Page 116 of Four Fiances & I

“It wasn’t dye on the dress, was it?” Jasmine’s attention doesn’t move from the window, but she knows the answer to her own question. I glance at Christian, who’s watching our girl intently.

“No, Sweetheart. I don’t think it was.”

As soon as I got Layton on his own, while Christian was still seeing to Jasmine, he told me he believed it was blood. Whose blood, I don’t think I want to know.

“I knew it wasn’t the moment I saw it, but I didn’t want to freak poor Penelope out any more than she already was,” she whispers. One of her hands goes beside her, and I take the opportunity to wrap my pinkie around hers, needing any sort of contact she will allow. But the second she feels my hand beside her, she grabs hold and looks at it for a moment before her tear-filled eyes find me. “At least if they’ve ruined the dresses, they should leave everything else alone, right?”

Before I can stop myself, I look at Christian, who looks at me as if asking for help with his eyes.

“Daddy?” We both look at Jasmine as she glances between the two of us. “What aren’t you telling me?” she demands, looking from me to Christian. “You both said no more secrets, so what else has happened?”

I hear Christian sigh, and I apply a little pressure to our girl's hand, showing her she’s not alone.

“We had a call just before Layton made contact. There is an issue with the flowers,” he explains. Even with me holding her hand, I can feel it starting to shake as I swear she stops breathing.

“What kind of problem?”

“They are all dead, Angel. They have all been destroyed.” Jazzy looks at me for a moment as if waiting for the punchline, but when all I can do is offer her a small smile in the hope of giving her some hope, I can see the defeat taking over.

“Sweetheart? It will be okay; we will sort something,” Christian starts, but when she turns her head and looks out of the window, ignoring him, he stops and, for once, doesn’t force her to use her words. Because what words could she possibly have to say right now? What is there other than shit.

“Okay.” Her voice is so quiet that for a moment, I think I must have dreamt the reply. But slowly, she turns to look at us as the first tear slips down her cheek.

“Jazzy,” I whisper as I cup her face. But the second my hand touches her cheek, she leans into it with her eyes closed and strength breaks.

Not giving a shit about laws or the risk of an accident, I unbuckle her seatbelt and pull her onto my lap as she starts to cry uncontrollably. I hold her tight as her heart breaks, and all I can think is we are to blame for this. We did this to her because of the type of people we were forced to become, thanks to our father. So much of the pain she has felt in the last year has been because of that bastard, and I would love nothing more than to find his body so that I can set it alight and fucking piss on it.

Jasmine lifts her arm, and Christian reaches around the seat and takes her hand. I don’t know who needs to contact more right now, him or her.

“We will fix this, Sweetheart. I promise we will get to the bottom of it all, and you will still have the wedding you deserve.”

I nod whilst kissing the top of her head.

“He’s right, Angel. We will all work together to make sure nothing else can go wrong.”

“You know those are the famous last words, don’t you,” Jasmine sniffs, looking up at me, and I can’t help smiling down at her.

“Yeah, but we all know I’m the best person to have around in this kind of disaster,” I reply. When Jasmine frowns, I can’t help grinning at her.

“Jaz, that man was born to shop. He will have you girls fitted and stunning with time to spare,” Terry says from the driving seat as he pulls up outside the house.

“Well, he's not wrong, and let's face it, he's going to love every minute of shopping for you all. He was a nightmare when shopping for our suits,” Christian adds, smiling at Jasmine, attempting to cheer her up. She looks at me, and for the first time since we arrived at the dress shop, she has a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Okay, Daddy. Let's see how good your shopping skills are.”

I wink at her once as Christian climbs out of the car, opens our door and helps Jasmine out of the vehicle. I watch him wipe the tears from her face with a hanky he pulls out of his pocket before leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips.

“The only important thing on that day is that wewillget married. The four of us get to share you as our wife every day for the rest of our lives.”

“That’s what I kept telling the girls as they were crying,” Jasmine agrees before leaning into him so he can hold her close. “As long as I can marry you all on Saturday, nothing else matters.”

“We don’t deserve you, Sweetheart,” Christian whispers into her hair before looking over her head to me. I couldn’t agree more.

“There you are! Why was no one answering their fucking phones?” Maximus yells as he storms out of the house.

“We were dealing with something,” I sigh, turning to give him my full attention.

“Yeah, well, so was I, and it was an issue I needed help with.”

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