“As we gather here today...”
I tuned out the priest, ignoring everything he said as I stared at Quinn. Her throat bobbed with nerves, and she scratched her collarbone, something she did when she was nervous, and my eyes fell to her breasts that pushed against the gown. Up and down, the perfect sized mounds curved to her neck with every inhale, tightening the gown to her body.
“Does anyone object to this holy matrimony?” he announced. Brian and Quinn scanned the crowd, looking for the person who dared.
It was my time to shine.
I stood and clasped the button of my suit. “I object.”
The crowd gasped, and Ingrid yanked my sleeve, mean-mugging me when I looked down. “I knew you were trouble,” she said.
I winked, and her irritation turned to a wicked grin. I see Ingrid has a little trouble in her too. I knew I liked her.
My eyes landed on Quinn, and she dropped the bouquet when she saw me. A ghost from her past coming back to haunt her. Brian backed away from her when he saw me, heading toward the exist closest to him.
A shot rang out, and everyone screamed, and chaos fell in the holiness of the church.
My specialty.
“I think it’s best you leave, Ingrid.”
“Are you kidding? I’m not missing this.” She straightened her back and watched people run out the doors, women tripping in their high heels, and men not helping them get out.
“I told you, I was here for both. Excuse me,” I said, inching my way in front of her until I walked down the aisle, Quinn staring at me with her wide, light brown eyes.
Another shot rang out, and this time, the bullet tore into Brian’s shoulder and spattered blood all over her white gown. She screamed and tried to go to him, but Heaven held her back while Grayson held Brian.
Father stood there, reciting something out of the bible for demons. That wouldn’t work on me.
I was the devil.
“You look stunning, Quinn.” I bent down and kissed her cheek. She gasped, unable to form words. Tears ran down her face, and I kissed them away too, drinking her down like a parched man that had been denied of water.
I turned my attention to Brian, the pathetic excuse of a man. He was crying. A bumbling mess on his knees as the blood dripped from his wound. I bent down and gripped his chin with my fingers, hating him even more than I thought was possible.
“What are you doing?” Quinn yelled at me.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing the mascara run black trails down her face and smirked. “Taking what is mine.”
And it wasn’t Quinn.
It was vengeance.
Chapter One
Quinn
Jaxon freaking Steel.
Ruining the damn day like he always did.
Seeing him hurt too. He was devastatingly, dangerously handsome, even more so after all these years. He had changed. Prison, as odd at it sounded, treated him...well. I shouldn’t notice that on my wedding day, but it was impossible not to. He was bigger, taller, and had tattoos everywhere. He had a darkness that surrounded him, a power that made my knees quiver, and my stomach flip. It reminded me of the time we dated when we were teens, but it was more intense; he wasn’t an unsure boy; he was a man that knew what he wanted.
That took what he wanted.
Was that what he was doing? He thought he could swoop in after all these years and object at my wedding, and I'd fall at his feet? He murdered his sister— his pregnant sister. It took Brian years to get over Tracy’s death and the death of his unborn child.
“How dare you?” I spat, doing my best to wiggle from the stranger’s grasp. “Let me go!” I tried to get to Brian, the man I was pretty sure I loved, but the grasp the man had on me was too tight. “Brian, baby, are you okay? Please, talk to me,” I begged.
My begging got the attention of Jaxon, his face sculpted from the flames of hell as he stared at me. God, his eyes were pools of inky black, pure sin, and bad intentions, and I could lose myself in them all over again if I wasn’t careful.
And if I were stupid.
I refused to be stupid over Jaxon Steel ever again.
Jaxon tsked and sighed as if exhausted and annoyed by the situation. “She doesn’t know, does she? How much of a scum bag you really are?”
“She has nothing to do with this,” Brian spat, his forehead shining with sweat as he hung his head.
Jaxon yanked Brian’s head back by his hair and leaned down, bringing his face close to Brian’s. “She has everything to do with this,” Jaxon sneered. “Does she know about all your lies? Because I do.”
“Lies? What lies?” I asked. “Please, someone tell me what is going on.”
“Like she’ll ever believe you,” Brian chuckled, a menacing sound I had never heard from him before. “You killed her sister, remember?”
Jaxon straightened and glanced to the guy behind Brain who held him down and nodded. The guy lifted his gun in the air and brought it down on Brain’s head.
“No!” I screamed, doing my best to yank away from the hold on me again, but it was useless. “Why did you do that? What do you want from me?” I screamed, and something moving out of the corner of my eye had me turning my head.
A lady in pink. Someone I didn’t know.
“Help me,” I said softly, unable to find my voice.
She just sat there, watching, as if this was a show and she paid money to see my suffering.
“Help me!” I finally screamed at her, finally finding my voice, but she just sat there, letting Jaxon conduct his business. “What are you doing? Are you with him? What do you people want?” I looked around, seeing faces I didn’t know, but no doubt faces of men that are just as dangerous as Jaxon. “I hate you Jaxon. I hate you! I wish you would have stayed away.” Tears dripped down my face as I stared at the only man that ever held my heart. The love with Jaxon was wild and unpredictable.
And when he did what he did, it crushed me. I had never been so afraid in my entire life. So when he went off to prison, I broke up with him. I wanted nothing to do with a man like that, and Brian and I found comfort in each other, and I loved him as much as I could, but Jaxon was the man that owned the majority of my heart.
My heart might be a wayward sonofabitch, but my mind knew Jaxon was no good for me. It helped me let go and move on. I was so close to finding happiness again, and of course, Jaxon had to come out of the woodworks. When did he even get out of prison?
“You’ll know in time that I am not your enemy, Quinn. I could never be your enemy. You can paint whatever picture you want of me, but I can guarantee you, you are using the wrong colors.” He stepped forward and grazed his knuckles down my cheek. A jolt passed between us where he touched me, and I hated him even more for making me yearn for him while I stood in a bloody wedding dress while my groom laid unconscious.
Crosses hung upside down when Jaxon was near. There was no hope for me. I’d be condemned to him because Jaxon Steel if there was one thing I knew about him, his way, was hell’s way. He made horns look good as they held up his black halo.
Black because there was no good in him.
Lucifer was an angel, after all.
“Are you going to kill me too?” I hissed, gathering the spit in my mouth, and then launched it at him, right in his face. “Fuck you, Jaxon. Be a man and get on with it.” The man behind me laughed, and the guy by Brian’s body scoffed as he lifted him up into the air and carried him out of the shirt, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. “Where are you taking him?”