I smile, tilting my face up to the sun. I want to believe that she’s looking down on me, especially today.
“I love him so much, Mama. Sometimes it scares me just how much. Did you ever love anyone like that? I hope you did. I hope you lived long enough to find your love.” I place the bouquet on her grave. “I’m walking down the aisle with pink roses. This way, we’ll be holding the same flowers. I’ll come back soon.”
Standing, I dust the dirt off my shorts. Then I turn and walk towards the car. I pass two graves on my way. Two names I recognize. My former bodyguards are buried a few rows over from my mother. I don’t know how Bradley had managed to drug them that day, but he did it and then he came for me. My dad and brother did their best to try to revive Isaac and Hunter when they found them hunched over in the supply closet a few hours later. It was too late, though. Both of them were gone already.
I’d never seen Bradley violent before. So it was a shock when I found out he’d killed them, even though he was threatening to do the same thing to me. It’s crazy what money can make you do, what kind of monster it can turn you into when you lose it, I guess.
I send the two men a silentthank youand anI’m sorryas I continue to make my way over to where Antonia is waiting for me. I can’t help but feel like they would be alive if it weren’t for me, if it weren’t for the job they were hired to do.
“Ready?” Antonia asks as I approach the car.
“Ready.”
“Good, because we have a wedding to get to and you have a dress to put on,” she says. I’ve already had my hair and makeup done, and my dress is waiting at the church for me.
As soon as I’m dressed, Antonia starts crying, which makes me start crying. “You’re going to ruin our makeup,” I tell her.
“I can’t help it. It’s just… you look so beautiful. Like a princess. You are my little princess,” she says.
“I love you.” I hug her, but not too tight. I don’t want to squish my dress in any way.
“Okay, I’m going to meet you out there. But first, I wanted to give you something,” she says. “It’s something old.” She hands me a folded piece of paper. “Don’t read it yet. I’m going to put it into your bouquet. You can read it after.”
“Okay. Thank you,” I tell her.
“Thank you for letting me be your stepmother. You are the light of my life, Jazzy.”
I smile. “Don’t let Aiden hear you say that.”
“See you out there.” She leaves the room, and I take a huge breath.
This is it.
When I exit the room, my dad is waiting for me. “Holy fuck.” His eyes widen when he sees me. “Princess, you look fucking stunning,” he says.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“It’s not too late. I don’t care if you want to be a spinster and live with me forever,” he says.
“I want to marry Jake,” I tell him, for what seems like the millionth time.
“You can’t blame me for trying. I feel like I’m losing my little girl.”
“You will never lose me.” I mean that. I love Jake, but my dad is the single most important man in my life. The only man to never leave my side. The man who forgave me for lying to him without question.
He wasn’t even mad when I finally confided in him about what happened that night. Not prom, which I wasn’t honest with him about either. But the night in my kitchen, the one that was the catalyst for bringing me home. It was probably because he’d figured it out on his own somehow. But he was definitely hurt—and that just made me feel worse about not calling him for help in the first place.
I don’t know why I was so afraid to tell him the truth about Freddie. I guess it was because I was afraid of him seeing me as anything other than perfect. But looking at him now, I know that’s not possible. My dad loves me unconditionally.
I link my arm with his, and he tugs me close to his side. “The day you came to me was the single best day of my life.”
“I was so scared, you know. That you wouldn’t want me.”
“And I was scared I was going to fuck up the dad thing,” he admits.
“You are the best father a girl could dream of having.”
“Okay, let’s get through these doors before I change my mind,” he grumbles.