Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
I dial Linn. Her voice comes through the car speakers. “Sir?”
“Get a priest or whoever we need to do a wedding ceremony at my home tonight.”
She’s silent for so long I wonder if the connection was lost, then she says, “A wedding?”
“Yes. I’m marrying Vivian tonight.”
Mrs. Putnam grins big.
After another pause, Linn says, “I was wondering when you’d make the right decision.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “I’ll get it all set up. Let me know if you need anything else.” She hangs up, and I wrench the wheel to the right, making the exit toward the poshest side of town. Whereas I preferred living out in the country, David and Laverne stayed in a stately home closer to town.
“Almost there.” I make a few more turns, then stop in front of the gated Georgian mansion.
“Gaudy.” Mrs. Putnam wrinkles her nose.
“Stay here.” I open my door, then hear her open her door despite my instruction. Who am I kidding? Mrs. Putnam is out for blood. There’s no stopping her.
I motion for one of my men to ram the gate. Their SUV speeds by, crashing through the metal and screeching to a halt just inside the property. I stride past the busted SUV and right up to the front doors.
With a hard kick, I knock it in, wood splintering as the door slams against the inside wall.
Before I can get far, Charles comes running toward me, his hands up. “Don’t! What are you doing in here?”
A man follows behind him, and I can tell just from the way he stands that he has a gun in hand.
“Santivasci.” I glower. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“You should be congratulating me. It’s my wedding day.” He gives me a shit-eating grin. “Your ward is going to be my wife. And then I’m taking everything.” His implication is clear, and it makes my blood fucking boil.
“I think I … I fucked up.” Charles runs a hand through his hair and glances back at Carmine, the gun still steady in his hand.
“You think?” I storm toward him.
That’s when I hear my Vivian scream. And that’s when Mrs. Putnam starts shooting.
I shove Charles down and tackle Carmine before he can get a shot off. Running on pure rage, I pin him beneath me and grab the hand holding the gun. I slam it on the marble floor again and again until he screams and the gun goes flying. Then I start on him with my fists. I haven’t done something like this since I was young, since I had to show my father that I wasn’t going to take his abuse anymore. It felt good then. It feels even better now.
“You’ll never fucking touch her!” I yell and swing, breaking his nose with a hard hit. Blood spurts onto my knuckles, but I don’t stop. I can’t, not when he’s trying to hurt my Vivian. “You don’t deserve to breathe the same goddamn air!” I keep swinging as Santivasci’s men fall ahead of me, all of them riddled with buckshot from Mrs. Putnam’s shotgun.
When Carmine stops moving, I finally sit back and take a breath. After that, I’m on my feet and rushing deeper into the house.
“Vivian!” I bellow like a wounded animal.
She comes running from a back room, her face pale, but her eyes light up when she sees me. “Griff!” I catch her in my arms and hold her tight.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I run my hands down her, searching for anything amiss.
“No, I’m okay.” She pulls back and puts a hand to my face. “But you’re bloody! Oh God, Griff. You’re bleeding!”
I shake my head. “Not mine.” That’s all I can get out before I claim her mouth, kissing her hard and leaving my mark. She’s mine. No one will ever fucking take her from me.
I’m making her my wife tonight. And after that, we’ll live our forever together. Always.
EPILOGUE
VIVIAN
Many years later
“Can we blame this on the alcohol?” Mariana whispers from beside me as she takes another sip of her wine.
“Oh yes. Let's do that.” Amelia nods like this is the best idea we’ve ever come up with. I fight a laugh but lose out. All the other women turn to glare back at us. The instructor even stops speaking and shoots a glare at the three of us too.
These people are really taking this wine and paint party thing super seriously. This is supposed to be fun. An easy night out to have some girl time together. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the second we’d stepped into the art studio. It was as if I was being jerked right back to boarding school, but instead of judgy teenage girls, the place is filled with judgy grown women. They’ve been turning their noses up at us from the second we got here.