Page 133 of Brutal Collateral

Another one with the honeymoon. Of all the shopping Ava did, she didn’t find a travel agent or buy an island.

I spot her near the doors to the lobby hugging down a line of people starting with her other brothers, her aunt, and those two twin flames of frenetic energy.

Ava and I lock eyes from across the room and it shakes me to my core. I’m on my feet, crossing the ballroom to grab her and bring her home. Remind her it’s our wedding night and what that means.

A large number of guests continue to leave, shuffled away by Luke so they can’t drink any more of his booze. We are Irish after all. A sea of people blocks Ava and me, but I cut through, weaving around bodies to get to her.

It takes forever.

When she’s finally in front of me, she’s no longer smiling.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I should have worn the black one.”

Ava’s wedding dress is no longer white. It’s soaked in bright red blood.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Griffin

The floor moves beneathme, everything spinning.

“What’s going on?” I say to my wife covered in blood, not knowing what else to ask.

I look down at her hand to see her new knife stained with blood. An ear-piercing scream rings out and people start running. I grab her, putting her behind me, my gun pulled.

I back up to a wall, pinning her behind me.

Ares storms up to us, anger in his eyes.

I lift my gun, ready to pull the trigger. “You stay the fuck away from her. She’smine.”

“How dare you train that gun on me.” He eyes me with a disdain I feel on my skin like a blade.

He grabs the tablecloth from a nearby table, and yanks it off, taking plates and glasses with it. They crash to the floor, but the thick carpet and padding keep much of it from breaking.

Ares rushes past us with that tablecloth and when the crowd thins out, there’s a lump on the floor, blood soaking through the white linen. A body twitches its last sign of life under that tablecloth.

---