Fallen Rose by Amelia Wilde
Chapter Thirty-One
Daphne
My brother’s getting married today. My favorite brother. And I know, I know. I’ve watched it happen. I’ve lived in his house while the wedding planning went on. He and Haley are perfect for one another. I thought she was maybe too sweet and too shy before, but what do I know?
Not that much. For instance, I didn’t know that Leo still went to church. Not only that, but he basically owns one. And that’s where he’s getting married today. St. Thomas’s.
“Does he just like people named Thomas?” I ask Haley as she stands in her dress, glowing in front of the full-length mirror in the bridal suite. It’s busy in here, but she is quiet and pink-cheeked and gorgeous. Her sister is here, and my sisters are here. Even my parents came, though my father’s half-drunk and my mother sits on the opposite end of the pew from him. “Leo’s favorite driver is named Thomas. And then there’s this church.”
Haley laughs. I’m doing up the laces on her wedding gown. It took both me and Eva to get it over her head without disturbing her makeup. “I honestly think it’s just a coincidence,” she says. “Though people do tend to go for what’s familiar.”
“Are you excited?”
Her cheeks get redder. “I’ve never been more excited for anything. But—” Haley peeks around behind her, at the room full of women who are here to help her. “I wish my mom was here.”
Daphne’s eyes soften. “I’m sorry. How long ago did she pass away?”
“I was turning twelve, so I remember a lot about her. The color of her hair. The way she would hug me. But there aren’t many photos of her. She was always the one taking photos. My father could never remember to do it, so there aren’t many of them.”
“I’m sure she’s here… in spirit,” I say. “She wouldn’t miss this.”
She gives me a watery smile. “Thank you.”
My phone lights up on the table nearby.
I ignore it. I’m here for Haley, not to exchange text messages with my collector away from Leo’s prying eyes. He would kill me if he knew we were still messaging. No, that’s not true. He would kill my collector.
Fine—he wouldn’t kill him. But he would scare him, and then what would I have?
No one would leave me white orchids anymore.
We fuss over Haley until it’s time for her bridal portraits, and then we fuss over her some more while they’re taken. I leave my phone downstairs in the bridal suite so I can stand up in Leo’s wedding. On Haley’s side, with her sister and my sisters. I don’t think anyone ever expected this out of our families. It’s nice. That’s the word for it. Good, even.
It hurts a little to watch Haley’s dad walk her down the aisle, absolutely beaming. It hurts a little more to watch her with Leo at the altar. Haley joined the church for this even though Leo told her she didn’t have to. Jesus, she loves him so much. And he belongs to her.
I’m not some creep who expects her brother to belong to her, even if he is my favorite. Is mild jealousy an appropriate emotion for a wedding? Probably not. So I concentrate on being happy for them. I already am happy for Leo. Something changed with him after their engagement party. He’s not that different. I still wouldn’t want to meet him when he was angry. But it’s like his mind is clear. That’s the best way I can think to describe it. His eyes don’t look so stormy all the time.
They say their vows in front of Father Simon, who could not be more different from the priest we had at our old church. My father liked that priest. He doesn’t like Father Simon. But that’s not up to him now. He’s been pushed out of the business, almost pushed out of the family. His position as the head of the Morellis is mostly for show these days.
I’m concentrating so hard on being happy for them, on watching the joy in my brother’s face, that I miss the part where Father Simon says he’s allowed to kiss Haley. The cheers snap me out of it. Leo whispers something to Haley when he can bring himself to stop kissing her. She laughs, and I’ve never seen anyone laugh like that for my brother. Their love seems so secret, so self-contained, a private room even in front of all these people. Like I shouldn’t be looking.
I clap around my bouquet as he takes her down the aisle. Leo keeps Haley close to his side. He never wants her out of reach. He only scowls at me about half the time I tease him about it, which is a new low for him.
The bridal party gathers in the narthex of the church. It’s basically every available sibling. Haley’s brother stood up on Leo’s side and did his best not to look wildly uncomfortable the whole time. Guests file out around us. The man from Leo’s engagement party is here with a beautiful, petite woman with bronze curls tumbling down her back. He’s very tall and has to bend his head slightly to hear what he says. His expression is utterly focused, like whatever she’s saying is the most important thing in the world.
He laughs as they pass by, his hand going to the small of her back. “Your cheeks are pink, summer queen. I should bring you to weddings more often.”
His voice makes the air seem colder, more dangerous, but she just laughs. “I won’t go. Not if you’re going to pass me notes like that.”
“It was vows,” he says, his tone mildly wounded.
“We’re in a church,” she whispers.
Then they’re gone, and I’m not jealous at all.
There are photos in the church, in front of a window with gorgeous mid afternoon light. When everyone is laughing from the photos and the anticipation of the reception—to be held in Leo’s ballroom, which is more beautiful than it’s ever been, thanks to Eva—I run back downstairs to get my purse and my phone. Everybody else grabs their things and heads out.
I follow them.
Slowly.
Because I have a new message from my collector.
Come with me.
Oh, I want to. My heart picks up, racing and racing at even the thought of it. He’s not dangerous, no matter what Leo says. But it’s my brother’s wedding day. I don’t actually want to miss the reception. I love parties. Everything is beautiful, and you can smooth over all the complicated things with champagne and pretty clothes.
I can’t. I’m not in the city!!
That’s where my studio apartment is. And where I’ll live again, once Leo is convinced that my security team can handle the collector. I’m moving back after the wedding whether Leo allows it or not. I’ll go crazy if I have to live in my brother’s house another day longer.
I know where you are, little painter.
Goose bumps pull up on the back of my neck at the name.
And that he claims to know where I am.
You’re in the basement of St. Thomas’s church as we speak. Come to the sacristy.
I can hear his tone in his text.
It’s not supposed to make me hot.
It does.
I bite my lip. Everyone is leaving the narthex and heading for the cars. I can only delay a minute.
I’m running up the stairs to the main floor of the church before I can change my mind.
I cut across the sanctuary to get to the small room he’s talking about. Ornate dressers line the wall. They’ll be full of robes and candles and whatever else the church needs for services. A large cherry wood table sits in the middle, its surface charred and dull from use. I imagine a thousand communion wafers counted here, a hundred gallons of sacramental wine poured into a goblet.
Sitting in the middle of the table is a single white orchid.
It could have fallen from a flower arrangement for mass, but I know better. It’s from him. The collector. The petals are smooth between my thumb and forefinger.
It’s a message. He wants me to know that he’s watching.
He was here.
I shiver in my satin bridesmaid’s dress. I should be afraid of him. And I am—but I’m also curious. No one’s ever wanted my art this badly.
No one’s ever wanted me like an obsession.
* * *
Thank you for reading Leo and Haley’s dark trilogy!
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Wealthy. Reclusive. Dangerous. Emerson LeBlanc doesn’t enter society much. He only ventures out in pursuit of new art for his collection. It starts with a haunting painting. Then he meets the artist. Innocent Daphne Morelli is more exquisite than anything he’s ever seen. He becomes obsessed with her. It doesn’t matter that she’s a living, breathing person with her own hopes and dreams. She’ll be the perfect addition to his collection.
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He arrives all dressed in black. Diamond cufflinks. A watch on his tanned wrist that cost more than we would ever see in a lifetime of work. He carries a single red rose for my mother.
Months later, Tiernan Morelli lays red roses on my mother’s grave. That same day, he tells me that he is my new guardian.
I should have known from the very start that he had more in common with the thorns than the rose. Now I know the truth: I’m a pawn in his dangerous game of revenge. I was too young and naive. Now it’s too late to save myself from his clutches.
Now I belong to him.
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Have you met Winston Constantine yet? Yes, the one Leo confronted in this book! Find out what happens when he meets Ash, the young woman who cleans his office…
Money can buy anything. And anyone. As the head of the Constantine family, I’m used to people bowing to my will. Cruel, rigid, unyielding—I’m all those things. When I discover the one woman who doesn’t wither under my gaze, but instead smiles right back at me, I’m intrigued.
Ash Elliott needs cash, and I make her trade in crudeness and degradation for it. I crave her tears, her moans. I pay for each one. And every time, she comes back for more. When she challenges me with an offer of her own, I have to decide if I’m willing to give her far more than cold hard cash.
But love can have deadly consequences when it comes from a Constantine. At the stroke of midnight, that choice may be lost for both of us.
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