1
Luke
She’s always been mine.
It was never spoken, but I know we both know it’s true. Always have, always will. Before, she was just Sisi, my best friend Carter’s little sister. When we were young, and the world was all late summer nights, skinned knees, tree forts, and fireflies, she was my princess, and I was her prince. Well, at times I guess I was more the troll under the bridge pulling her pigtails or putting bugs down her dress.
But that’s how you say “I love you and I’ll love you forever” when you’re ten. At least that’s how I figured was the best way to say it back then. We grew up; me hard, muscled, and rough, her tall, willowy, and beautiful. Not a day went by when I didn’t know that she was the one for me. Not a single night passed where I didn’t think of her and know in my heart that she was the only love I’d ever have.
“Sir?”
I frown and pull myself from the memories. I turn to look at my pilot, and I nod. “There, yeah.”
“Sir, I don’t have clearance to land there.” The pilot looks conflicted, and I’m sure he is. On one hand, the guy has a license to protect and laws and regulations to follow. On the other hand, I’m paying him a lot of fucking money. I know how to settle his conflict though, and I reach into my suit jacket pocket.
“Here’s your clearance.” I pass the man another ten thousand dollars, and his eyes bug out. “And if you get in trouble, I’ll swear I was flying. I have the license on record anyways.”
He hesitates, but finally he takes the money. “Right down there?” He asks, pointing to the baseball field across from the church.
“Right down there.”
I never did have her though; Sienna, that is. At the end of the day, she was still Carter’s kid sister. She was off-limits, and untouchable. As much as I wanted her, and as hard as I fell for her, I kept my distance. I kept my walls up, even when that killer smile of hers sparkled like the sun. Even when I almost couldn’t stand how beautiful she’d become without even realizing it herself.
So I held back, I turned away, and then I lost her. Carter and I were already over in Afghanistan when I heard she’d got herself a boyfriend—this asshole Ian we knew from school. I never made a move, and I know the forever-love I felt was all in my head. Mine, not hers. After that, I threw myself into the Marines, and any reservation I had about joining went away. Carter and I both grew up with nothing, and the Corp was a way to get out, and to see the world. But in the end, all we saw was death.
They say war is hell, and they’re not lying. It was brutal over there in Afghanistan, but also not what we’d signed up for. We weren’t heroes, we were glorified prison guards. Or when we weren’t on that duty, we were glorified truck drivers.
After two years in Afghanistan, the both of us managed to fuck up royally. We got busted skipping a post duty to get drunk off of moonshine some petty officer made in his shower stall. And man, we were out the Corp faster than you can say oorah. But, there’s a lot of opportunity out there if you’re young, reckless, and have US Marine Corp training. Carter and I both got picked up by a Mercenary outfit that did dirty work all over the Middle East. The money was good, and the adventure was what we’d been looking for. Plus, with the one girl I’d ever loved out of my hands and probably forgetting all about me, what the hell else did I have to live for?
After that though is when it all went wrong. We were doing contract work in Turkmenistan, on the Iranian border, for a warlord. I still don’t know who hit us, but someone did. Could’ve been the US, or perhaps another warlord. All I know is that after the dust cleared, Carter was gone, and I was in chains.
The helicopter lands, and I turn to my pilot again. “Keep it running, we’ll be out soon.”
“Good luck,” he grins. He understands the basic gist of why I’m here. But I don’t need luck. I just need her, and tonight, I’m getting her at long, long last.
I’ve watched from a distance. I’ve bided my time. I’ve waited until there isn’t any damn way I could wait any longer. I’ve laid the groundwork, and prepared the life I want to, and have always wanted to give her. But finally, it’s time.
I also can’t wait any longer because I literally can’t. Someone else is about to steal her utterly from me. She’s getting married tonight at the very church I’m storming over to right now from my helicopter. My intentions are clear: stop this bullshit of a wedding before it happens. Speak now or forever hold my peace? Believe, I’m about to speak loud and damn clear.
Sienna is going to be married tonight, but it won’t be to the man who thinks he’s going to be her husband after today.
It will be to me.
Sienna’s all mine. She’s always been mine, and after tonight, she always will be. I’ve waited years to claim her, and tonight, I’m stealing her all for myself.
2
Sienna
As long as I don’t cry, I’m pretty sure I’ll make it through this. It isn’t exactly the go-to line that most brides tell themselves in the mirror minutes before their own wedding. But, today, it is for me. I look into the mirror, at the girl that looks back at me, and I barely recognize myself. Just like I can barely accept that all of this is real and happening.
Oh, but it is. Today, I’m marrying Nick. In less than an hour, I’ll be Mrs. Passanté. The thought makes me want to puke, and I don’t mean because of butterflies in my stomach. It makes me want to puke because Nick Passanté is a sleazy, narcissistic asshole, and I’m being forced to marry him. I don’t mean that as hyperbole. I mean I’m literally being forced, contractually, to marry the guy.
Nick is the son of Christopher Passanté, a man my father had business ventures with. My father was always a shoot from the hip kind of guy when it came to business. But when he died a year ago, the full weight of his bad business moves were brought to light. Including just how much of a bad guy Christopher Passanté is. Or just how much money my father owed him. Suffice to say, it’s a lot.
It’s so much, in fact, that it’s more than everything my mother and I have left. I didn’t grow up with much, but as dad’s business did better and better over the years, we sized up with it. A better, bigger house, nicer cars, my college paid for, and more. But with dad gone and the business gone with him, mom and I have been scrambling to downsize. Especially since we realized he hadn’t really left much in the bank for a rainy day.
“Hey girl.”
I glance up into the mirror and see Aurora step into the dressing room behind me. Aurora’s my best friend in the whole world ever since we were four. We grew up together, we went off to college together, and we both came home together; me because of my dad, and her because of her mom getting sick. She’s like a sister to me, and as terrible as today is, I don’t know how I’d even be standing right now without her.
“Hey,” I say dryly.
“Well not for nothing, but you look fucking smokin’ right now,” she beams at me. I roll my eyes, but she stops me. “No, no it’s true. You look freaking gorgeous, girl.”