Page 19 of Her Wedding Night

Everyone goes quiet.

I lift my head just enough to see what’s going on.

Gabriel has two of the frat boys tied up, back to back. Which would be more impressive if Ethan’s arm wasn’t bleeding—and if he wasn’t holding the gun now.

“Turn around slowly, captain,” he snarls. “We’re in international waters. Time for you to do as we agreed and make this girl my wife.”

CHAPTER 12

GABRIEL

Any minor pang of guilt I might have had about drugging the captain and taking his place disappears in an instant as what Ethan says sinks in.

The bribable captain was going to pretend to marry Lucy off to Ethan, huh? Might just fucking murder the asshole before I get off this ship. For sport. For vengeance. For the innocent girl dragged into a game that is getting deadlier by the second.

“I can’t do that,” I say slowly. I need more time to assess the situation.

I used the cover of chaos to immobilize a couple of the beefier guys. Now there are three left to deal with. Gilly, whose parents own the boat. Forrest, who looks like he mainlined an unhealthy amount of cocaine and Viagra.

And my fucking asshole kid.

The good news is that his injury seems to be a flesh wound, a nick on the arm that’ll be sore tomorrow, but probably doesn’t even need medical attention.

Which is good. It means I can kick his ass, something I should have done a month ago.

But he’s got a gun—fuck—and I’d really rather he not die tonight.

I wasn’t there for the first nineteen years of his life. I can’t be the reason it ends at twenty.

On the other hand, Lucy is trembling on the deck, and I can’t let anything bad happen to her. I just can’t. The protective fire I feel inside when someone touches her, and she doesn’t like it, is nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

Ethan doesn’t really know how to move and keep a gun trained on someone, let alone multiple someones. He’s waving it back and forth between his friend Gilly and me, and looking over at Lucy, too.

I force my voice out in the low, raspy way that sounds like the captain they know. “You kids are acting out of your depth. I'm gonna turn this boat around. We're going back to shore. You don't touch that girl and nothing will happen to the rest of you.”

Ethan swings the gun around kind of wildly. “You're not the boss of me. You do what I say.”

“What’s your plan, son?”

“I told you. I paid you. You’re going to marry us.”

This clash was inevitable. I didn’t see it happening on the deck of a yacht, at the barrel end of a gun, but from the moment I discovered he was stalking an innocent classmate, Lucy, I knew I would have to stop him.

I've done everything in my power to have a good relationship with Ethan. It broke my heart to realize that my own flesh and blood was a truly bad man. And for a while, I tried to excuse some of his choices as youthful stupidity.

But as my attention shifted to figuring out who this young woman was that my son was obsessed with, the worst thing possible happened.

I, too, became obsessed with her.

The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree after all.

It doesn’t feel like the worst thing now, though. Not if I can prevent him from forcing her to give him her virginity.

The thought of not knowing she was desperately in need of help tonight…that drives me a little mad.

I drop the rough, low growl. My natural voice carries further and has more command. And Ethan will recognize the sharp, disappointed tone immediately. “I’m not going to do that. You’re going to leave the girl alone, you hear me?”

His whole body snaps back as I take off the hat and glare at him. “What are you doing here?”

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