selfish. But he’s my brother. And despite how much he’d let me down in recent months, I knew he’d struggled with our rift as much as I did.

  So when he asked me to dance, I accepted and followed him out onto the wooden floor.

  “It’s a beautiful wedding,” I say, looking up at Cash.

  He may be younger, but there is nothing smaller about him.

  “It was all Grace.” The smile he’s worn all day somehow gets bigger and softer at the mention of his wife’s name.

  “Of course it was. She’s perfect for you.”

  He chuckles. “She’s too good for me.”

  I shake my head. “No. You’re both perfect for one another. And for the record, I’m really sorry that it took me so long to come around to her.”

  Cash spins me out as the band plays “Wild Horses.” When he brings me back to his chest, he squeezes me tighter. “I want you to be happy.”

  My smile is tight. “I am.”

  “But you and Jay—”

  I stop him. He saw us fighting before, as he was meant to, but I don’t want to talk badly about my husband. I don’t want to extend this lie in private. Loudly, I’ll make the scenes, but while dancing with my brother, I want truth. Not every moment of my life needs to be a lie. “It’s complicated.”

  He raises his brow. “It’s always complicated with you two.”

  I can’t help the laugh that escapes as I rest my cheek against my brother’s chest. “Ain’t that the truth.”

  When I look back up, he smiles. Then his attention drifts to my necklace and his brows pinch together. “Where’d you get that?” he asks, lifting it from my skin.

  “It was a gift.”

  Cash shakes his head. “Weird.”

  I study the cross. “I don’t know. I think it’s pretty.”

  Cash narrows his eyes. “It’s almost identical to Frank’s tattoo.” His voice comes out strained. “Did Frank give this to you?”

  “What? No,” I say, far too quickly. As if I have something to hide. And while I do, it has nothing to do with this necklace.

  “It’s his family crest. Why do you have it around your neck?”

  Breathing becomes difficult as I put the pieces together. And, filled with a slew of new questions, I scan the reception for Jay or Frank.

  Frank’s family crest.

  Fuck.

  The McCabe family crest.

  As if he can sense my need for him, Jay appears. “Dance with me, Kitten?”

  I offer Cash a weak smile, praying he drops it. “Go enjoy your wedding. Thanks for the dance.”

  He nods but finally lets me go.

  Jay presses me firmly against his chest and drops his lips to my ear. “Talk to me.”

  I peruse the dance floor, finding Grace and Tessa nearby, bobbing around with Hope in their arms. My niece smiles when Cash peeks his head around Grace’s shoulder, taking her by surprise. Tessa moves back, a big smile on her face as my brother presses Hope between himself and Grace and moves to the beat.

  Then Tessa’s boyfriend, a giant of a man in comparison to her small frame, pulls her in close and rests his chin on her head as they sway.

  Carter sits with a drink in his hand only a few feet away. His gaze hits Tessa for only a moment before he’s standing and heading to the bar. It can’t be easy seeing her so happy with someone else. One day, maybe he’ll find someone like Cash and I have. I hope all my siblings are as happy as Cash is.

  When I spot Frank in the corner, his focus locked on Jay and me, my mind returns to the task at hand.

  “Don’t look down, but did you buy a necklace for me?”

  Jay’s lips dip into a frown against my cheek and his steps falter. “No. Not today at least.”

  The sounds around me get louder and muffled as the room spins.

  “Talk to me, Kitten,” Jay murmurs, squeezing me tighter.

  “It’s a cross like the one on Frank’s back. His family crest,” I whisper.

  The only indication that this information bothers Jay is how his fingers dig into my hips. “Where did you find it?”

  “Our bedroom. Next to the bed. There was no note. I figured it was from you.”

  He blows out a hot breath against my neck. “Okay, I need you to listen to every word I say.”

  I nod but keep my gaze locked on Cash and Hope. He kisses her as the song ends, then heads toward Frank, who’s still standing at the bar. Tessa tips her head up at her boyfriend and kisses his chin, then darts away to dance with Grace and Hope. He smiles brightly, watching her.

  “You’re going to push me away and start the fight. You need to be loud, Cat. Angry.”

  I close my eyes, hating every minute of this.

  “And then you’re going to leave. Go with Frank. Do not call me. Understand? His brother has to believe you’re with him. That you’re back with him. It’s the only way this works.”

  “I hate this,” I hiss.

  Jay leans in close and inhales. Like he’s memorizing me. Inhaling me. God, I’m doing the same thing. I made him promise that he’d come back to me. That we’d be together at the end of this story.

  But I’m not fool enough to believe he has control over the outcome.

  We know the risks. We know how this could all end. We’ve been here before. But last time, he was on his own. Last time, I didn’t know we were saying goodbye.

  Today I do.

  So I close my eyes for one more moment and press my body as close as I can. “I love you, Jonathan Hanson. Completely. Irrevocably. Head over fucking heels.”

  Jay lets out a surprised breath, as if he’d been preparing for me to push him away. “Tu es l’amour de ma vie,” he whispers.

  You’re the love of my life.

  God, this man.

  Jay lifts my hand, kisses the underside of my left ring finger, and then pins me with his gaze. It’s time, he says with those heartbreakingly beautiful blue eyes of his.

  “How could you?” I whisper loudly, drawing attention from those close to us as I push against Jay’s chest.

  His eyes fall shut at the loss. It takes everything in me to keep going. To look away from him. To run from my husband.

  “Cat, wait!” he shouts, drawing the attention of a few other guests nearby as we speed walk from the center of the room.

  In a voice barely above a whisper, I mutter, “Not today, Jay. Until you give me the answers I want, I have nothing to say to you.”

  “It’s not what you think,” he pleads, his voice taking on the desperation that I know he feels down to his core.

  I get louder in response. “Then tell me what exactly it is. Why is Vanessa asking you for another million dollars? Why did you pay her the first million? What the fuck aren’t you telling me?”

  Cash’s head snaps up, and he pierces Jay with a rage-filled look as he’s surely piecing together our words. I hate watching the moment it all clicks. It’s like the truth finally settles into place for him. The last puzzle piece he couldn’t work out before. He’s always accused Jay of working with Vanessa to set him up. We’ve always denied Jay was involved. Now he knows the truth. He and Grace missed out on so much time—he almost lost her—because of me. Because of what Jay forced Vanessa to do to protect me.

  And here we are, doing it again. Making a scene at his wedding so Jay can protect me.

  If rage was a picture, it would be the image of my brother in this moment. He’s going to ruin his wedding to kill my husband.

  Frank grabs Cash’s shoulder and leans in close, muttering in his ear. When Cash continues shooting daggers and fire at Jay, Frank tugs on him harder. “I got this,” he says loud enough for me to hear. “Go enjoy your wife.”

  Frank turns his hard glare on Jay and tilts his head toward the exit.

  In my ear, Jay whispers, “You did perfectly, Kitten. Frank will meet you outside. Don’t go anywhere without him.”

  My body begs to turn into him. To grab him and never let go. But we’re being watched. This is what I have to do. So I pull my shoulders back and lift my chin without giving him another glance. So that the world only sees me storming away from my husband. But under my breath, I whisper, “Only you.”

  75

  THE ROSE TATTOO BY DROPKICK MURPHYS

  Frank

  This really is like a fucking telenovela. When I was a kid, before my father sent me to boarding school, before I met Cash James and my entire life changed, I would spend my afternoons hiding in my best friend’s kitchen, watching telenovelas on her grandmother’s tiny portable television. The woman carried it back and forth between her bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen. She said having more than one television was wasteful.

  She had a point.

  The scene playing out in front of me now? I’m pretty sure I saw it on that little television.

  God, life was simpler then.

  I work my jaw and grab my best friend by the shoulder, trying to calm him down so he doesn’t kill Jay in the middle of his own damn wedding reception.

  Ellie would find this hysterical. She always had a sick sense of humor. Even when she was twelve.

  I grab the back of my neck and squeeze. I need a good dose of calm right now too. I hadn’t thought of Ellie in years. But since seeing a woman with the same electric green eyes as hers in the James building last year, I can’t shake those early memories.

  It’s like she’s haunting me.

  Are her eyes still as bright as they once were? With baggage like ours, they’ve likely dulled like moss that’s been trampled in the rain.

  “I got this. Go enjoy your wife.” I squeeze Cash’s shoulder and press him forward. Once he sets his sights on Grace and Hope, his entire demeanor softens. She literally helps him shrug off his worries. It’s amazing. And something I’ll never have.

  I turn to the next pain in the ass and sigh. It’s not that I don’t like Jay. Obviously, I like him well enough. But fuck if it isn’t exhausting watching the people around me screw up constantly and then having to help them pick up the pieces. Or in Jay’s case, obliterating everything we know because the only thing that matters to him is Cat.

  Not that I blame him.

  If there’s one woman worth blowing a person’s life up for, she’s it.

  Across the dance floor, she pushes past Jay and storms out of the reception.

  “Hope you didn’t go and fall in love with my wife,” Jay says drolly as I meet him by the edge of the tent.

  I merely stare at him.

  I try not to think about Catherine too much. Or the hours inside that room with her. Or the many months we hid what we were doing from her brother. Or the first night I kissed her.

  None of those thoughts serve me well.

  “What’s the plan?” I ask instead of replying to his ridiculous statement.

  Jay studies me for a second longer, and then he runs his hand through his hair. “Your brother left a gift for my wife.”

  My jaw tics at that admission. “How do you know it was from him?”

  “It was a gold cross with a claddagh inside it.”

  The McCabe family crest. Motherfucker.

  “Fuck,” I grit out. “Where did he leave it?”

  “Next to her side of the bed.” There’s anger in every one of his words. And it’s earned. My brother should never have been able to get into the brownstone. Jay hired security to watch Catherine’s every move. To ensure she and Chloe were always safe. And we both vetted the security team.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Get Catherine to the cabin. If someone’s following you, they’ll think she’s with you. That you’re sneaking off to continue your affair.”

  I grunt.

  Jay smirks. “Please. Like being in the presence of my wife is a hardship for you.”

  I run my hand across my jaw. No. Keeping my hands off his wife is the hard part.

  “What are you going to do?” I ask, diverting the conversation.

  He chuckles. “Like I thought. I’ll see if it’s really your brother or just Vanessa trying to scare me into paying her more money.”

  “Okay,” I sigh.

  Jay’s expression sobers. “Listen, if something should happen—”

  I hold my hand up. “No. You’re going to be fine. Your wife and I will not go on to live happily without you, so just put that shit out of your head and go do what you need to do.”

  Jay places a hand on my shoulder. “You’re a good man, Frank.”

  “You just like my piercing,” I quip.

  He lets out a loud laugh but sobers quickly. “Take care of my girl.”

  I plan on it. As I walk away from Jay, I pull my phone from my pocket and make a quick call.

  It’s a number I never thought I’d use. But that single call changes everything.

  76

  WILDFIRE BY SEAFRET

  Cat

  Storming out of the reception tent, I play the part of angry wife perfectly. When I hit the long gravel driveway, no doubt ruining my heels, I pay no mind to the gorgeous oak trees that tower above me or the caterers that stumble past carrying trays full of dessert selections.

  “Great, now I’m going to miss the cake cutting,” I grumble.

  Before I can stop it, my foot slips on the gravel, and my ankle twists. But as my body flails forward, an arm wraps around me from behind, and a deep, familiar voice rumbles in my ear. “Careful, Princess.”

  For a moment, I’d hoped it was Jay. That he’d changed his mind. That he’d take me away from all of this himself.

  I curse at the sky as Frank spins me around and pulls me against his chest. The faint smell of his soap tickles my nose and takes control of my senses. “Let’s get out of here.”

  The familiar scent steals the fight from me, but I pull him to a stop. “You can’t leave your best friend’s wedding. Cash will never forgive you. Or me!”

  But he doesn’t stop. He only grips my hand firmly in his and drags me away from the wedding. “Pretty sure he’d kill me if anything happened to you, Princess. He won’t even notice I’m gone. He only has eyes for two people right now, Grace and Hope.”

  I sag in acceptance. My brother is infatuated.

  “All Jay told me was to wait for you. He didn’t say we were leaving. Where are we going?”

  “So many questions.” He hits me with a rare smile.

  Knowing he won’t give in until he’s ready to, I give up my inquiry and trudge along beside him, watching my step so I don’t slip again.

  When he stops beside a small black Aston Martin, I smirk. “Didn’t peg you as the little car type, Irish.”

  The man smolders as he opens my door, but he blocks me from entering, forcing my body flush against his. “Stop.”

  I shrug innocently. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re flirting. You can’t flirt with me.”

  Deflating, I drop my chin. “It’s a defense mechanism. Sorry. But you should be used to it. I’ve been flirting with you for years.”

  “And now we’ve fucked. I know what it feels like to be inside you,” he rumbles, his voice taking on a gravel that scrapes at me. He grips my hips and digs his fingers in. “I know what sounds you make when you come around my cock. I know what these lips taste like,” he says quietly, closer, too close.

  What the hell was my husband thinking, sending me away with Frank? This was a really bad idea.

  He squeezes my hip to get my attention. “We played a dangerous game,” he says when I finally turn back. “But it was just a game. I know it and so do you. You love that man, and he would give up the world for you. Get in the car. Let’s make sure we get you to safety like I promised him.”

  As we cruise over the Mount Hope Bridge and away from Bristol, my mind reels. The glistening navy water below us is covered in a pink sheen from the setting sun. The silhouette of the lighthouse stands tall in the middle of the water, holding strong as waves crash against it almost ominously. The sun sinks deeper below the horizon, and with it, I sink farther into the leather seat.

  Soon, the sun will disappear completely, and the moon will appear.

  Seems appropriate. With me gone, Jay can do what he must. What exactly is he doing, though?

  When the text came in from Vanessa, Jay told me how she’d been working with Frank’s brother. How she essentially blackmailed him but also saved me in the process.

  To say I’m conflicted over the entire thing would be putting it too lightly. Jay and Vanessa almost destroyed my brothers. While I understood Jay’s reasoning, it was a hard thing to swallow. Up until an hour ago, we believed her text message was just a ploy to get more money. Now I’m not sure what to believe.

  “Did Jay tell you about the necklace?”

  Frank’s knuckles whiten as he grips the steering wheel tightly and silently glances at the symbol hanging over my heart.

  “Did you know that Jay and I share a brother?” I ask, going for shock value.