“I love you in this dress. You should wear it every day.”

  “I probably will.” I let my head fall back to rest on his chest.

  He locked his hands together just above my navel and went quiet for a few minutes until we both laughed at the confused look on Otto’s face when the DJ changed the song from sappy to a more upbeat rap song.

  “You know half these have probably never listened to John or Cardi? Think they’re offended?”

  “Half these people sell pussy, drugs, or guns, and just finished burying a body before they got dressed to come here. I think their constitutions can take it.”

  I snickered. “You have such a way with words. Please never change your eloquence.”

  “Rhiannon, I’m positive I’ll still be telling you to shut the fuck up when we’re old and gray and I’m bending you over in the middle of the day.”

  I couldn’t help but smile, thinking of those old couples that are vulgar to the end.

  “Are you happy, principessa?” he asked in a quieter, much softer voice.

  My expression became thoughtful as I contemplated how to answer that. We were in a gorgeous room full of people we loved, loved us, or cared through a level of respect he’d earned.

  This was one of the best days of my life. The weeks leading up to this had been some of the happiest I’d been in a long time. But it didn’t miraculously heal all the brokenness. There were still mornings I found myself staring through the glass of our bedroom window, lost inside my head, always wondering about the what-ifs and whys.

  There were times I feared this was nothing but a dream showing me a future that couldn’t exist. Judas had always been my shelter and my storm. Giving him the ability to wreck me with another elemental downpour was terrifying. Yet, I’d chosen to take the risk anyway.

  So, the question remained. Was I happy? The answer wasn’t black and white, but neither was the question. True happiness wasn’t going to be found in the arms of someone else even if it felt like I couldn’t live without him.

  Power and wealth weren’t going to give it to me either. It had everything to do with me and I wasn’t there yet. Judas probably wouldn’t take that reply as he should, but I didn’t want to lie to him.

  “I’m not sad and I don’t want to kill you half as bad,” I replied, adding the second part to keep things light.

  “Only half, huh?”

  “Wait a minute, where did you run off to? You left me in a room of killers.”

  “No one would so much as look at you wrong if they valued their life.” He kissed my temple. “I was making sure your surprise was ready.”

  “Oh, no. I officially hate surprises.”

  “You’ll like this one.” He moved from behind me and offered me his hand.

  “Cookie said that same thing the day you spontaneously decided to introduce me to your parents.”

  “And now you love them, and they love you, it all worked out for the best. Even Cookie has been ecstatic.”

  “Because he sulked his way into catering tonight,” I argued playfully.

  I’d quickly come to adore our teddy bear of a chef. I asked him to tell me what his name meant every chance I got, but I hadn’t cracked him yet.

  “Take my hand in the next three seconds or I’m carrying you out of here.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “You wouldn’t.”

  He plucked my glass out of my hands and sat it on a round table.

  “Judas,” I warned, taking a step back.

  “Do you want to play, principessa?”

  I hid a grin by scowling and turned away, doing my best slow-fast speed walk to the opposite of the cake table.

  “I will flip this entire display over if I need to,” he lilted.

  “And make a scene in front of like, ninety people you associate with?”

  “Fuck them.”

  “Judas.” I checked to see if anyone heard him over the music. A few people on the dance floor were watching us blatantly amused.

  He came around when I wasn’t paying him any attention and easily lifted me up to dangle over his shoulder.

  “Put me down,” I hissed. “At least let me--.”

  He slapped my ass in front of everyone and walked out of the room, carrying me through the empty halls of our venue. When we got to the lobby, he finally set me down.

  “You’re not allowed to be mad,” were his immediate words.

  I laughed and reached up to finger his tie. “First of all, I’m not mad. Second, where is this supposed surprise?”

  “It’s not here.”

  “Then why did you carry me off like a neanderthal?”

  He gently grabbed my jaw and tilted my face towards his, leaning down to brush his soft lips against mine. “You trust me?”

  “Depends on what I’m trusting you with.”

  “Come and see for yourself.” He drew away with a grin and offered me his hand for the second time.

  Of all the places I’d been expecting him to bring me, a depleted house in the middle of an overgrown cemetery never crossed my mind. It was a little after nine at night, leaving a black canvas of glittering stars overhead.

  There was no light here whatsoever other than a dim glow coming from behind a raggedy curtain. A matte black utility van with no windows but three in front was the only other vehicle in the grassy parking lot.

  “Judas, what the hell is this?”

  He shifted his Continental into park but didn’t turn it off. “You don’t like it?”

  “If I was looking to stage a paranormal mystery I would.”

  “What we’re here for is inside.”

  “Okay, you go get it and I’ll wait in the car.”

  “Rhiannon.”

  I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not going. That house looks like it will cave in at any second.”

  I eyed the two-level home wondering what he could possibly be keeping inside.

  Or who…

  That would explain the notorious creep van. And there was one person I would love to see suffering in every way imaginable. He hadn’t told me a single detail about Evie’s whereabouts since we left her hog-tied and ass naked on Santiago’s lawn.

  “Am I going to have to--?”

  “Nope, let’s go,” I chirped, suddenly agreeable. I scrambled out of the car and used my hip to shut the door, gathering my gown so it wouldn’t completely drag across the ground.

  Judas was already waiting for me at the bottom of a poorly weeded walkway. He regarded me with a look I couldn’t decipher as I walked toward him.

  “What is it?”

  He gave a slight shake of his head. “You’re fucking gorgeous.”

  The vehement way he said that filled me with a deep sense of contentment. I smiled and shifted the tulle of my gown to one hand so I could slip my arm through his.

  “You think people wonder where we went?” I asked as we made our way up the uneven path. He was careful to make sure I remained balanced in my heels.

  “They know I was taking my beautiful new wife away so that I could have her all to myself. No one expected us to stay all night.”

  “But we didn’t tell anyone bye.”

  “Those people are eating good food, have access to an open bar of high-end alcohol, a DJ for the next four hours, and accommodations at a luxury hotel they can fuck in. They aren’t sad we left.”

  Well, I couldn’t argue those points.

  We reached the three stairs that led up to a rickety porch covered in old paint chips and warped wood. The faint sound of male laughter carried from somewhere inside the house. I shot Judas a sideways glance as he carefully guided me up the steps.

  A screen door was hanging on for dear life by a single hinge, the white of it so dirty and worn it was now black. I let Judas be the one to twist the equally as depleted doorknob, more worried it would fall all way off than about getting my hands dirty.

  “Jesus,” I screwed up my nose as a thick cloud of dust wafted through the air from the door being opened.

  I was a little surprised to see a cheap round desk with multiple security monitors running, broadcasting different areas outside and inside the house. One man was watching them and another lingered in a doorway surrounded by drywall so cracked it resembled a spiderweb.

  An assault rifle was leaning against the wall beside him. Aside from a tall lamp responsible for the glow I saw from outside, there wasn’t anything else in the room. The house was barren.

  As Judas gently guided me toward the doorway, the man standing there quickly moved out of the way, barely making eye contact. The man watching the security feed didn’t look at me either.

  That had Judas written all over it.

  We entered a kitchen that looked like it had gone through the civil war and just barely survived. The back window was covered with a thick piece of plywood and the floor creaked with every step we took.

  “Do I even want to know why you bought this place when you have a giant warehouse that probably serves the same purpose?”

  “This is something of Saints’. I would never knowingly dispatch my men to fucking squalor. I paid them double for this.”

  “Aw, you’re such a good crime daddy.”

  “Hm. Call me that later when I’ve got your legs on my shoulders.”

  “Never in a million years,” I replied with a short laugh.

  Judas opened the door that led to the basement. A dank, damp and coppery smell floated up from below with a hint of I dared to say shit. Three bare bulbs sat crooked in fixtures on the wall, lighting the stairwell.

  What sounded like a dying animal groaned and the same laughter I’d heard outside came again followed by some rapid-fire words in a language I didn’t understand.

  Judas began to go down first. The stairs screamed in distress. I laughed at the thought of going through all of this just to die because of some collapsed wood.

  “Watch your step,” he warned, holding onto me tightly as I followed him.

  “If we fall, I’ll be sure to land on you.”

  “I would have caught you, regardless,” he replied with an annoyed edge.

  We reached the bottom of the steps and found ourselves in a square room containing nothing but a metal folding chair, sequestered from another room by a simple bedsheet tacked to either side of a doorway.

  “This is so ghetto. That man has too much money for this kind of…what even is this?”

  Judas laughed lowly. “I’ll be sure to tell Saint your critiques.”

  “It’s fine, we’re just a little overdressed. But then again, you did kidnap me dressed in your Sunday best.” I held onto his arm as we crossed the dirt floor to get to the other room.

  He lifted the sheet and whatever I’d smelled at the top of the stairs was nothing compared to this.

  We ducked beneath it and entered a dimly lit room that contained a large-sized dog cage, the bottom coated in what looked like old chunky throw-up and congealed blood that had gnats circling it.

  There were four men in the room. One leaning against the wall with a dirty cigarette between his lips. Another was in a freshly damp corner, probably from piss if I were going to guess.

  The final two were busy with a woman covered in bruises and a few nasty-looking lacerations. I’d say she was blonde, but one side of her head contained uneven, dirty clumps of terribly cut hair. A large, tattooed hand was fisting the other side and forcing her to suck his cock while another man roughly took her ass.

  It was revolting in the sense that, who the hell would want to touch her? She’d lost so much weight since I’d been inside her bedroom that it would be like fucking a skeleton. Her hip and collar bones pointed out so much you could stab someone with them.

  The men didn’t stop what they were doing just because we’d arrived. Evie made the same dying animal sound when the one dry reaming her pulled out, leaving a sickening trail of blood and what looked like feces behind. I watched slightly in horrified awe as the men swapped places, switching off for different holes.

  Evie didn’t even bother fighting back. He stuck his shitty, crimson-coated cock right down her throat and all she did was gag. I could tell she had struggled at one point though. One glance at her hands showed missing nails and at least two broken fingers that would never heal properly.

  A thick, rusty chain was wrapped around her rear ankle, bolted to a steak that had been stuck into the basement’s dirt floor.

  “They thought it was fitting for her to experience even a portion of pain and torment she’s inflicted on all the other girls she’s stolen, your mother included.”

  I watched the men for a few minutes and studied Evie’s gaunt face and empty eyes. She’d always acted so high and mighty. To see her this weak and pathetic was deeply satisfying. Yet, it still wasn’t good enough. I wanted to set her on fire and watch her begin to burn, just to put out the flames and make her live through the agony.

  Cut off her fucking tongue so she couldn’t ever speak again.

  This would suffice, though. There was no point in doing anything extra when she’d already checked out and lost her will to fight.

  I was grateful to the slightly overprotective men that had come into my life for allowing me to see her in such vile conditions. I knew Judas didn’t want this side of our world touching me if it didn’t have to.

  I looked over at him and saw he looked almost bored with the scene before him like it was something he’d seen many times. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had.

  I gave his hand a squeeze to bring his attention to me. His beautiful eyes met mine and he instantly understood I was ready to go. With only a slight nod to the man with the cigarette, he turned me around so that I would exit the room first and we made our way back through the shit-box of a house.

  The second we were back by the Bentley I let my gown go and literally scooped fresh air towards me, taking a deep breath to rid my lungs of dust, piss, and everything else from within that house.

  Judas laughed, hugging me from behind.

  “Now I know how to make you stay away from the warehouse.”

  “Wipe shit on the walls? That’s for sure going to work.”

  He laughed louder, and the sound filled my heart. Slowly, he turned me around so that we were staring into each other’s eyes.

  “Principessa, Sei la mia anima gemelli.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and huffed out a small breath. “You’re not going to tell me what that means are you?”

  “Ask me on our tenth anniversary.”

  I laughed and hugged him a little tighter. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “You being happy is all I need to be thanked with. I love you, Rhiannon.”

  I buried my head in his chest and closed my eyes. “Why is this so perfect? Here of all places. We’re so messed up, but I love it. I love you too, Judas Barron.”

  He tugged on my hair to make me look at him again, smirking when he saw that my eyes were wet.

  “I would love to fuck you right now, but then I’d have to kill every man in that house for seeing even a glimpse of what’s mine.”

  “We should probably go home then, or I’ll have to kill them for cock-blocking.”

  He grinned and pressed a kiss to my lips. “We’re going to the jet, principessa.”

  “Then where are we going?”

  “I promised I’d take you wherever you wanted to go, and now I owe myself a honeymoon.”

  “Owe yourself, Judas?”

  He patted my ass and then slowly released me from his embrace. “I’m going to do nothing but eat your pussy, fuck you for hours, and make sure I get plenty of use of your throat.”

  I can get on board with that if you throw in a beach and some cocktails, but I don’t know where to go.”

  He sidled up to the passenger side door and pulled it open for me. “I hear Cancun is always nice. We could start there.”

  “Asshole,” I playfully admonished as I slid into the car.

  He helped me tuck my gown safely inside and then took over the driver’s seat. We left the cemetery behind and headed for where the jet would be waiting. I let my head loll to look out the window, allowing everything to sink in.

  What a fucking day.

  There was only one thing missing, but I knew I’d have to lay him to rest now, keep him safe in my heart and protected from anyone that tried to taint his memory. I wanted to live, not just go through the days trying to survive and force myself to be happy.

  That meant I had to accept the ending of one very long chapter so that I could start the next one with something new.

  Judas reached over and took my hand, threading our fingers together.

  “Are you ready to join an exclusive club?”

  I laughed breathily when I realized what he was talking about, my reflection smiling back at me. He always seemed to know when my thoughts were heavy, or I needed to be pulled out of them.

  “I guess I get to be a mile-high member after all.”

  “I think there might be a shiny revolver and some champagne waiting for us.”

  I shifted in my seat and angled my body toward his side of the car. “Well, then I think someone needs to drive a little faster.”

  His devilish grin was the one warning I got before he hit the gas.

  EPILOGUE

  My famiglia always celebrated Christmas, but not since me and my sister were children had they gone this fucking wild.

  Three different trees, decorations on every surface, and hired elves that couldn’t seem to stop pissing Otto off. Of course, there was also a giant goddamn Santa. Sadly, it wasn’t Saint. He was currently talking with my padre and uncle over spiked egg nog.

  Christmas music played throughout the house, a soundtrack to the flurry of activity. My madre was in the kitchen with Cookie, Brianna, and Nova whipping up enough food to feed an army.

  We had Theo and my sister on a mission in the wine cellar, which was taking them a suspiciously long time to return from.

  That left Gavin, Rhys, and Juan to set the table. They would fuck it up and in turn, my madre would stare at them throughout dinner disapprovingly. Owen and I would be spared because he was on videographer duty, and I had a valid excuse of needing to check on my wife.