“The woman in the car was not a whore. She was someone that enjoyed cocaine. And you don’t have a daughter, Evie. Rhiannon has a daughter.”

  “That was my--.”

  “I don’t want to hear it. I have someone Brianna is going to bring to meet you and if you say anything rude or disrespectful, Bri is going rip your tongue out. Blink once for yes, twice for now.”

  Her eyes full of fake tears blinked once. I looked to Bri and gave her a chin nod. She understood and quickly exited the room. Now all I could do was wait and see how this reunion would go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  We sat in silence but with him, it never bothered me or made me uncomfortable.

  I’d been around Theo so often recently I knew he wasn’t much of a talker. He reminded me of the special agent from a cartoon movie where a little blue alien was being hunted.

  It fit him too because for Judas to leave me alone with him meant he had a deep level of trust for this man. I looked out the windows, wondering how Evie could afford to live in a location like this. Did the money she and Marcus had hidden last her this long?

  A single gunshot carried through an open window, causing me to jump from the abruptness of it. I twisted around with my heart in my throat, straining to see in the darkness.

  Romeo had stilled, his ears perky ears at attention, and his body tense as he listened for something only he could hear.

  No more shots followed, and silence resumed, the quiet beginning to grate on my nerves now because of the unknown. I assumed someone had been shot that wasn’t Judas.

  He had Gavin, Brianna, and Owen with him. There would’ve been a lot more than one shot fired if something happened to him. Santiago had men here too somewhere. There was no way Evie’s people could’ve taken all of them out before our arrival. If she even had some. The only car in the driveway was an Audi.

  It took forever, but someone finally emerged from the house after approximately ten minutes that felt more like hours. Romeo spotted them and didn’t react negatively, so I took this as a sign they weren’t coming to give us the same treatment Rochelle and her guard had just received.

  As the figure got closer, I was able to see it was Brianna.

  Theo hit the unlock button and she tapped the rear passenger window to indicate we should get out. He exited before I did and pulled open the door behind the driver’s seat for me. Romeo jumped down after I was out and bounded up the driveaway, circling back to follow us.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Brianna because it seemed appropriate after she and her boyfriend had just been inside this house dealing with who knows what.

  She glanced over at me and for a few fleeting seconds the bubbly woman I knew her as shined through the beautifully deadly woman beside me. “You’re so sweet. I’m fine. This was one of the easiest things I’ve ever had to do.”

  I didn’t say anything after that as we were seconds away from crossing the threshold into the house, but I wondered how things would’ve been had I never been stolen away.

  Brianna had done her due diligence in earning her place amongst these lethal men. I’d never had that same opportunity and with Judas’ being my future husband I’m not sure I would.

  The front door was wide open, splintered apart where the deadbolt and doorknob should go. Light from inside bathed the walkway. We walked in and it was like a shock to my brain. Everything was white.

  Everything.

  Stark white. The floors, the walls, the décor. The only thing with color were a few black and white pieces of art and the stairs themselves. The banister was white too.

  “Terrible, isn’t it? It’s giving sanitarium,” Bri remarked. “They’re upstairs.”

  We walked in the direction of the stairs, and I took in my surroundings.

  There was a bloody handprint on one of the walls. as if someone had been trying to hold onto it and then got dragged backward.

  The red stain was bold against the white paint. We reached the steps and Romeo bound up them, disappearing down the hallway. From my peripheral, I saw Juan move from one room to another dragging a body behind him. I could only imagine how all of this had to be cleaned up.

  I could hear voices from down the hall, becoming clearer as we got closer.

  “Prepare yourself,” Brianna warned as we came upon a simple white door.

  I took a quick breath and readied myself for what I was about to see and hear. It’d been a few years since I’d last seen her and all I could think about was making sure she suffered like Maisie and my mother had.

  And Marcus.

  The man who loved me like his own despite being as monstrous as the rest of them.

  I walked into a bedroom and almost came to an immediate stop. What the hell had happened to her face? It resembled a strong-faced squid. She was down on the ground in a robe that covered barely anything, pinned beneath Gavin’s shiny black shoe with Romeo sitting obediently adjacent to her head.

  She’d been forced to lay on top of a shirtless man. He had to be who Judas planted. Even with a bullet hole between his eyes, I could see the similarities between him and Zacharias. He still didn’t come close to the real thing, but I guess Evie was working with what she had.

  When she saw me, her eyes widened to such an extent that they looked like they were going to pop right out of their sockets.

  “Rhiannon?” she gasped disbelievingly. “You’re here…”

  “Well, thankfully I wasn’t in the car you just had shot up, right?”

  I stopped beside Judas and leaned into his embrace when he wrapped an arm around me.

  Her eyes became angry slits the second we made contact. “You came here because of that boy?”

  “I came here because of you, he’s the reason it was possible.”

  “What do you want to do with her?” Judas asked.

  I studied the woman on the floor and could barely compare her to the one I’d grown up with. She’d been a beauty queen and prided herself on her looks. Even her voice was different now. It sounded like she’d put cigarettes in a blender and drank them every day for the past few years.

  Now that I was right in front of her all the rage I felt seemed to wilt, leaving the hurt she would never be able to heal. She didn’t care to, and I could never forgive her if she tried.

  “What do you think?” I asked Judas.

  “I think whatever you decide will be exactly right.”

  You don’t know how badly you’re going to regret this.”

  We both turned to look at her. How was she still making threats while literally being on the ground?

  “What was it you said to me about self-preservation?”

  Judas grinned. “Either beg or shut the fuck up.”

  “You’re not doing either,” I mused.

  Her upper lip curled, and I could tell an insult was about to burst out of her until Brianna spoke up.

  “If you say anything rude, I have permission to rip that nasty tongue right out of your whore mouth.”

  It effectively had her lips slackening. She actually stopped talking and resorted to staring at the wall. If this were a pity ploy, she’d be sadly disappointed. No one in this room gave a damn about her. We all wanted her entire being to cease existing.

  “You could drown her in her own pool,” Gavin suggested.

  “That’s a little too simple for her.”

  “I’d have to suggest shoving her in the fucking oven before she got off that easy,” Judas remarked.

  He dropped his arm from around me and took hold of my hand instead. This got Evie’s attention almost immediately. It was weird. She’d always shown malice towards him. He did look like a copy and paste of his father…

  She had been sleeping with a man that resembled him too.

  I think everyone in this room with maybe the exception of Theo and our dog had a slight issue with obsession. Evie made my and Judas’ relationship look like a pamphlet of healthy couple goals.

  If she wanted his father, why did she target my mother because of Marcus? I couldn’t make sense of it, but this wasn’t my history to delve into. It gave me an idea of what to do with her, though.

  “Send her to the people this all started with,” I stated.

  Right away, I could tell they were on board with this. Everyone but Evie. She clearly knew what that would mean for her because she started to fight with everything she had.

  With a burst of strength, I don’t think any of us were expecting she launched herself off the ground.

  The move nearly knocked Gavin onto his ass. She made it maybe two steps in my direction before Romeo had his jaw locked onto her arm. Her raspy scream of pain bounced off the walls as he sank his teeth into her flesh, shaking his head back and forth as if possessed.

  Judas moved me behind him and gave a command that had Romeo immediately releasing Evie’s arm. The area around his mouth was damp with blood but not nearly as much as the amount running down Evie’s pale arm.

  Judas grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, leaving her feet swinging aimlessly. She was a mess. Her blonde hair was mussed, her strong face blotchy. Her little act of defiance had caused her tits to be exposed.

  “That was one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever seen someone do,” Judas admonished.

  “Truss her up and then get her into the trunk, we can drop her off personally,” Judas ordered before tossing her halfway across the room.

  I didn’t get to see where or how he landed. Judas had grabbed my hand and commanded Romeo to follow us out of the room before she hit the ground.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  When is the first day of the rest of your life? Can we pick any random date and decide or is it brought on by something special? Was it the second Judas came back or when I decided to reign by his side?

  Maybe it had nothing to do with Judas, my father, or anyone else. We’re the masters of our own fates, aren’t we? Every choice we make has a positive or negative consequence. I was taking a risk by marrying someone as dangerous and volatile as Judas Barron, but it was my risk to take.

  I smoothed my hands over the skirt of my gown and admired myself in the large, mirror of the venue’s dressing room.

  I think I wanted to be buried in it.

  The ivory-hued dress was a decadent mix of ivy-inspired lace and frosted, floral appliqués that clung to me in an off-shoulder bodice that allowed my brand new tattoo to be on full display.

  “You look so beautiful,” Maisie enthused, situating my diamond tiara on top of my head. Judas and I had agreed wearing an actual crown would be tacky.

  She was one to talk. It looked as if she’d just come from a runway to my wedding.

  “Thanks to you.”

  “You’re barely wearing makeup.” She smiled at me in the mirror, and it was so clear to see that Evie being gone had lifted a weight off her shoulders. She looked more carefree and happier.

  “Step in,” Audrey urged, crouching down with my heels to help me into them.

  I lifted my skirt and slid my feet into the shoes, growing by a few inches once they were on.

  “Thanks.”

  She waved me off and stood up, looking stunning in her dress too. All five of my bridesmaids were wearing different variations of a deep red gown to go with our color scheme.

  The heavy oak door swung open just enough that Brianna and Gemma could squeeze through. Gem smiled brightly at me, appearing as if she was seconds away from crying.

  In her hands was a long thin box. She hadn’t had it a bit ago so that must’ve been what she left to get.

  “Your something blue,” she explained as she walked towards me.

  Her dainty, painted fingers lifted the lid to reveal a silver necklace with a teardrop-shaped topaz and a singularly large diamond set in the center of a heart.

  “Your dad wanted you to have something of your mother’s. I picked the setting.”

  I studied the necklace, fighting back the urge to cry. Maisie would never recover if I ruined her careful efforts.

  “That’s so sweet,” Audrey murmured.

  I met Gemma’s eyes and tried to speak words she could understand without being insulting, having heard lipreading wasn’t always the easiest thing for her to do.

  “Thank you, Gem. It’s gorgeous.”

  She smiled and took the necklace out of the box. “Would you like to wear it? I can put it on you.”

  “Yes.” I went to gather up my hair and was quickly thwarted by Maisie.

  “Hey! I got it, don’t touch it.” She gently knocked my hands away and carefully gathered the perfectly created loose waves.

  Her mom gave her a look.

  “What? We can’t all be as flawless as you.”

  Gemma pulled the necklace from the box and quickly got it on me. Not even two seconds later the door opened again, and Nova stuck her head in. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but it’s time for the first look.”

  I hadn’t been nervous this entire day until she uttered those words. A collective silence went around the room until they all pretty much shoved me out into the hall so they could finish the final touches on themselves.

  “You look so good!” Nova squealed excitedly. “Wait until he sees you.”

  “Has Rhys seen you?”

  She laughed and pointed to her side braid. “This was in an updo earlier, remember?”

  “Guess that answers my question then.”

  “Men,” she joked.

  I followed her through the elaborate halls of our venue, away from all the hustle and bustle of guests arriving and our concierge directing the circus, to where Judas would be waiting for me. This had been his idea when I declared he wasn’t seeing me the night before our wedding because I was spending it being pampered with the girls.

  Nova slowed near a pair of double doors that were wedged open and nodded with her head for me to go in.

  I needlessly smoothed my hands over my gown and made my way into the room, heels clicking across the gold and wine-red marble.

  Three massive crystal chandeliers with dimmed lights hung in a horizontal line down the center of the room. I traveled beneath them to where Judas stood in his dapper, jet-black tuxedo facing away from me. I was halfway to him when he turned around.

  He looked so freaking good. I couldn’t believe this man was all mine. My heart began fluttering inside my chest as if it had sprouted wings. It was all I could to smile at him. The tuxedo fit him like it’d been designed specifically for this moment.

  His gorgeous silver eyes took their time moving from the tiara on my head to the short train flowing behind me. He began to stride towards me, his movements measured. As soon as he reached me his hands were grabbing for mine.

  “You were supposed to wait until I got to you.”

  “I needed to meet you halfway.” He spread my arms out and looked me up and down again. “You’re fucking gorgeous. I’m the luckiest asshole alive you’re mine.”

  “I just thought the exact same thing,” I teased. “If you wanna change your mind I suggest that you, do it now.”

  He let my hands go and gently grabbed my waist.

  “You’ve had me from the day we met. I knew you’d be mine ever since. You’re going to be the mother of my children. My confidant. My queen. Whatever kind of a heart I have, it’s yours.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. He gave me a simple brush of the lips until my tongue darted out and teased the seam between them. He opened them for me with a soft sigh. I toyed with his nape, holding myself back from running my fingers through his silky soft hair.

  As the kiss deepened and hands came to cradle my face, his touch remained gentle, as if he didn’t want to mess a single hair on my head.

  “I love you, Judas,” I whispered against his lips.

  “Resta sempre con me.”

  I leaned back with a light laugh. “What does that mean?”

  “Ask me on our fifth anniversary.”

  “Okay, Romeo.” I patted his chest, and he caught my hands, holding them against it.

  “You sure you don’t wanna elope?”

  “Are you insane?”

  “Debatable.”

  “After all the hours I put into this? Not just me, but our friends and families too. We are not eloping. I’m wearing this gown to the end of the aisle.”

  “You heard her, Casanova,” Nova called from behind a large pillar.

  I looked down at our feet and laughed. I’d forgotten she was in here taking pictures. Judas tucked a finger beneath my chin and lifted my head. “Are you ready to be Mrs. Barron?”

  “Let’s do this.”

  I’d always said to destroy someone powerful you needed power.

  I had it now.

  The rings on my finger tied it to me.

  The scorpion curled around a single red rose inked on my shoulder, showed it to anyone who looked at me.

  Every day my husband found a way to remind me his power was mine.

  The blood flowing through my veins ensured it couldn’t be taken even when I was lying cold and dead in the ground.

  Standing near where we’d cut the cake, I watched all the couples and singles dance to the tune of Luther Vandross. The room had come together beautifully. The red-up lighting against the deep golden walls made the floral centerpieces pop.

  Gemma and Zacharias were in their own world while Saint danced with his wife’s girlfriend. Even Theo had been dragged out a few times by Maisie since being paired up as a bridesmaid-groomsmen duo. I sipped my cocktail and continued people watching.

  “Why are you hiding in the corner?” I grinned around the rim of my glass as he wrapped me in his arms from behind.

  “I needed a break.”

  “And I need you.”

  “Not until after this reception you don’t. Do you know how long it took me to choose these flower arrangements? They stressed me out more than the dress. You’re lucky I don’t fill the atrium with them.”

  He slid his hands to my hips and kissed me on my neck, just beneath my ear.