Losing me and then Mom disappearing had been bad for him. It was my fault, and I couldn’t help feeling guilty for putting him through so much emotional pain unnecessarily. My anger had been misdirected at those I loved, when it should have been focused on Sheena, Manuel, and Bain. Two of the three were dead now, but Bain was still out there. He had Ciana, and I wasn’t going to let him continue to hold her prisoner.

Which was exactly what she was. There was no way she would willingly stay with that monster. Even if he was the father of her children, if she knew the real man, she would be trying to find a way out.

And I was going to help her.

Somehow.

Putting that thought to the back of my mind for the moment, I returned Dad’s smile and placed my arm through his. He looked handsome in his starched white dress shirt with his leather MC cut over it. Black dress pants and his biker boots completed the outfit. He’d styled his hair a little, and he’d even shaved off the scruff that had peppered his jaw the day before.

“You look beautiful, princess,” he said in a choked voice, his green eyes taking in the way my long blond hair was pulled over my left shoulder. The white dress I was wearing was too long, but it fit me well enough, considering it was a loner.

Cali had gone up into the attic and found a trunk full of her mother’s old stuff. Inside had been the wedding dress she’d married Matias Ramirez in, as well as the one she’d worn to marry Cali’s father. Cali had brought them both to me and told me to pick which one I liked the most.

They were both beautiful, but I’d noticed how her gaze had lingered longingly on the one her mom had married her stepfather in. I picked the dress from her mother’s first marriage, knowing my friend would want to wear the other herself one day. Hopefully, if my brother played his cards right, she would get to wear it sooner rather than later.

My dress had a bohemian feel to it, with cap sleeves and had pearls sewn into the lace. Mom and Anya had helped with my hair, curling and then braiding it with a lace and pearl headband that had also been in the trunk with the wedding dresses. A little makeup and I was ready to marry Ryan.

It felt surreal, that after everything I’d been through, I was still getting to marry him on my eighteenth birthday. I’d been hesitant earlier in the day because I thought it wasn’t what he really wanted. Ryan had been imagining this day since he was eight, and I wanted it to be perfect for him. More than anything, I didn’t want him to have any regrets.

“Are you two ready?” Garret asked as he and Cali came into the house where we were waiting for the ceremony to start.