I wake up early in my bed at my mother’s house. The house is quiet. I pull Graystone from his shelf and bury my face against his fur. Today is the day I promised BJ and Dom I will break the news to Jake. And today is also the day I break my great secret to BJ. With a heavy sigh, I get out of bed and open my bedroom door.

‘Is that you, Layla?’ my mother calls from the kitchen.

‘Morning,’ I yell back from the top of the stairs.

‘Brush your teeth and come down for breakfast. Your ride will be here in an hour.’

Even the thought of breakfast makes me feel sick. ‘I don’t want breakfast, Ma.’

I hear her footsteps come from the kitchen. Her face appears at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Are you sick? Why don’t you want breakfast?’

‘I just don’t feel like it, Ma. I think I’m nervous about today.’

My mother frowns. ‘Nervous about today? Why? You’ve been bridesmaid loads of time. Besides, it’s your cousin Ella.’

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ I concede.

‘Hurry up then. I’m making you pancakes.’

I get ready and go downstairs. My mother puts a plate with two warm buttery pancakes in front of me. I spread Nutella on one and eat it slowly. It settles like a heavy stone in my stomach. The car arrives and I am borne away to my cousin’s house. Fortunately, her house is in such a flurry of hectic activity that I quickly forget my worries and morph into the role of bridesmaid. The flower girls make me laugh. They’ve overdosed on spray tan and they all look as if they have been thoroughly shaken inside a Doritos bag.

Soon it is time for Ella to get into her wedding dress. It is a monster meringue affair, weighing a staggering 90 pounds. There are 520 Swarovski crystals on the bodice and more than 100 rings to puff the skirt out to over eight feet in diameter. Someone fits the veil on her head and she turns to us with shining eyes.

‘You look like a fairy tale princess,’ I tell her. She really does.

‘I feel like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White all rolled into one,’ she says with a catch in her voice.

At that moment I feel a faint sensation of unease. Will I ever be such a happy bride? And then it is time to pick up her 20-foot long train. It takes us more than an hour to stuff her and her dress into the white limo.

Somehow we make it to the church on time.

It is not until later at the church that I spot BJ. He’s standing at the back wearing a white shirt, a dove grey jacket, and black trousers. He doesn’t smile and neither do I, but my breath catches. I quickly look away from his seductively dangerous eyes.

Sweet Jesus. I’m in love with the guy.

The wedding goes without a hitch. Of course, I don’t catch the bridal bouquet even though Ella deliberately aims it in my direction. A woman I don’t know lunges in front of me and catches it. She seems so excited, I can’t even be annoyed with her.

Afterwards, when we are taking photographs, I manage to catch Jake.

‘Where’s Lily?’ I ask him.

He tells me that she is observing the Chinese confinement tradition that doesn’t allow her to leave the house for a whole month.

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really. She has to be on a special bland diet of soups and rice. And there is whole list of forbidden foods: raw fruit, vegetables, coffee, seafood, or anything cold.’

‘Oh my God!’

‘You think that’s bad,’ Jake says. ‘Poor thing is not even allowed to bathe. All that’s allowed is wipe-downs twice a week using washcloths steeped in smelly herbal medicine.’

‘Well, she’s made of sterner stuff than me then,’ I say.

With a sigh Jake tells me that her grandmother, a woman that he describes as “formidable,” is staying at the house overseeing to the torture. After the possessive kiss I saw Jake give Lily, I can only imagine how happy he will be once the 31 days are up.

‘Can I speak to you later tonight at Ma’s?’ I ask casually.

‘Is anything wrong?’

‘Not really.’

He frowns. ‘Do you want to talk about it now?’

‘No, no, it can definitely wait.’

The reception is held in a large banquet room at the same venue. There are speeches and toasts. BJ is only a table away, but Jake is at the same table as me, so I dare not even look at him. Then the couple stands up to have their first dance. I turn my head towards the door and freeze.

Lupo is standing there.

He is browner than everybody else in the room and he is staring at me. I stand up as inconspicuously as possible and casually head towards him.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I whisper fiercely.

‘I’ve come for you, Bella.’

‘What?’

‘I realize now what a big mistake I made, what a stronzo I have been, so I have come for you. I’m in love with you, Layla.’

My mouth drops open. And then I remember where I am. I grab his arm and drag him down the corridor. I open the first door we come across. It is a slightly smaller reception room with red carpets, rows of stacked chairs, and a musty smell.

I close the door, putting some distance between us, and look at his handsome face. I didn’t notice it before, but he looks a lot like Enrique Iglesias. But what is really surprising is that I feel nothing. Not even rage. In fact, I am shocked that I ever thought he was worth climbing into bed with. Other than his looks, he has nothing. There is not even sexual attraction.

‘How did you find me?’

He shrugs. ‘I asked your mother, no?’

‘You went to my ma’s house?’ I wail in dismay.

‘Of course. Don’t worry. I told her I was your friend.’

I breathe a sigh of relief. ‘I’m sorry you’ve come all this way, but I’m not in love with you,’ I say coldly. I need to get rid of him as soon as possible.

‘No, you are just saying that because of what Gabriella told you. It’s not true, you know. I was never in love with her.’

‘I found someone else.’

‘Who?’ he demands angrily, his chest puffing up like a fighting cockerel’s.

‘Does it matter?’

‘Yes, it matters. You are my girl. Who is this man?’

He takes a step forward and tries to put his arm around me. I pull away and he tightens his hold.

‘Let go of me,’ I say with gritted teeth.

‘Don’t be like that,’ he cajoles and moves his face forward. I am just about to knee him in the balls when the door crashes open and BJ stands there, rigid with fury. His face is a thundercloud. His eyes are dangerously narrowed and cold, the whites laced with red. A muscle in his face twitches madly. I have never seen him in such a state. Not even in the pit.

He snarls more than speaks. ‘Take your hand off her.’

Lupo shrivels before him. He looks like a man about to vomit. He looks at me and back to BJ and the penny drops. He starts backing away with his hands raised in the air. ‘I want no trouble,’ he mumbles. What a coward.

When he is closer BJ leans forward slightly and, perfectly composed, utters, ‘Don’t ever come back.’

The door closes and we stare at each other. Then he walks towards me and pulls me into his solid muscles.

‘What the fuck was my woman doing with that spineless little cunt?’

I look up at him. I can feel the aggression radiating off him. ‘He’s my ex.’

I twine my fingers in his hair, rising up on my tiptoes to gently place my lips on his. His hand snakes around my body and his mouth claims me. It is a demanding, aggressive, passionate kiss. I get so lost in it I don’t even hear the door open until Jake’s voice is upon us like the crack of a whip.

‘What the fuck?’

I pull away from BJ’s lips and still in his embrace, turn towards Jake. He is staring at me in disbelief. I feel the blood drain from my face. I open my mouth.

‘Step away from him,’ he says clearly, staring at BJ with murderous fury.

For a second I think about disobeying him, but I know that I need him on my side. I quickly squeeze BJ’s hand and move aside.

‘I can explain everyth—’

It goes down so fast, I don’t actually see how it happens. One moment Jake is looming in the corridor, the next he is flying towards BJ. I am so shocked to see my brother attacking BJ, I can’t even scream. For several seconds I stand and watch Jake swing his arm into BJ. I know BJ is not fighting back, just avoiding the blows. The first two hits don’t catch. The third lands and BJ staggers back slightly and knocks a table. A glass vase full of fake flowers falls to the ground. Flowers go flying. The sight of it somehow galvanizes me.

‘Stop it. Stop it,’ I scream.

But neither man stops. I run towards them and both men look at me and growl for me to stay out.

‘I’m pregnant,’ I sob. ‘I’m pregnant.’

For a shocked second everyone freezes.

Then all hell breaks loose.