“I’m more concerned with the fact that he might take anything we say back to the commissioner or Christ. Trust is a two-way street, and I don’t know this guy.”
Yeah, there was always that.
“What do we know about him?” Greyson asked their bodyguard.
“I didn’t work with him long,” Emma admitted. “Riley was hired to replace Mace Bristol. He came from California, I believe.”
“I can run a deep background check on him,” stated Greyson. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t pop up with any skeletons in his closet that will then become our issue.”
They all could live with that.
“If nothing comes up, we’ll talk to him. If he’s a mess or we smell anything foul, he’s out.”
She was good with that plan. Emma didn’t want anything happening to them. This was about keeping their lives intact, and making sure that no one snuck up and bit them while they weren’t looking.
“I’m concerned.”
“With?” Greyson asked, pulling her into the frame of his body.
“If Tony Mays could nearly take us down with planting drugs, we should be worried. What if this was only the beginning?”
Greyson agreed.
This had been too close for comfort, and luckily, they dodged the bullet on this one.
The cops wouldn’t care that they didn’t own the drugs. They would toss them in jail without a care in the world, gleefully taking the whole family down.
Right now, they had the FBI and LVPD trying anything to get behind the walls of Terrace Glen. They wanted to take Greyson down for Mace’s murder and Dominic Marianna’s.
They had to be careful.
“We’ll have Dante up security on all of our properties, and we’ll scan our merchandise before it’s sent out with drug dogs. We can’t take the chance.”
That helped her a little.
Greyson still saw the worry in his wife’s eyes. It bothered the hell out of him.
“How about we focus on today, and tomorrow, we’ll worry about the case. We have a party to attend.”
Emma noticed the time on Greyson’s watch. “It sucks that we missed the wedding. I was the mother of the groom. Who knows when I’ll get that chance again.”
Greyson got it.
And he hoped they got that chance sometime in the future if they had kids.
“We’ll catch it on video,” he stated, hugging her.
“Yeah, I guess.”
When they pulled into Terrace Glen, no one was around. That worried them.
The threesome rushed into the house to find some of their family.
Well, the girls.
Kat was there with Natasha and Tessa, sitting on the couch.
“Are you okay?” Dimitri asked, as he walked into the room. “Why aren’t you enjoying your wedding party?”
She hugged her brother.
“We didn’t start without you. Curtis insisted the family be together, and I agreed. Everyone is out there with the minister. I’m hiding in here so Curtis doesn’t see my gown. It’s bad luck, isn’t it?”
Emma hugged her.
This meant the world to her.
“Thank you for waiting for me. I didn’t want to miss your big day.”
She was confused.
“You thought we’d do it without you three? How? Dimitri is walking me down the aisle, and you’re going to walk down with Curtis. You are the mother of the groom.”
She had a point.
Emma had just assumed…
“Then we should get ready,” Greyson admitted, heading for the door. “We have a wedding to attend, and then you have a honeymoon to prepare for, and I know you’re going to have an amazing time.”
Kat was excited. “I can’t wait.”
And no one could blame her.
It was time.
Today was the day.
It didn’t take long for everyone to get into position for their strolls down the rose petal strewn walkway. When Curtis met Emma at the end of the aisle, he walked her the rest of the way so she could sit not far from where the nuptials would be done. The only thing missing from this day would be Curtis’s grandmother, and he was sure she was watching from above.
She’d be proud.
The little boy abandoned in her arms was now coming full circle and about to become a husband and father. He was going to continue this amazing journey with one goal in mind.
He was going to prove that his genes weren’t going to ruin his life.
As he stood there, it was hard not to get teary eyed. The family was all there. Everyone was holding their breath.
They waited as the wedding march began, and then stood when Katerina Gideon appeared in her beautiful gown. It was covered in white roses, and she looked like the princess of some rose-filled kingdom.
Curtis began wiping his eyes.
He couldn’t stop looking at her.
His wife-to-be was beautiful, and finally, he was making amends for the wedding that never should have been.
Silently, he said a goodbye to Brynn. For the last few months, since her death, he’d carried her as a wound to his heart.
He could have done better.
He should have done it right.
And now he could let it go.
Curtis was free.
Here was his new future, and he wasn’t going to live in the past anymore.
From here on out, he was a new man.
A husband.
A father.
With each day, he was going to do this marriage like his life depended on it—because it did.
If he lost Kat and his child, he’d die. There would be no coming back from it. She was the center of his world, and he finally got it. This was why Greyson held on so tightly to his wife. He didn’t want to lose this.
He couldn’t breathe without her.
As he watched Katerina approaching, her arm through her brother’s, he saw the most beautiful woman in the world. She was smiling at him so brightly, as if he was her everything.
Curtis had finally gotten his wish.
He found the one.
His only.
Katerina was so damn nervous.
Before they stepped out of the house and made the short trek to the garden for the family to see them, she was getting ready to puke. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or if it was the baby she was carrying.
In a few short minutes, she was going to be a wife.
She was going to be Curtis’s wife.
Katerina was going to be a Croft.
That, in itself, was a miracle.
She’d been raised to be her father’s concubine, abused, raped, and destroyed for his amusement. Her mother had left her, and her soul had been destroyed.
Until she met him.
The second she did, life began coming back. Her once dead soul showed signs that it was going to survive.
Curtis not only healed her, but he’d become the thing her soul needed to fill the void.
He completed her.
Now they were going to start their life, begin their journey, and be happy.
God!
She was going to be happy.
Kat only hoped she made him half as happy as he made her. If she did, they had perfection.
There were no worries.
There was no fear.
There was only the promise of a new life, a new tomorrow, and a chance to be who they were born to be.
She was going to be Katerina Anfisa Croft, and she couldn’t wait.
This was meant to be. Goodbye Gideon, and hello Croft. She was the first official tie to the family.
All three of them had a home.
As Kat stared down the aisle, as they made their way toward the altar, beneath the rose trellis, her heart was at peace.
Katerina was home.
At last.
Dimitri considered himself a strong man, but today was the biggest test to his resolve. What he wanted to do was weep tears of joy at what he was seei
ng.
At the end of the aisle, there stood a man who genuinely loved his sister. At first, he figured it would be something that fizzled out, only lit by the chemistry of sex.
Now he saw it.
The way Curtis stared toward them at Katerina, it said it all. This was true love, and her journey was complete.
When he found her all those years ago, returning from war, he never thought he’d see her like this.
Dimitri could still hear her screams as his father raped her. He’d arrived home to find his sweet little sister pinned beneath their baster father as he violated her.
That memory was being replaced.
This one was going to fill that space in his heart and mind. Here was happiness, and his sister was there.
Katerina was safe.
She was marrying a good man, and being accepted into a damn good family.
They loved her.
They accepted her.
What more could he possibly ask?
There was nothing.
This was the personification of all the good things he wanted for his sister in life. She was now taken care of, and it mattered.
Glancing over at Natasha, Dimitri saw her not looking at her sister, but gazing lovingly at Christopher Ford. The look said it all. She was lost to that man, and only him.
The most beautiful thing was Chris wasn’t paying attention to the wedding, but instead checking out his sister in her bridesmaid’s dress.
It was amusing.
Dimitri could actually see the blossoming of that same emotion Katerina had found with Curtis.
It looked like one day, he’d be doing this all over again, and he was glad.
Dimitri said a silent prayer to the man he was sure instrumented all of this.
Randall Mason.
May he be blessed for his good intentions. He’d healed his sisters with love and the blessed gift of the Crofts.
For that, he’d never be able to thank him.
This was a blessing beyond blessings.
Dimitri knew how lucky they’d gotten to fall into this family of people. They were loyal, protective, and led by two people he respected.
Dimitri was proud.
Glancing down, he saw his sister and the tears filled his eyes. It was hard not to let the emotion win. She’d gone from destroyed to a gorgeous flower.
Katerina had come full circle and had finally grown into her real name. She was now Anfisa.
She owned it.
She ruled it.
She’d overcome it all.
“I’m proud of you,” he whispered, as they were about to reach the end of the walk. “You have given me so much joy and happiness, little one. Thank you for being mine.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I love you, Dad.”
His heart stuttered in his chest.
It had been a brutal fourteen years of raising a stubborn girl, but he was happy to have been given the job.
It was worth it all.
At the end of the aisle, they stopped.
Dimitri lifted the white veil, and kissed his sister on both cheeks. He then did the same for Curtis.
“Welcome to our family,” he said. “Love, honor, and protect my sister. I know you will be a good husband and father. I’m proud of you both.”
Curtis would. It was hard not to be moved by the man’s words. He was tearing up more, and it was hard not to let the emotion out.
“I will love her until my dying breath.”
That was all he needed to hear.
Dimitri handed Curtis her hand, and he went to sit beside Emma and Greyson. When he took his seat, Emma took his hand in hers, like she did with Greyson’s.
Together, as a family, they watched the love story unfold.
It was going to be a beautiful adventure.
Curtis and Katerina both took a deep breath.
It was about to begin.
They were ready.
“We are gathered here today to bring these two people together in holy matrimony. On this beautiful Sunday, Curtis Croft and Anfisa Gideon are declaring their love for one another.”
Curtis faced her.
His heart was pounding that she’d gone into the wedding using her real name. It said it all.
She was dedicating her whole self to him.
“Anfisa,” he whispered so only she would hear him. ‘I love you,’ he mouthed.
Katerina shared the words back as she smiled at him. In that moment, all the nerves were gone, and everything was okay.
Curtis felt it too.
His world was stabilized by that one look.
“Anfisa, do you have your vows ready for Curtis?” asked the minister.
“I do.”
“Then you’re free to say them.”
Everyone listened.
“I, Anfisa Gideon, take you, Curtis Croft, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I take you on the good days and the bad days. I take you when we have laughter and tears. I take you when we have no problems, and when the world seems to be crushing down on us.”
She wiped a tear from his cheek.
“I take you of my own free will because you’re the only man I will ever want. You fill my soul, you make me happy, and you give me peace. You, Curtis, were the man I’ve been waiting for to fill my life.”
He wanted to do cartwheels.
“You’re the man I’ll be with until life leaves me, breath is gone, and my soul has passed. Then, I’ll wait to do it all over again in the next life.”
The minister held the wedding band in his palm for her.
Katerina took it.
“I will only marry once, and this ring is a symbol of it. It was cast in fire, it was carved with my promise, and it will be the one thing that seals my vows—other than my word.”
Curtis held his finger out.
“I, Anfisa, take you to be my husband, mate, lover, and friend until the end of my days.”
She slid it onto Curtis’s finger.
The minister picked up a floral babushka and placed it over her raven black hair. It was the symbol of moving from being single to marriage in their culture.
The minister faced Curtis. “Son, it’s your turn to say your vows. Are you ready?” he asked.
“I am.”
“Then please do.”
“I, Curtis Croft, take you, Anfisa Gideon, as my lawfully wedded wife. I take you as my own to protect, guard, and treat as if you’re the queen to my king.”
Kat sniffled and Natasha handed her a handkerchief to blot her eyes. All Katerina had ever wanted was a man like this. She wanted to be loved like Greyson loved Emma.
Now she was getting it.
“From the day you popped into my life, hanging upside down in these very roses, I knew. My soul had found the other person who would make it whole.”
She couldn’t look away from him. He was so handsome with his curls and blue eyes.
She loved him so much.
“From that first kiss that we shared here, to the one we’ll share when one of us leaves this world, please know that you will always be the one.”
That made her heart skip.
“I searched, I made mistakes, and I found a love that will last a lifetime. I’m proud. I will have a wife I can trust, love, and be beside until the end of my days.”
The minister held out the ring.
“This ring is special. It was made for the woman I love. It’s marked with diamonds for her strength, some rose stones for her beauty, and one single red one for the blood we share as family. Thank you for being mine.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger.
The minister smiled. “It gives me great pleasure, granted by the state of Nevada, to introduce you all to Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Croft. Son, you may now kiss your bride.”
Curtis pulled Katerina into his arms, dipped her low as she giggled, and laid one on her lips.
It was deep.
It was pure.
It was all theirs.<
br />
As he kissed her, the family clapped and the music began playing for them.
Greyson couldn’t help but smile.
“He takes after you,” Emma said, as he kissed her knuckles.
Greyson laughed. “Yeah, he really does.”
Dimitri smiled. “Thank God for that.”
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Sunday Afternoon
Everything was beautiful.
Deciding to have a wedding with only the family was the perfect decision. There was amazing food, picked by Curtis himself. It ran the gambit from burgers to ribs, with a side of deep fried everything.
It spoke of him, as it was held in a rose garden for Kat.
While they all had shit on the horizon, no one was the least bit of a downer at all. Troubles were put away, and even Paris and Tessa danced on the makeshift dance floor beneath the one tent.
It was one hell of a party.
Dimitri danced with both sisters, and was filled with emotion when they surprised him with the father daughter dance.
There was not a dry eye in the place.
Right after, Emma was swept around the dance floor in Greyson’s arms, and then with a groom and mother dance that culminated with her sobbing.
It was picture perfect.
The only one not smiling was Chris Ford.
He couldn’t.
The entire time, he was thinking about Natasha and where they were taking this.
Honestly, he felt like a fool.
He told her he wasn’t there, but he was pretty sure that was a mistake. When he looked at her, the long red curls, the pretty blue bridesmaid dress, and the smile, his heart ached.
He wanted her.
So, he began the process of facing his fears. Chris was forever haunted by the impetuousness of his first marriage. He had found Denise, decided she was a good choice, and asked her to marry him.
Only, he was too young and too stupid to see that was a horrible mistake. So now he was paying for it.
He was afraid.
When Emma came over to him, taking his hand, he didn’t know where she was leading him.
“Want to dance?” she asked.
He stared down at her. “Okay.”
“Then maybe you can tell me why you have the cranky face on at a beautiful wedding. You’re scaring the girl so she stays away.”
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 35