by Eva Ashwood
Kace, Misael, and Bishop moved around my room silently as they helped me pack, and when I had everything I needed for the moment, they carried my bags down the hall. I hesitated at the top of the stairs, gazing down the hallway in the direction of my parents’ bedroom. Should I go wake my mom and tell her goodbye?
The thought died almost as soon as it arose. It was so late it was early, and my adrenaline had spiked and ebbed so many times tonight that I felt like the walking dead. I didn’t have it in me to deal with whatever my mother’s reaction would be. And besides, I would see her at the wedding—if she chose to come.
When we returned to the study, I was relieved to find that the guns had all been lowered. Not that I expected my father and Claudio to get along at all, but it would be awkward to have weapons drawn as I said my vows. My father still looked angry and bitter, but he made no further protest as all of us headed for the door. He followed behind us, and although his bearing was still stiff and imperious, he looked… smaller somehow. As if his almost inhuman seeming power had been diminished in my eyes.
He was wealthy and domineering, but at the end of the day, he was just a man.
And he had lost this game.
I turned to him as everyone began to file out the front door into the cool darkness outside.
“It didn’t have to be this way, Dad. I wanted to love you. All my life, I’ve wanted to love you. I’ve wanted you to be worthy of it. But I can’t wait any longer for you to show a side of yourself that doesn’t exist.”
His brows lowered, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “You are my daughter in name only from now on, Cordelia. What you’ve done is unforgivable.”
I shook my head. That would’ve hurt me once, but now it just made me smile sadly. “I don’t need your forgiveness. And I don’t need your love. It took me eighteen years to realize that.”
Bishop’s arm wrapped around my shoulders, solid and comforting, and the other two boys fell into place around me as we walked out of the house and down the front steps.
Leaving my old life behind for good.
The heavy thump of dance music vibrated through my whole body as we made our way through the club. Spotlight was as packed with sweaty, gyrating bodies as it had been the first time we’d come here, and a smile tugged at my lips as I remembered that evening.
It’d been three days since my ill-fated prom night, and I could still feel the lingering effects of that night everywhere in my body. My bruises had settled into dark purple marks, and the scratches and scrapes that decorated my body had scabbed over.
The boys were still beat to shit too, but they were healing up as well. Misael had gotten the wound in his shoulder stitched up, and although he still favored that arm, he could use it if he was careful.
More than my lingering injuries, it was my mind and heart that felt the brunt of the events of prom night. Although I felt safe at Nathaniel’s house, I still had a hard time sleeping peacefully. Images of prone bodies with blood seeping from them filled my nightmares, and Eli’s face appeared in my dreams frequently. I had hated him when he’d been alive, and I knew he would’ve killed us if he’d gotten the gun from me. But that didn’t make it any easier to process the fact that I had been the one to kill him.
I understood much more of what Kace had gone through in the aftermath of Flint’s death, and the blond boy had been the one to hold me while I cried when everything finally hit me the night after prom. He had sat with me for what must’ve been hours in my borrowed room at Nathaniel’s house, not even speaking, just offering me the comfort of his presence and his understanding.
In a striking contrast to the trauma that still haunted me, wedding plans were well underway. I had assumed it would be a pretty simple affair, maybe even just a courthouse wedding. But apparently, the pomp and circumstance mattered as much as the marriage certificate itself, because it was shaping up to be lavish and well-attended. Josephine was handling a lot of the details, working with Claudio’s people and asking my input on things without overloading me with minutia.
It made sense, in a way.
This was a symbolic tying together of families, and Claudio and Nathaniel both wanted their people to be well aware of what this meant. The two men had formed a full alliance, and this wedding was a gift from Nathaniel to Claudio.
Their first order of business as a combined force would be to deal with Luke Carmine—and that was what had brought me and my men to the club tonight.
Just like he had the first time we’d come to visit Muse, Kace led us to the back of the club into a red-walled room filled with black leather furniture.
The man waiting for us grinned when we stepped inside, gesturing for us to sit down.
“My friends. Good to see you again.”
Muse was tall and lanky, and he had a cat-like way of moving that made him seem both relaxed and predatory. Long black dreadlocks woven through with gold accents spilled over his dark shoulders, and he wore a tank top that molded to his muscled chest. His leather pants gleamed in the dim light as he crossed his booted feet, leaning back in his seat as he dipped his chin in greeting.
“Muse.”
Bishop returned his nod, and the man gestured for us all to sit. As we settled onto a couch opposite him, his gaze landed on me.
“Cora Van Rensselaer. I’ve been hearin’ your name pop up all over town lately. Guess congratulations are in order.”
I flushed slightly. “Thank you.”
He cocked an eyebrow, his dark eyes studying me. “And I presume you ain’t here just to tell me you’re gettin’ married. I already know all about that, darlin’.”
“No.” I shook my head, scooting forward on the seat. The three men around me let me take the lead, and I appreciated their silent show of support. “I have some other information I think you’ll want. Something I hope will repay the debt I owe you.”
Muse didn’t lean forward, but I could see his gaze sharpen. He was interested. Intrigued. Cocking his head to one side, he spread both arms over the back of the couch. “Anxious to get outta this deal before you become a married woman, aye?”
I felt the Lost Boys shift around me at that, but I put a hand on Misael’s knee to calm him.
In actual fact, that was a huge part of the reason we’d come here now. With my upcoming wedding into Claudio Vega’s family and operation, not to mention a union that would bring me even closer into Nathaniel Ward’s fold, I couldn’t afford to be beholden to anyone outside their organization—not even someone as generally neutral as Muse, a man who peddled in information and rarely took sides.
But there was no reason to outright admit that to him.
“I’m here because I think what I know is worth at least as much as the information you gave me last time we visited,” I said calmly, and Muse’s gaze narrowed as he assessed me.
Finally, he nodded. “Alright. Let’s hear it, then.”
“You told us last time that all roads to my father’s arrest led to Luke Carmine. And you were right. But it’s more than that.” I met his gaze, watching him closely to gauge his reaction to my words. “He’s been trying to play all sides, accepting jobs from conflicting parties and pitting them against each other. He did it to my father and Abraham Shaw, and I’m sure he’s done it to others.”
As I spoke, a feeling of satisfaction welled inside me. I could see the glint in Muse’s eyes that told me this information was as good as I thought it was. Honor might not exist among all thieves, but I had learned during my time in this world that loyalty was prized above almost anything else.
And Luke Carmine had none.
Muse rubbed a hand over his chin, the thick rings on his fingers shining brightly. “And you’ve got proof of this?”
“Yes.”
I glanced at Bishop, and he pulled out the emails I had printed off in my Dad’s office weeks ago, handing them over to Muse.
The informant unfolded the papers and scanned them, his tongue darting out to lick his full lips. The emails I had
printed were vague enough that I wasn’t sure it would’ve convinced law enforcement to go after my dad—but for a man like Muse, who had his fingers in so many parts of Baltimore’s underworld, it was only one piece of a puzzle.
And this piece had completed the picture.
His gaze snapped up to me. “This is good shit.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“Yeah, alright.” He nodded, still scanning through the papers. “We’re even. I ain’t one to stiff my friends, and this is a fair trade for what I gave you.”
I could feel the men beside me relax slightly. It was done. I was free. I would begin my new life with Misael and the others with no debts or bonds.
A wicked gleam entered Muse’s eyes, and his gaze tracked over all of us. He grinned, revealing white teeth. “You know this is gonna cause a shitload of trouble for Luke Carmine when this gets out, aye? He’ll lose allies faster than flies droppin’ on a hot day.”
Bishop’s answering smile was fierce and feral.
“We’re counting on it.”
Twenty-Four
“You look lovely.”
Josephine smiled at me as I smoothed down the skirt of my dress. I had decided on an ivory gown with a full skirt and a sweetheart neckline, nothing nearly as elaborate or expensive as the dress I was sure Mom would’ve picked out for me for my wedding with Barrett.
But this was more beautiful than anything she could’ve chosen.
Because it was me.
And it was the dress I would marry Misael Alviar in.
And that made it fucking perfect.
“Thanks, Jo.” I grinned at her.
The first time I’d called her that, it’d been totally by accident, and I’d seen her head jerk back slightly in surprise. Then she had smiled, a look that was almost motherly passing over her face. I had already been close with her, but spending a week living in her house, working closely with her on wedding arrangements, had solidified the bond between us.
“Your men won’t be able to take their eyes off you,” she added, reaching out to tuck a trailing curl of blonde hair behind my ear. Then she pursed her lips, studying me. “Are you happy, Cora?”
“Yes.” My lips were stretching wide even before I spoke, and I couldn’t tamp down the rush of butterflies that filled my stomach as I thought about what today would bring. “I’m so happy. This is—it’s right, Jo. I just know it is.”
She nodded. “I know that feeling. I’m glad. Because it won’t always be easy. I’m sure you already know that, with everything you’ve been through. There will be difficult times, and I’d be lying if I told you this life and this world aren’t cruel and unforgiving sometimes. But the rightness? The love? That will get you through all of those times.”
I bit my lip, tears burning the backs of my eyes. I did know that already, understood it on a visceral level. I wasn’t expecting the world to turn into sunshine and roses just because I’d said my wedding vows.
But I didn’t care.
I’d have my men with me, and together, we could face anything.
I had stopped going to classes at Highland Park the day after prom, and had been studying for the GED instead. A diploma from an elite high school wouldn’t mean much in the life I was entering into, and although I definitely still planned to continue my schooling, I would be doing it for me, not to fit some mold my parents had built for me the day I was born. The one they had spent my entire life trying to force me to fit into.
“I really love them,” I whispered. “All of them. I can’t wait to do this.”
She pulled me into a tight hug, then drew back to look me in the eyes. “They’re lucky to have you, Cora. We all are.”
I blinked rapidly a few times, determined not to cry until the actual ceremony, when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold myself back. I was so overwhelmed with feelings that it wouldn’t take much to open the floodgates.
But her words touched me deeply. They were a reminder that although this marriage was about alliances and power in some ways, it was about so much more than that in all the ways that mattered.
It was about love.
About family.
“I’m lucky to have you too, Jo,” I murmured.
She smiled and kissed me on the cheek, then turned and slipped out the door, leaving me alone in the small room at the back of the church. It was set up as a suite where the bride could prepare and get dressed, with an ornate vanity along one wall, a full-length mirror in the corner, and a couch and several chairs in the middle of the room.
The guests would be arriving in about an hour, but I’d come early to get ready. It hadn’t taken as long as I’d expected, so now I was dressed and made up, with my hair all done, and I still had time to kill.
I was about to head back toward the mirror in the corner for one more look when the door opened behind me.
Misael’s dark mop of hair appeared a second later as he poked his head inside.
Maybe the prim and proper thing to do would’ve been to yelp and shoo him out, insisting he wasn’t supposed to see me in my dress before the wedding. But I had seen far too little of my men this week with everything that had been going on. We’d be moving into our new house soon, and I couldn’t wait to settle into a life with them. To wake up beside them every day, to fall asleep in their arms every night. To share meals together, to do fucking laundry together. To have our lives intertwined with each other’s, all four of us in an unbreakable bond.
So instead of telling Misael to go, I made a beeline for him, striding quickly to the door and hauling him inside before attacking him with ravenous lips. He responded instantly, his arms coming around my waist as he delved his tongue into my mouth as if he’d been starving for me.
A chuckle from behind him made me pull away, and when I looked up, I saw Bishop and Kace standing there. Kace closed the door behind them as Bish crossed his arms over his chest, looking good enough to fucking eat in his charcoal gray suit.
I pulled away from Misael, stepping back to admire the sight of all three of them. They were each dressed in well-tailored suits, and it was the most dressed up I had ever seen them. I liked their usual look, which was casual and rough around the edges just like they were.
But this? Well, I liked this too.
“You keep fuckin’ us with those pretty green eyes of yours, Princess,” Bishop said, his voice both teasing and heated, “and we won’t be responsible for any damage to your dress when we tear it off your body.”
My nipples hardened at his words, and my core throbbed. God, that sounded fucking amazing. Well, minus the “destroying my dress” part. I’d need it when I walked down the aisle in an hour, and I wasn’t letting anything stop me from marrying Misael today.
Besides, now that the men were here, I could do something I’d been wanting to do for the past few days. I just hadn’t found a good time for it yet, but now seemed like the perfect opportunity.
“Hang on.”
I held up a finger, then crossed to the vanity and opened the little box I had left on it, making sure to shield my actions from the men with my body. My stomach clenched with nerves as I closed my fist around the two silver bands that I’d taken from the box. I hoped Kace and Bishop would like them, and that they’d understand everything the rings represented.
The three men were watching me with curious looks when I returned to stand before them, and I glanced from Bishop to Kace, taking in their handsome features—so different from each other, but each so beautiful in their own way.
“I wanted to make sure you know that today, even though I’m marrying Misael, the bond that’s being sanctified is between all four of us. I will never love one of you more than the others. I will always need all three of you.” I opened my fist, revealing the two rings. “So I got you these. And my wedding band will be made of three rings too. So we’ll know, and the whole world will know, that we belong to each other.”
A moment of silence came at the end of my words, and I took a nervou
s breath as it stretched out longer and longer.
Shit. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea—
The thought was forced from my mind as Kace gathered me up in a crushing hug, kissing me so deeply I almost bent over backward. I closed my hand around the rings again quickly to keep from dropping them to the floor, my empty hand clutching at Kace for balance.
When he finally stopped kissing me and brought me upright again, I was panting for breath.
“So… you like them?” I asked.
His light green eyes burned with love. “Fuck, yes.”
A goofy grin spread across my face, and I slipped the rings onto both his and Bishop’s fingers, my hands shaking a little as adrenaline and joy flooded me.
The instant Bishop’s ring was on, he grabbed my face, his fingers threading through my hair as he kissed me with the same sort of hunger Kace just had.
I could feel the other two men close on either side of me, could feel their heat and the hardness of their cocks as they pressed up against me, and the answering fire that lit under my skin made me moan.
“I can’t… mess up… my dress,” I murmured in between hot kisses, saying the words but hardly even meaning them anymore. Fuck it. I’d walk down the aisle in the sweater and jeans I had worn over to the church if I had to.
“The dress doesn’t have to be a part of this,” Bishop growled against my lips. “But you don’t get to do something like you just did and not expect to be thoroughly fucked afterward.”
My body felt like it might burst into flames as his words traveled straight to my clit. Groaning, I nodded, giving in to the impulses raging inside me.
Two sets of hands fumbled with the fasteners at the back of my dress, and as soon as they reached the last one, they let the fabric fall, letting my dress pool around my feet in a billowy cloud. Bishop broke our kiss a second before Kace hefted me over his shoulder in nothing more than my bra, panties, and high heels.