His Revenge (Smoke & Mirrors Duet #1)

Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

LEO

“Weddings are supposed to be the happiest day of your life but not everything is meant to last forever.”

W aking up with my bride in my arms is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of my lifetime. She is my world, and between her, Rome, and Claire I have everything I could want in this life. We walk to the espresso machine to start our wedding day by sharing caffeine together, and I want to keep this as a daily tradition in our house.

Rome and Claire pull into the driveway just as we are finishing up our last drinks. Claire waltzes up to me and wraps her arms around me.

“Happy wedding day, big brother,” She talks into my shirt and I smile, everyone near and dear to me are under this roof and I get to tie myself to my perfect pairing. Ella throws a smile in my direction listening to my sister’s words. My sister releases me and walks over to Ella before she links their arms together.

Rome has a brown paper bag with something that smells like eggs. He pulls out four breakfast burritos as I pull the plates out of the cupboard and make more coffee for everyone. Rome takes his time plating all of our breakfasts and ensuring that everyone is drinking something to hydrate them. We eat quickly in silence, trying not to waste any of the clock ticking down to our ceremony.

“It’s time to get you ready so you can knock the socks off my brother and make him cry at his own mafia wedding,” Claire jokes while Rome and I shake our heads at her antics. We know that this life has not been easy on her, and even with my overbearing nature she is not permitted to have a normal life and the normal freedoms of a young adult. She has bonded with Ella in such a short amount of time due to their unusual mafia princess upbringings.

Rome and I walk through our plans and he fills me in on the final locations for the bombs. We review the blueprints for the building and the guest list with probable plus ones that will be in attendance. Finally, after a couple of hours, we change into our black on black tuxedos and check on the girls. They will ride over to the church in their comfortable clothes and change in the bridal suite there.

“Claire, Ella, you guys ready to move this parade to the church?” Rome inquires when we reach the bathroom where the girls are chatting away. They pause in the mirror when they hear his voice. Doing a mental checklist, Claire looks at Ella before nodding. Ella is beautiful every moment of every day, but the light makeup that my sister has done to her just enhances the beauty she already has to the stratosphere. I love the way she looks like this, but I am equally excited to fuck her so hard tonight that her makeup is running down her face smeared and disheveled.

“We are ready to head over when you two are,” She answers while packing up some of the make up. We all ride over together in one of the sedans, just enjoying the music and peaceful day. When we pull into the church parking lot, Rome and I are quick to get out of the car with hands on our guns. We get the girls inside safely and escort them to the bridal suite where their dresses are stored.

It takes them less than thirty minutes to get changed and into their pretty but practical shoes so we can go take pictures together by the fountains. The moment that Ella steps out of the room my heart stops beating. I knew that she was beautiful, but just one look at her and every other woman on this Earth pales in comparison. My hand involuntarily finds its way over my heart; the heart that now belongs to her. Seeing my reaction brings color to her cheeks and opens up the gooey center I have found for her.

“Love, you look like an absolute vision in that dress. Are you ready to go take our pictures?” I ask, in awe of just how I managed to get her to want me back through all the pain and hardships that she has endured. She is strong enough to take on our lifestyle and not bat an eye at the necessary violence. She grew up with enough knowledge of what happens in our families that I can rely on her as a partner and not just as a bed-warmer.

“Yes. Let's go take pictures to commemorate the happiest day of my life,” She answers as I reach her. Careful not to move anything out of place, I intertwine our arms as we walk out to the grass. Rome has been trying to hide this piece of cardboard behind him since we got out of the car, so I haven’t asked about it. The man is a real jokester, and with how well he gets along with Ella I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a bit of comic relief for today’s stress.

The bright green of the grass and the fountain in the background is the perfect setting for these photographs. The three people in the world that are important to me are here, safe. Our photographer, Ashley, walks toward us with her camera in hand.

“Mrs. Angelini, I am so happy to meet you in person. My name is Ashley. You look spectacular and I cannot wait to memorialize this special day for you,” She introduces herself to Ella. I cannot help but admit how much I love hearing Ella addressed with my family name. It makes my claim of her feel more official every time she is respected as my equal.

“So first, I am going to have you joke and laugh while you walk together around this fountain. I may indicate for you to pause where I will adjust small things like hand placement to take the picture,” Ashley walks us through her instructions and process. She spends almost an hour following us around the water while I just play with my wife. Our final shots are taken at the end of the fountain holding hands looking at each other. Rome asks for one more that’s shot with him and his hidden cardboard, and I cannot wait to get our copies and see what he wrote. While we have been together taking pictures the guests have started to arrive. The last of the pictures are of the four of us all together laughing and bonding like normal twenty-somethings who are not part of the mafia.

Escorting the girls back to the bridal suite, I’m anxious to leave them alone. We have less than ten minutes until the ceremony begins and both Rome and I need to get ready to walk down the aisle.

“I have a secret wedding present for you,” Rome stuns me as we walk toward the ceremony.

“Rome, you really didn’t have to,” I insist. He has worked so hard to get to where he is in life and I would hate for him to use that on us.

“The file I just sent to your cloud is every person that I could find who hurt Ella. It should have their full dossier. You can thank me by making them pay for what they put her through,” He requests and my jaw hangs open.

“It’s time to get you hitched, we can talk about everything else after,” Rome instructs me. The chapel is full of some of the most dangerous people of our time and I stand down at the end of the aisle away from the explosives. All of the big players in the skin trade are here tonight to witness this binding of the families. Hopefully this will be the last event for some of the scum in this room.

The music starts to play and everyone stands up, and I watch the other end of the aisle for my bride. My sister is walking first, looking every bit the beautiful mafia princess she is, and the first glimpse of white has me suppressing a smile. There she is. My butterfly, my wife, the best future I could have ever hoped for. She lifts her head as she enters the room and keeps her eyes on me, ignoring the crowd. She looks as determined as she is beautiful. Each step that she takes toward me carves her love deeper into my chest. She is mine, and heaven help any person who gets in her way because I will not go down easily.

As she walks down the aisle toward me in her custom white dress with butterfly lace, I take a stalk of what is about to happen while looking calm and collected. When her father passes her to me and takes his seat in the front of the crowd the room sits. The priest begins the ceremony and I try to pay attention to what he is saying but I keep getting lost in her beauty and the fact that she is really mine.

The nuptials are very basic for this life about being trustworthy and an ally to the person you are going to marry. When he finally asks if we would like to be husband and wife, we both respond.

“I do,” she states quickly but firm in her answer

“I do,” I follow, before everything changes.