“I’m kind of in the middle of something,” Luca said, his tone neutral.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the warrant was signed just half an hour ago.” Bennington didn’t sound sorry. No, he sounded like an asshole who delighted in ruining people’s wedding days.
Nicki stood up, but her father pulled her down. “Can I see the warrant? I’m Mr. Moretti’s legal counsel.”
Bennington passed the warrant toward Gabe. The whole time, Nicki sat with a scowl on her face. After a tense moment, Gabe nodded and folded up the piece of paper.
Luca let out a deep sigh and turned to me. “I’m sorry, Sasha. Guess I was wrong. I love you.” He pressed his lips to mine, and something cracked in my chest. When we’d made it to the week of the wedding, I really thought things would be fine. Clearly, we’d been delusional. Before I could wrap him in my arms, he was descending the sanctuary steps. I tried to follow, but Marco held me back. “Don’t."
The group of heavily armed cops swallowed up Luca as Bennington recited his Miranda rights. The light glinted off the silver handcuffs as they clicked around Luca’s wrists. I wouldn’t have put it past the bastard to have shined them for the occasion. Blood whooshed in my ears as I fought to take a full breath as they walked him out of the church. Within minutes, the cathedral was free of cops. Over five hundred people sat in stunned silence.
“Luca!” I jerked away from Marco, throwing down my bouquet to gather up my skirt, and sprinted down the aisle on shaky legs. I made it to the front steps of the church as the cops pushed Luca into the back of a police car. Bright flashes went off in my face, and journalists shouted questions, but my eyes didn’t stray from his silhouette in the back of the patrol car.
The squad cars pulled away, blue and red lights still flashing but with no sirens, and I was left in my wedding dress being hounded by the press.
“Come on, Sasha.” Marco gathered me in his arms, directing me back inside. Tommy, Gio, and a few of the younger guys posted up by each door, their faces grim.
“Oh, honey! What’s going on?” Mom searched me for injuries as if I was the one that had been arrested.
“I—”
“Maggie, let’s get Sasha back to the bridal suite. I’ll explain there.” Rosa’s patient voice cut through some of the confusion, and I allowed her to lead the entire wedding party away from the gathering crowd. As we passed the big doors, a familiar face caught my attention.
“Who’s that?”
Rosa absent-mindedly glanced the way I pointed. “That’s Luca’s cousin Lorenzo from Chicago. My sister Gina’s son.”
No. No, he was the guy from Mexico, the guy I saw at brunch in January. And now I wondered if he was the asshole from my bachelorette weekend.
There was no way he didn’t know who I was, but how did I not recognize him? The weekend Rosa gave me a crash course in the family, she’d mentioned a sister Gina and that she’d passed on a few years ago. There was a cousin, Lorenzo, but I didn’t remember seeing a picture of him.
“I’m surprised Lorenzo is even here. Gina and I were estranged before her death, and the boys have never been close.” Rosa squeezed my hand before catching up with Marco and whispering something in his ear.
I looked over my shoulder and found Lorenzo staring at me. The smirk that attracted me that night two years ago now made my stomach churn. He held my bouquet to his nose and took a deep breath. With one more intense look, he disappeared into the confused crowd. A chill went down my spine, and my stomach dropped to my ass. The surrounding chaos had nothing on what was going on in my head.
I’d fucked my husband’s cousin, and now he was here to do what?
As soon as we hit the doorway, I rushed to the bathroom and threw up the continental breakfast I’d enjoyed that morning.
“Oh, sweetheart.” My mom sat next to me on the cold tile, rubbing my back. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure this is all some kind of misunderstanding.”
Yeah, because Zoe and Tootsie were alive, but they wouldn’t be surfacing until Cy was dead. I heaved again. Without them, Luca might be locked up for a while. They apparently had enough for an arrest. Would it be enough to hold him?
With my face resting on the toilet seat, I heard snippets of conversation.
“They found Luca’s gun—”
“The blood matched—”
“Two eyewitnesses—”
“The fire report wasn’t—”
Rosa joined us in the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. “I bought you a bottle of water and some crackers. It’s what helped me when I was pregnant with Luca.”
Shocked, I pulled my head from the toilet bowl.
“Pregnant?” my mom squealed, her hands covering her mouth as her eyes sparkled.