Page 127 of Rum & Coke
“Have you seen the area where you’re getting married?”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Sebastian set it up so there’s a square stage in the center where you will be so everyone can see you. The chairs are in a circle.”
“But why do I need to get behind the priest?”
“He’s an agent.”
“Really?”
“All the staff have been replaced with either FBI or DEA.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“You can do this, Tessa. I’ve watched you be strong for months. Just hang in there for a few more minutes.”
“I will,” I assured him. “There’s nothing I would like to see more than Sebastian behind bars.”
The doors opened after the elevator stopped on the main floor. I felt different, more confident, more aware of what the future held. Sebastian no longer held all the cards.Iwas about to fuck his life up.
Just before Mateo and I were about to step outside, I stopped and looked up at him. “Maybe you should walk me down the aisle?”
He grinned. “I would love to.”
I hooked my arm in his, and he gave a nod to someone. Music started to play in the courtyard, and we began walking. I smiled as we walked, and it was the first one in over three and a half months that was real. When my gaze met Sebastian’s at the other end of the aisle, it didn’t falter. Things were finally going my way. I’d finally outsmarted him.
When Mateo and I got to the end of the aisle, Sebastian took my arm. “You look stunning,” he stated.
“Thank you,” I replied with another huge grin on my face.
“Where’s Colton?”
“He was having a moment and needed to stay in the room.”
“Oh, okay.”
Sebastian walked me up the stairs, and I briefly wondered as I looked at the priest how the Feds were able to put an agent undercover as the officiant. Surely Sebastian had to know who he’d hired to marry us, especially since he was supposed to be Catholic. But maybe he didn’t because we weren’t getting married in a church. In fact, since the wedding was planned on such short notice, we hadn’t met with a priest beforehand.
It didn’t matter because the wedding was about to be canceled.
Sebastian and I turned toward each other and held hands. A moment of panic went through me as I realized he was going to hold my hands for the ceremony. We never had a rehearsal, never did any of the traditional things to get prepared for the wedding, and his friends, I assumed, were in the crowd because neither one of us had bridesmaids or groomsmen.
“Heavenly father, we’re gathered here today …” I tuned thepriestout as he said a prayer. I wondered when everything was going to go down. The minutes felt like hours as I waited and waited and waited some more. When Mateo told me the plan, I expected everything to happen quickly. Maybe they were waiting to get Sebastian’s guard down? I didn’t know, but finally, just when I thought nothing was going to happen, all hell broke loose.
“Freeze, FBI!”
I turned in the direction of the voice to see that it was Joss. The sound of people moving and weapons being drawn echoed in the air, and I moved. I moved so fast, breaking my grasp from Sebastian, and running behind thepriest, his weapon drawn on Sebastian. Sebastian had his hands up, and so did the other people who had guns pointed at them too. Hands grabbed my waist from behind, and I turned and screamed before realizing it was Paul. I didn’t know where he had come from or how he had gotten up onto the raised stage.
“Come with me,” he ordered. Paul stepped off the stage and turned to help me down. Just before we ran to the door, I turned to see Sebastian looking at me. I lifted my left hand and wished him goodbye with my middle finger.
Checkmate, asshole.
Kissing Tessaagain was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders. Telling Tessa I loved her was a weight off my heart. But having Tessa tell me that she loved me was everything.
Colton and I waited in a hotel room that Joss gave me a key for. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for everything to go down, but I’d wait forever. For so long I had been angry Joss didn’t tell me what was going on. I thought nothing would ever happen. It made sense she couldn’t tell me everything because it was an open investigation; I just wished she would have let me know something.
About twenty-five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I moved to it, looked in the peephole and smiled as I opened the door.
