JUDE
When we enter the reception room where the evening drinks are being held the night before the wedding, Viola is there talking to Dino’s family while he stands next to her with a dark look on his face, his arm around her like he can’t quite bring himself to touch her. I know he’s putting on an act because V messaged us the night before to say Dino was on our side again.
I didn’t even know the fucker wasn’t.
There’s so much I missed while I was in juvie that it hurts my head just to bloody think about it. It’s like I’ve come back to absolute carnage—Dino hating us, Kristian dead, and Dante killing people for us. That was a joke. Either that, or he has some fucking balls playing both fucking sides.
If I ever see that smug bastard again, I will smash his fucking face in.In my pocket, my good hand closes on the cold metal of one of my brass knuckles. I brought my party trick because you never know when you might need to break someone’s jaw, and ever since I stopped drinking and Dante decided to switch sides again, I’ve been itching for a fight. Broken fingers or not.
I’ve no idea what she saw in Dante.
No fucking idea at all.
I have to be there to hold her together, catch her when she fucking falls. Lorcan might be the one she turns to when she’s losing it, but I’m the one who finds her before she gets to that state and keeps her from going off the edge.
She wouldn’t have hurt Dino if I’d been out and there for her.
That, I can guarantee.
“So what’s the plan?” I say to Lorcan as we head to the makeshift bar in the corner where proper drinks are being made instead of the weak-as-shit champagne in glasses being offered. Fucking gangsters are everywhere you look. The Vice crew. Adrien’s men. The place is crawling. The amount of testosterone in the room makes me so desperate for a damn drink that I slip the metal of the brass knuckle over my fingers instead.
Not a great move.
I’m so fucking wound up tight. Who knows what will set me off.
“The plan is to be here for Viola in case she needs us,” Lor says, getting the bartender’s attention as he casts his eyes around the room.
Our girl glances briefly around the room too. I haven’t taken my eyes off her since we walked in. Lor is doing his best, but even he can’t stop staring. She’s looking stunning, as per usual. Blonde hair poker straight, red lips, smokey eyes. She’s wearing an off-the-shoulder red dress with a heart-shaped cut-out on the back exposing her creamy skin, which is very fucking apt if I pay attention to the fucking feelings clogging up in my chest whenever I think about losing her.
I only just got her back.
I kept my expression blank when she told us her idea to leave because what the fuck else could I do? Lorcan seemed to take that bit of news in his stride. I almost choked on my coffee when she found me in Quinn’s office to tell us he’d escaped. Lorcan already knew it would happen. I could tell by his face. Quinn raised a brow but said nothing. I wanted to punch the fucking door in, but with Viola’s brown eyes daring me to question her insanity at not going after him, I just gave her a shrug.
She can do what the fuck she likes.
Her reasoning makes sense, but that doesn’t mean I like it. I actually fucking hate it. I still don’t understand why she has to change her name and disappear. She’s giving Dante everything. He fucking wins. But I get that she’s always been running. As much as she’s a ruthless killer, she’s also a survivor. To do what she’s had to do, over and over, she’s come up with a pattern of throwing everything to fucking dogs and running for the hills.
That’s going to have to change. Even if I have to throw her over my shoulder and drag her back home cave-man style. Even if I must follow her to the ends of the fucking earth….
She’s not running away. Not from me. I’ll hunt her down and chase her to the last. Viola belongs to me. I look at Lorcan and Dino, and I know they think the same.
She belongs to us.
“Whiskey for me. Coke for him,” Lorcan says to the bartender.
I shoot him a pissy look. “Fuck, no. A whiskey for me too.”
“You’ve been sober for weeks. You’re not breaking your sobriety tonight,” he says, brows furrowed.
“I’m fucking dying of thirst here,” I exclaim.
“I doubt you’re dying,” he says, like a fucking bellend, drinking a mouthful of his whiskey when the barkeep hands it to him, rubbing that shit in my face.
“Just give me the fucking coke,” I grit out, taking the soda and swigging it back. I would give anything to add a dash of Blue Label to it, anything, but I keep that thought to myself. Lorcan can be a judgmental cunt when he wants to be. I don’t need him looking at me like I’m a fucking liability.
We stand there like dickheads, scanning the crowd. Saskia and Quinn join the party with one of Dino’s cousins. I forget her name, but I’ve seen her around.
“This is Sorrow,” Saskia says by way of introduction. The dark-haired girl with bright blue eyes gives us both a sullen look.