The ceremony came to an end with a kiss.

Andrei didn’t seem to mind his bride had changed at the last minute. In the way he held Adelaide and kissed her. I hadn’t given Aurora the kiss.

She’d been a laughing stock at her wedding and at the time, I hadn’t cared.

Like everyone else, I stood and clapped.

My woman finally looked at me, and there was a smile. Not one that lit up her face, but a sadness.

When people started to move, Aurora came to me. There, surrounded by people, I cupped her face and kissed her, how I should have done the day of our wedding.

I finished the kiss off with a quick peck to the lips, and when I pulled back, Aurora’s eyes were closed.

Slowly, they opened, and I saw the flush working its way up her body. “What was that for?” she asked.

“Because I wanted to, and I didn’t want to go another second without kissing those lips.” I stroked my thumb across it.

“What a way to take the spotlight away from the scared little bride,” Ivan said.

I looked around to see we were the only ones standing in the church.

“They’re gone,” Ivan said. He put his hand on Aurora’s shoulder with a smile. “I’m glad to see you’re not dead.”

I wanted to tear his fucking arm off for touching what was mine.

Aurora smiled. “Thank you.”

Ivan walked off. Conversation terminated.

“That’s good, right? He’s pleased I’m not dead? I should worry if he wanted me dead?”

I laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I’d hoped to steal my wife away to have some alone time. No such luck. The bride rushed over to us and took Aurora’s hand. She didn’t look my way, and my wife went, holding on to my hand in a final attempt to keep me.

The bride wrapped her arms around Aurora for some of the pictures. The bride looked to be falling apart, and my wife comforted her.

I glanced at the bridesmaids and spotted Bethany away from the small group, looking spitefully at her sister.

I didn’t care as I returned my gaze to my woman.

“What do you know?” Ivan asked, coming to join me again.

“It was sloppy,” I said, immediately talking about my wife’s attack. We hadn’t gotten a chance to talk as Aurora’s father had been furious to learn she’d been shot. Not enough to come and visit her. He’d made his displeasure known to Ivan. There had even been talk of Aurora going home so they could protect her. The family couldn’t even stand her and treated her like shit, but the insult was there. They’d still protect family better than us we could. There was no way I’d let my wife go back to her family.

She belonged to me. No one else. I would never allow her to go.

“How sloppy?”

“Whoever hired them was not used to doing so, or they wanted it to appear so.”