Betrayed (10 page)

31-
          
Molly

I was up before the sun today, full of the normal wedding weekend buzz I get when shooting a big wedding, plus the nerves running through me due to the unfortunate situation with Robert. Tatum and I had an hour drive to the wedding venue this morning and we needed to be ready to go by 9 am for the first photo shoot. I will never understand the complexity of this package, and maybe it was all bought just to have us around for whatever Rob had planned, but I can’t think that way right now. This is a real wedding, and the bride is just like any other bride. She’s going to want to record every moment of this weekend, and that’s what I’m getting paid to do.

We load up the car and grab breakfast sandwiches to go, leaving with plenty of time to get there and get set up. Luckily, since it is only an hour away, we will be able to come home at night and not use expenses on a hotel room. The whole drive he tried making small talk, beaming all morning about it being a great day, but I can’t stop thinking about the danger we could be walking in to. Knowing that I am being used in a game of revenge yet again makes my skin crawl. Growing up I never thought this is where my life would be today. A month after being attacked by the man I thought had been dead for the past five years I’m yet again on edge that something equally bad is about to happen to us. I just hope we are able to stop him before he acts. I couldn’t take it if something bad happened to Tatum.

Once we get there and get our things unloaded we grab a coffee and wait for the family to start arriving. The bride and her bridesmaids are first, traveling in a huge Cadillac stretch limo. Must be nice to have the money to drop on something like that, I think. Then again, I guess Tatum has just as much, if not more, as this family. He just isn’t anywhere near as flashy as them. That’s one of the many reason I love him so much.

After catching all of the arriving moments, I go off to meet the groomsmen. I’ve never actually met the groom, so we have our formal introduction then I disappear into the crowd, grabbing any angle I can of the bride and groom’s secret looks at each other. Perfect, I think to myself, as I am able to catch a breathtaking shot of a short kiss between the two of them when they thought no one was paying attention.

It is then that I hear his voice. He commands every room he is in. How such a young man can seem so powerful is beyond me, but when Robert Delany is in attendance he is going to be noticed. Next to me Tatum stiffens when he hears his voice, but I put my hand on his elbow to calm him. I’m sure if he had it his way he’d kick his ass from here to Hong Kong until Rob promised to back off.

“Ah, Molly…and Tatum. SO glad you could both make it.” He announced, loud enough to let everyone hear. Then, in a more hushed tone he leaned in as he hugged me “That wasn’t a very smart move, Miss Ward.”

My back straightened at the menacing tone and I pushed out of his hold and glared at him, right into those dark as night eyes.

“I told you my plans days ago. You had time to fire me.” I practically spat at him.

“You are right. Matter of fact, why don’t you meet me in the dining hall in about an hour. I have some…business…things we need to take care of.”

“We will be there.” Tatum spoke up.

Rob looked at him as if it were the first time he saw him. He paused, staring at him, then nodded his head and walked away.

“That fucker” Tatum growled “He’s going to try his hardest to get alone with you.”

“I know. We just can’t let that happen. Alone with the rest of the family is fine, alone with Robert Delany equals catastrophe.” I agreed with him one hundred percent. I wanted to be alone in a room with that man about as much as I wanted my left leg sawed off. Just the way he acted around me recently was enough to give me the creeps, add in the cryptic warning from Tatum’s dad to stay away and I didn’t even want to be in a crowded room with him.

The day goes on as planned without any major snags. We met Rob in the dining hall and it was all business surprisingly, though the way he looked at me made my skin crawl. He was becoming more and more obvious in his interest in me as the day went on, and Tatum was getting closer and closer to marking his territory each passing minute.

About an hour before the day ended Tatum got a phone call he said he had to take. I don’t know what it was about, but when he came back he was pissed.

“Everything okay?” I asked, worried that he got news about the Delany’s from his dad.

“Yea. Listen, I hate this, but I need to take off a little early. I’ll meet you at home, okay?”

“What are you talking about, it’s an hour drive and we only have one car.” He can’t leave me. We almost made it through our first day without any incident. This isn’t happening right now.

“I’ll call a cab company. Someone just called in a foul smell coming from the studio. They think there may be a gas leak.” He shook his head. “Molly he’s not going to try anything this weekend. There are too many people around and you have less than an hour before you can leave. When you are done, get right into your car and come straight home, got it?”

I nod, standing there wondering why no one called me about a potential gas leak. It was my building after all. He kisses me goodbye and walks away to call a cab. After he gets in and it drives away, I make my way back to the wedding party for a few more shots of the rehearsal dinner gathering.

They have moved to the outdoor veranda, the music has started and everyone looks like they are having a great time. These pictures are going to be beautiful. With about fifteen minutes left to my portion of the day, the bride realizes she can’t find her purse anywhere and everyone starts looking for it. I think I remember seeing it in the dining hall when I was walking through after Tatum left, so I headed back there to grab it for her. What I didn’t expect to see, though, was a dark room with Robert Delany smiling at me as I walked through the door. My stomach dropped. Shit.

32-
           
Tatum

I hated lying to her, I really did, but it needed to be done in order for the surprise to still be a surprise. Even more so than lying to her, I hated leaving her there without me. Rob had been eerily pleasant all day, which threw me for a huge loop. I at least expected a threat or sneer or snide comment…but there were none. Smiles and handshakes all around. I hated mind games, but apparently this man excelled at them. I had called in one of my dad’s reinforcements to watch over her until she got home, but I wasn’t certain when they would get there or how closely they would follow.

Now I sit in the car, about fifteen minutes from home, pissed off and surprised as hell that in a small town, no one knows how to work together. I gave three townspeople the inside scoop of my proposal in order for things to go smoothly. Three, that’s it. Apparently I chose the wrong fucking people because they can’t follow simple directions.

Molly hates roses. Most women get roses and swoon, but not my woman. She gets roses, then goes on a rant about how ugly they are and how they are so over rated and over used. So, in order for this proposal to be just perfect I had Betty call in an order of hundreds of flowers. All Calla Lilies. One task is all she needed to do and she fucked up big time. There were Red roses delivered this morning after we left, and she can’t get anyone to bring the correct flowers. She swears that she ordered the right ones, but who really knows. She’s a little crazy.

So, now I have an hour from the time I get home to the time Molly gets here to re-plan the evening. The plan was supposed to be Molly and I walking in the house together to the lights low, candles lit, and flowers everywhere. I was going to have her go inside before me and when she turned to look at me I’d be down on one knee, ready to propose. Now I have to figure out the flower debacle and re-plan my strategy in one hour. I can do this, I’ve done harder things in an hour. Let’s get to it!

***

              Forty-five minutes later I have it all planned out. Instead of hundreds of flowers around the whole house, I was able to find enough Calla Lilies at a local flower shop a few towns over to make an even more romantic gesture. It took a little monetary persuasion to open the shop for me after hours, but she’s worth it ten- fold. She will walk into the house, lights off and music on. There will be votive candles lit in a path towards the bedroom, all the way up the stairs. The flowers will be in a path to the bedroom as well. In the bedroom, I’ll be down on one knee, waiting for her to walk in. There will be candles everywhere and not a light on in the house. I can just picture her face in the glow of the candlelight now, so beautiful.

              My nerves are so high right now I could probably run a marathon. A few women in town caught word of what I was frantically trying to do so they pitched in helping set up the perfect scene. The whole time they were setting up I’m pretty sure I heard comments about how sad it was that I’d be off the market for good soon. What they don’t want to know is that I’ve been off the market for as long as I’ve known Molly. She was my everything from day one.

I’ve never been this nervous before. I’m a Savage, we get what we want every time we want something. To think that there is a chance, even after all we have been through, that she won’t want to be with me permanently scares the shit out of me. I have to do this, though. I have never been so sure of anything, ever, in my entire life. She needs to be my wife. She will be my wife.

Now, I wait.

33-
         
Rob

Things couldn’t have gone more perfectly if I had planned them myself. Those two were joined at the hip all fucking day. Nate wasn’t a stupid man. He knew something was up. What surprised me was when he left her high and dry with only an hour left to the day. Perfect. Then when the bride lost her purse I actually laughed to myself at how easy this was going to be. I knew exactly where it was so I raced there to get to it before Molly could. She’s a very observant person and would know the exact spot it was. When she walked in I had to contain myself. If I spooked her she was far enough that she could still run. Damnit, this one was going to be fun.

Let the games begin.

That’s it for this one!

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Also by M. Dauphin

: Devastatingly Beautiful Series:

Alive

Betrayed

About the Author

M. Dauphin lives in southern Illinois with her husband and two crazy boys. She used to be a teacher to wonderful, brilliant four year olds, but since has moved on to the super busy role as a stay at home mom. In her free time (which let's be real, two boys under the age of four means not having any free time) she likes to read for other authors, surf Facebook, and of course...write! If you are ever bored, hop on over to her Facebook author page and say hi! Adult interaction is wonderful when you spend your time talking to toddlers.