Chapter 14 - The Wedding Gun
Nobody screamed.
Victor locked the door.
“Phones.”
They obeyed.
Fay remained standing in her wedding gown.
Victor looked at her.
“You ruined my son.”
“No.”
Her voice was steady.
“I introduced him to consequences.”
Victor smiled.
“Still mouthy.”
Kathleen moved toward Fay.
Victor raised the gun.
“Stay.”
Conrad was downstairs.
Fifty feet away.
Completely unaware.
Victor wanted documents.
Evidence Conrad had not yet surrendered.
Fay told him the truth.
“There isn't anything left.”
“Conrad always keeps insurance.”
“He used to.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“You really changed him.”
“No. He changed himself.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Men like us don't change.”
Fay looked at him.
“That must be comforting to believe.”
His jaw tightened.
She continued.
“Because if people can change, then you chose not to.”
Victor's face darkened.
Downstairs, music began.
The ceremony was supposed to start.
Conrad looked toward the staircase.
Fay was late.
One minute.
Then two.
He knew his wife.
Fay was many things.
Late to her own wedding was not one of them.
He looked at Luca's empty position.
Something was wrong.
Upstairs, Victor heard footsteps.
He grabbed Fay.
Kathleen moved.
Victor struck her.
Fay reacted instantly, shoving him.
The gun fired.
Downstairs, Conrad heard it.
He ran.
Security followed.
Victor dragged Fay toward the balcony.
She fought.
Not elegantly.
Not cinematically.
She stomped his foot.
Bit his hand.
Drove an elbow into his ribs.
Victor cursed.
The bedroom door exploded inward.
Conrad entered.
Victor pointed the gun at Fay.
Everything stopped.
“Another step and she dies.”
Conrad froze.
Fay looked at him.
No panic.
Trust.
Victor smiled.
“Look at you. Afraid.”
Conrad lowered his weapon.
“Yes.”
Victor blinked.
Conrad continued.
“I am afraid.”
Fay's eyes filled.
“That's what you never understood.”
Victor tightened his grip.
Conrad's voice remained steady.
“Having something to lose doesn't make you weak.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Victor glanced toward the window.
One second.
Enough.
Fay dropped.
Conrad lunged.
The gun fired.
Glass shattered.
Victor hit the floor.
Luca and security swarmed him.
Conrad crawled toward Fay.
“Fay.”
She sat up.
Untouched.
The bullet had missed.
Conrad pulled her into his arms.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Fay held his face.
“I'm okay.”
He pressed his forehead to hers.
“I'm canceling the wedding.”
She laughed breathlessly.
“No.”
“Fay.”
“Everyone's already here.”
“You were just held at gunpoint.”
“And your mother paid for two hundred crab cakes.”
“This is not happening.”
Elena appeared in the doorway.
“The crab cakes were expensive.”
Conrad stared at his mother.
Fay began laughing.
Then Kathleen.
Then Claire.
Even Luca turned away to hide a smile.
Victor was taken into custody.
Again.
This time under enough federal security to make disappearance impossible.
Paramedics examined Fay.
No injuries beyond bruising.
Conrad still wanted to postpone.
Fay refused.
One hour later, she stood outside the ceremony room.
Her gown had a small tear near the hem.
Rosa knelt with a needle.
“Hold still.”
“I am.”
“You're shaking.”
“I was held at gunpoint.”
“Excuses.”
Fay laughed.
Rosa finished.
The doors opened.
Conrad stood at the end of the aisle.
He looked at her.
And every trace of the feared man Chicago knew disappeared from his face.
Fay walked toward him.
No alliance.
No debt.
No contract.
Choice.
When she reached him, Conrad took her hands.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Completely?”
“Ask me again and I'll marry Luca.”
Luca coughed somewhere behind them.
Conrad smiled.
The officiant opened his book.
Then the rear doors suddenly opened.
Everyone turned.
A federal agent entered.
He walked directly toward Conrad.
“Mr. Harwick.”
Conrad's expression hardened.
The agent handed him a sealed document.
“What is this?”
“Something recovered from Victor.”
Conrad opened it.
His eyes moved across the first page.
Then stopped.
Fay whispered, “What?”
He looked at her.
The document concerned the original Donahue debt.
May you like
The debt that had forced their first marriage.
And according to the signature at the bottom, it had never belonged to Victor.
