I feel like like I’m going to expire in my Vera Wang. The woman will probably kill me and will never speak to my mother again, and that will get me in further trouble because she’s my Mom’s favorite designer, and my silly thoughts are making my brain more addled.

God, I can’t do this. I really can’t! I can’t marry Bill while Bron watches somewhere in the church.

I look at Bill beside me, ready to blurt out my apologies.

The Reverend stops speaking and peers behind us. “Excuse me, sir?”

I glance behind me and I nearly faint.

Bron’s standing there, looking so cool.

“Bron!” Bill exclaims. “You came!”

I’m doubly shocked at Bill’s reaction. He actually looks delighted to see Bron as if they know each other. But that’s impossible. I look at Bill again, questioningly.

“We’ll talk later, okay, Bron? I’m getting married here if you haven’t noticed. I’ll see you at the reception.”

I can’t believe this. Is Bill trying to make a joke? Doesn’t he realize what’s happening? Bron is crashing our wedding. No, ruining it!

Bron doesn’t even look at Bill. He addresses the Reverend. “Forgive me for interrupting the ceremony, Reverend, but can you just go to the part where you ask the congregation if anybody objects to this union?” He said it loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Shocked gasps from the congregation.

“What’s this, Bron? What are you doing?” Bill demands, an edge to his voice now.

Bron smirks. “Do you want me to tell him, Leigh, or you will do the right thing?”

Bill looks at me now, puzzlement in his eyes.

I glance at my parents at the front row to my right. My father’s mouth is open, eyes bulging. My mother’s face is pale in shock, her hand in her throat as if she can’t breathe.

Oh, God, this is a disaster! I don’t even dare to look at the guests in attendance. My aunts and uncles are all here. My cousins. The entire Spencer clan! I will never live this down. My family will be the laughing stock of the entire city. No, the whole country!

“Leigh?” Bill’s voice is hard now.

My eyes go back to him, and I see a coldness in his gaze that I’ve never seen before. “What’s this?”

“I’m sorry…”

Bill suddenly grabs my shoulders, his fingers biting painfully into my flesh. “You are forgiven,” he whispers to me fiercely, his eyes intense.” Now, let’s get on with the wedding.”

I’m shocked. I can’t believe what Bill just said.

I glance at Bron again. He raises a brow at me, deceptively calm, but I know he’s not leaving until he gets what he wants.

Me.

He really dared! In front of my family! In front of the media covering the event!

Bron raises his arm toward me, beckoning me to go to him.

I look in Bill’s eyes again, imploring. “I’m so sorry, Bill, but I can’t. You deserve someone better.”

With that, I hike up my dress and turn around, heading for the side exit of the altar.

“Leigh!” I hear Bill call out to me, but I don’t look back.

I run, thankful for the years of training to walk and dance in heels. I don’t stumble. I cross the door jamb. Fresh air greets my overheating face. My heart is lodged in my throat, and I can hardly breathe.

A hand grabs my arm. I know who it is in an instant. I spin around to face him. “Are you happy now?” I snarl at him.

He smiles. “Quite.”

I wrench my arm from his grasp. He lets me go. I point at him with my forefinger. “Stay away from me!”

“You can’t mean that, baby.”

I turn away, walking briskly. “I mean it!” I march toward the parking lot. He’s right behind me. God, I love the man, but he scares me to death. He crashed my wedding like he owned the damn church! He’s a tyrant of the first order. His family is most likely in the mob! How can I get involved with a man like that? My parents will never approve of him. Like I still have parents, anyway.

“Leigh, stop. Look at me.”

I keep walking. The next thing I know, I’m up on his shoulder like a sack of potato. I shriek, kicking my feet. “Put me down!” I beat on his back, but I’m like hitting a concrete wall.

He smacks my ass hard. I shriek louder, my ass on fire. ”Bastard!”

He walks faster, and I’m getting dizzy from having too much blood rush to my head. My entire world has turned upside down, literally!

Then he stops.

He dumps me inside another limo. I’m cussing and screaming at him, uttering words I never knew I was capable of. This man has brought out the worst in me.

He climbs in after me and slams the door shut. The limo moves.

“What the hell are you doing?! This is kidnapping, Bron!”

“Are you really not coming with me on your own free will?”

“No!”

“Then this is kidnapping, alright. I’m sure your parents will sic the entire Chicago PD on my ass anytime now.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!”

He shrugs. “I came fully loaded.”

“W-what do you mean?”

He pulls out something from his back.

I freeze in fear at the sight of the gun in his hand.

“You want me dead or alive, baby?” he asks me like he’s asking if I want cream or sugar in my coffee. I stare at him in disbelief. Oh my God, I’m in love with a homicidal sociopath!

“I’m not leaving this city without you, Leigh. Choose.”

I shake my head. “You. Are. CRAZY!”

He smiles. “Only for you, goddess. Only for you.”

She demands a phone.

I hand her mine. I watch her dial a number with shaking fingers. It connects immediately.

“Mom?”

I listen to her talk to her mother, her voice, frantic.

“Mom, I’m fine. No, Mom…no, I know him. Yes, I do. I’m fine. Really! He didn’t abduct me. Please, don’t call the police!”

She cringes in her seat, shrinking from what I can tell her mother berating her on the other line. Tears gather in her eyes, and my chest constricts as if a fist is squeezing around my windpipe. Shit, my pet peeve number one now is seeing her cry. Or sad.

I’m just testing her, of course. The police won’t chase us. Peyton won’t even dare utter anything against me or his company is toast. There won’t be a manhunt or any of that shit. I’ve already taken care of that on my way here. Luc rules the casino biz in Chicago. Just a few well-placed calls to well-connected people who owe my family and they’d even escort me to the airport accompanied by a marching band.

But I don’t tell her that. I want her to come with me on her own free will. I want her to choose me. And she’s doing just that at the risk of being disowned by her parents. My heart is swelling with immense joy.

“Mom, he’s my…he’s my boyfriend. Yes. I met him in Vegas when I went there. I’m going with him to Vegas. Please, forgive me. I didn’t mean for this to—Mom…?” She stares at the phone and sighs, her shoulders slumping.

Her mother has hung up on her apparently.

She meets my eyes. “Wipe that smirk off your face, you megalomaniac,” she snaps at me.

I grin wider. “You just ran away from your wedding,” I say, relishing the fact. Man, that was a joy to watch, her running away like an angel in flight. All white and so beautiful.

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me.”

“Liar.”

She glares at me harder.

I can’t help gloating about it. “You don’t want me dead, hmm? I bet you’re going to cry if I die. You’re going to miss me so badly. Nobody’s going to fuck you the way I do anymore.”

She throws the phone at me. I try to avoid it but it hits my shoulder, and I don’t mind. I’m so fucking happy I want to open the limo’s sunroof and shout to the wind.

Her arms are folded across her chest, looking out the window, trying to ignore me. I want to fuck her again so badly. I’m amazed how much I want her now more than ever. Now that I have her, I’ll never let her go.

I settle back in my seat, curbing my libido. I just had her almost an hour ago. Fuck, my cock has become an insatiable beast for this goddess. But there will be plenty of time for that once I have her aboard the jet.

I watch her quietly. I know her mind is working on overdrive. But she won’t be able to hold her tongue for long. It’s not in her nature to be submissive. I’ll have to accept that now, that she’s different from the others, that I can’t tie her up and subdue her spirit, and that it will kill me to extinguish her fire. I’m addicted to it already. I’ve become her slave. Fuck, forbid that she’d ever realizes that.

She’s biting her lower lip. My poor baby is scared. She probably got disowned by her folks today. Those avaricious people she calls parents are nothing but opportunists who would stop at nothing to get what they want, including selling their own daughter for more opportunities. I don’t care if they’re Spencers and their name is synonymous to the Kennedys. I fucking hate their guts. I don’t regret severing her ties from those greedy power-hungry vultures. They can’t touch her now. They won’t even dare. She’s got nothing to be scared about. I’ll take care of her.

“So how do you think this is going to work between us?”

I smile. That didn’t take long. Her saucy tongue is too hot to stay silent. I want that tongue talking to my cock in the coming days. Months. Years.

“It’s going to work.”

“Because you say so?” she scoffs.

“Yeah.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“What will I do in Vegas?”

“Whatever your heart desires, my goddess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“But you are. My goddess.”

“Prove it.”

I become still. No woman has ever put me in this position, where I have to prove anything to her, except what I want to. But the words leave my lips. “Tell me what you want.”

“Let me go.”

“Anything but that.”

“Then you’re no better than Bill.”

“Don’t compare me to that douchebag.”

“You’re worse than him.”

Fuck, she can test my temper.

She turns to her side, lying her head on the headrest. She tries to hide it, but her tears finally escape. She wipes her face angrily with her hands.

This is a new territory for me. I’ve never been in a serious relationship. Yes, this I serious, alright. I don’t have a clue how to deal with an emotional woman.

“Leigh,“ I start again.

“Don’t!” she suddenly snarls at me, her eyes blazing, anguished. “Don’t tell me what I want or need because you don’t know shit what they are.”

“What about thanking me for saving you from marrying Peyton? I know you didn’t love him or you wouldn’t have given yourself to me.”

“What do you know about love? Have you loved someone deep enough that you’re willing to sacrifice your own happiness for them?”

I swallow. Her words hit me hard, shutting me up.

“I love my parents. They were the only people who cared about me when I was a baby thrown in a dumpster by my mother who didn’t want me. I didn’t know who my father was. I was quite the news on TV you know, this baby found by a homeless woman while she was scouring for food in a dumpster. She brought me to the police, and they took me to a foster home. I was sick for weeks and almost died. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer visited the foster home and saw me. They took me, adopted me as their own, raised me with love and care. So what if they emotionally blackmailed me to marry Bill? I was old enough to decide. I wanted to help my parents. I owe them. They’re not perfect, but they’re all I’ve got. It’s called loyalty. Blind you might say, but I would do anything for them. That’s real love. And I was going to do it but you showed up and ruined everything. Yes, damn you, you made me change my mind at the last minute! Now, I don’t have parents! I’m all alone again. I hope that makes you so happy.”

Her words hit me like bludgeons to my heart.

“Leigh…I understand—”

“Shut up! You know nothing about how I feel! Nothing!”

She closes her eyes tightly, shutting me out, tears leaking down her cheeks.

I stare at her helplessly.

I look at the huge jet waiting for us on the tarmac.

“Is that my transport to the Vegas penitentiary?”

Bron nods, his eyes hooded. He’s been quiet after my outburst in the limo. That was a tad dramatic, but I don’t care what he thinks. I don’t expect him to understand. He’s my new jailer, anyway.

But I’m only here because I fucking love him. Yes, I didn’t want him dead. Or hurt. In any way.

“Not bad. I need a fucking drink.” God, the F-bomb has become my mouth’s favorite word, thanks to that bastard.

I walk ahead of him toward the plane. An attendant greets me at the foot of the stairs. I nod and clamber up. My gown gets snagged somewhere. I yank it roughly, tearing the hem. I cuss again.

Another attendant greets me as I enter the plane.

“Where’s the fucking cabin?” I demand like a bitch. The attendant is taken aback. I don’t care. She’s a fucking jail guard of this plane, too.

She recovers from the shock and graciously guides me toward the rear of the biggest private plane I’ve ever seen. But the grandness is lost on me. This is a gilded cage. Well, until I can escape. But I can hardly do that on air. I’ll wait for the perfect time to run away from this tyrannical bastard again. The next time, he won’t ever find me.

I want a life. A real life. I’m done getting controlled by men, no matter how much I love or care for them. First my father, then Bill, then this bastard who happens to be the greatest lover I’ll probably ever have. But that’s beside the point. He’s not the right man for me.

I will decide who to be with from now on. Not anybody. Certainly not that devil who unfortunately owns my heart.

“Here we are, miss,” the flight attendant opens the cabin door for me.

“Thanks. Please, bring me a bottle of champagne,” I ask in a nicer tone.

“Yes, miss.”

I enter and close the door, locking it.

I’m tempted to kick the door down just to show her who’s fucking boss. The little witch locked me out. She thinks she can do this to me and suffer no consequences?

I inhale deeply and settle onto one of the reclining seats within the lounge right beside the cabin.

The jet is readying for take-off.

I ask the attendant to bring me some whiskey.

Patience hasn’t been one of my valuable virtues since I became a legitimate member of the Gabrielli Family. When things get done quickly on your behalf without so much as lifting a finger, you get used to it, the express delivery. But I’m beginning to embrace it again. Patience.

I can’t forget her tearful face as she lectured me about love and loyalty. God, she was magnificent. I have no doubt she will accord me the same love and loyalty as she did her parents. Or even more. And I want to deserve it. I want to be worthy of her.

I command my boner to calm the fuck down. We’re not getting any till Vegas. Not that it’s listening to me. I hurt. I want to touch her so badly, even just hold her in my arms. But I know she won’t let me, not in her current disposition.

This is going to be the longest flight of my life.

I sigh. I might as well do something to make that princess happy so she’d gladly polish my sword with her cream when we get back to our little kingdom.

I hope.

I shake my head. I hope. That’s a far cry from my notorious three moves.

I fish out my phone.