“And then you killed him. Why, if he was helping you?” I asked.
“It seems those paternal feelings he’d always had never left after all. He was weak, and when you told him to get out of your life, I knew I couldn’t trust him to handle things anymore.”
I watched as Tristan hung his head and said sadly, barely above a whisper, “You made sure you took everyone from me.”
Karl smirked. “Not yet, son. Not yet.”
Just when I was sure he’d given up, Tristan looked over at West and said, “Obviously not everyone around me is loyal.”
Karl turned to look at West and smiled. “Oh, West? He was easy. Right, West? Not everyone thinks a man your age should have everything his heart desires.”
West mumbled something about Tristan being a spoiled rich boy, and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gage’s arm move. In a flash, I heard a gun go off and the man behind me released my arms. I dropped to the floor and covered my head as two more shots rang out. It all happened so fast. Somebody yelled “Get him!” and I heard the most terrifying sound I’d ever heard in my life. A body fell to the floor and a man’s voice moaned until another shot exploded and everything fell silent.
I opened my eyes and saw Karl and West on the floor in front of me and blood everywhere. Gage stood over another man in the corner of the room who looked like he’d only been grazed by a bullet. Frantically, I searched the room for Tristan and saw him slumped over in the chair he’d been tied up in. Blood covered the side of his face, and he looked unconscious.
Running over, I knelt in front of him and looked up to see a bullet had hit his right shoulder and his left eye was bleeding. “Gage! Tristan’s been shot! He needs help!”
Behind me, Gage called for help while I gently lifted Tristan’s head. He didn’t respond to my touch, and the real fear that I’d lost him settled into my brain. Shaking my head, I let the tears roll down my cheeks as I pleaded for him to stay with me. “Tristan, don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you. Don’t leave me here all alone. Please, Tristan! Open your eyes. Open your eyes and let me know you’re going to be okay.”
His eyes remained closed as I sat there praying he’d survive. I heard the ambulance in the distance as it raced up the canal toward us, piercing the night with its shrill emergency cry. “The paramedics are coming. Just hang on for me, Tristan. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me, baby.”
Gage pulled me away as the paramedics entered the room, and I watched as they took him away, barking out directions about how to get to the hospital. In mere minutes, he was gone and I was left standing there sobbing, hoping against hope that I hadn’t lost him this time.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nina
I sat alone in the bedroom Tristan and I shared, my hands shaking as I thought about what I must do in mere minutes. Muffled voices from outside the door signaled it was nearly time. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves.
The door opened and Jordan peeked her head in. “It’s time, sweetie.”
I pressed my hands to my thighs and took another deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”
She came to my side and held my hand as I stood from the bed on wobbly legs. “Just wait until you see the flowers. They’re really beautiful.”
“The flowers?”
Jordan smiled weakly. “That’s what they say at times like this, don’t they?”
I saw how hard she was trying to be mature at that moment and appreciated it. “I feel like I’m in an episode of some TV melodrama. I know you want to say something snarky or crude, so go for it.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled broadly. “Thank God! I’ve been tiptoeing around for hours, unsure I should be myself. You’ve been so quiet since returning from Venice, so I wasn’t sure you were up for the full version of me.”
I smoothed the back of my dress and rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to pretend ever, Jordan. Venice was tough, but I got through it. I’m tougher than I look.”
She raised her eyebrows in faux surprise. “Tough, huh? Wait until you get out there and melt into a puddle of girliness when you see your soon-to-be husband.”
Jordan wasn’t wrong. On normal days, seeing Tristan in a suit he wore to work made my knees weak. Seeing him in a tux waiting for me at the altar might make me fall over. “Tell me. How’s he look?”
“Totally badass with that eye patch. Leave it to him to get a black leather one.”
“I meant in the tux, Jordan. How’s he look in the tux?”
As she buzzed around me tugging and fixing my wedding gown, she chuckled. “Like he was born to wear one. The guy looks more comfortable in a tux than other guys do in jeans and a T-shirt.”
Her words took me back to the first time I saw Tristan dressed in a tux and then to that night of the book signing at his hotel. She was right. He wore formality so well, but I knew who the man beneath the clothes was. I knew his passions and his fears, his darkness and his light.
I finally could say I knew Tristan Stone.
Jordan stood back from me and smiled at what she saw. “But when he sees you in this dress, oh, he is going to fall apart. You look stunning, honey.”
I looked down at the gown I’d marry my dream man in and nodded. “I hope so. That’s the point, right? It won’t be much of a honeymoon if the groom doesn’t like how the bride looks.”
My gown felt more incredible than anything I’d ever worn. White satin that hung like it had been created just for me, it was classy and gorgeous and everything I’d always dreamed I’d be. Now, as I stood in the bedroom I shared with the only man I’d ever truly loved, I finally was that woman in my dreams.
After smoothing my veil over the back of my head, she pulled the ends out near my elbows and let them fall against my arms. One last tuck of a stray hair behind my ear and she was done. “All set. You ready to become Mrs. Tristan Stone?”
I didn’t know why, but I began to tear up at those words. Mrs. Tristan Stone. They said the third time was a charm, didn’t they? Looking away, I said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m crying like a crazy woman.”
“It’s okay, Nina. This is a big deal. Just think of it this way, though. After all you and Tristan have been through, getting married is going to be like a walk in the park. Or more like a walk in the garden on a beautiful summer night.”