Chapter 14 - The Wedding Crasher
"Maria! Open this door!" I screamed, rattling the heavy brass handle.
From the other side of the door, a woman's voice echoed—smooth, icy, and dripping with malicious satisfaction.
"Maria doesn't work for Dominic anymore, sweetie. She works for the highest bidder."
The side door connecting to the church's private chapel swung open.
A woman stepped into the room. She was wearing an elegant black suit, her long blonde hair styled flawlessly, her blue eyes colder than ice.
Lydia Vale.
In her right hand, she held a sleek silver handgun equipped with a silencer. Behind her stood two tall men in tactical gear with Federal Agent badges clipped to their belts—but their cold, murderous eyes told me they were Moretti's former mercenaries, bought and paid for.
"Look at you," Lydia sneered, her eyes scanning my wedding dress. "A broke little temp cleaner, wearing my husband's ring, living in my house, playing mother to my son."
"Noah isn't your son," I said, backing away toward the vanity table, my hand secretly feeling around for the heavy crystal vase behind me. "You poisoned him. You treated him like a piece of meat to be traded!"
"Noah was an investment!" Lydia spat, her face twisting with sudden rage. "A bargaining chip to keep Dominic tied down while I built my own empire! But then you came along. You fixed the broken boy. You made Dominic soft!"
"He isn't soft," I said, gripping the heavy crystal vase behind my back. "He knows everything, Lydia. He knows you faked your death. He knows about the ledger."
Lydia laughed, a sharp, terrible sound. "He knows? Good. That makes this even sweeter. You see, the FBI isn't coming to arrest Dominic, Clara. They're coming to clean up a crime scene."
She pointed the gun straight at my heart.
"When they find the mob boss's fake bride dead in her dressing room, killed by a 'rogue cartel hitman,' Dominic will lose his mind. He'll draw his weapon on the agents waiting outside. And my friends..." she motioned to the two mercenaries, "...will put six bullets in his chest. A tragic end to the Vale crime family. And I inherit everything."
My heart hammered against my ribs. There was no time to wait for Dominic.
"You forgot one thing, Lydia," I said, staring directly into her cold eyes.
"Oh? And what's that?"
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"Dominic isn't the only one who knows how to fight for family."
With a sudden, violent movement, I hurled the heavy crystal vase straight at Lydia's head!
