Page 111 of Vow

“We’re not finished, Marcello.”

Dante glanced Andino’s way again. “No, I suspect we’re just getting started, Kev.”

He was right.

Now was not the time.

It was the shift in the back of the crowd—a flash of blonde hair trying to move further behind the people that took Kev’s attention away from Dante. The man’s gaze narrowed for a second, before he stepped to the side, and strolled forward.

“You!”

Andino finally found what had caught Kev’s attention.

Shit.

Haven.

It took all of Andino’s willpower not to show the way his heart decided to do a fucking deep dive in his chest every time he looked at her. He didn’t even know how to begin to describe the way he felt when he saw her in that church.

But she was here.

She was not gone.

Didn’t that mean good things?

He could fix this.

At the idea that Kev might approach Haven, Lucian was quick to slide away from the wall and move through the crowd like a hot knife cutting through butter. His uncle was supposed to stay with Haven, but Andino figured maybe the two had gotten separated at some point. Silently, Lucian moved in beside Haven, and did nothing but fucking stare at Kev.

Like he was daring him to come closer.

Haven, on the other hand, glanced between Kev and Andino on the other side of the room. It didn’t escape Kev’s notice, either.

The man barked out a loud laugh, and spun around. Those icy eyes of his landed on Andino, and he saw the promise of violence staring back at him before Kev even spoke the threats out loud.

“I should have fucking known, Andino,” Kev said. “Was it you, then? Did you get Ginevra out before she could even walk down the aisle? Was this your plan all along?”

Why lie?

“Yes,” Andino said, shrugging one shoulder. “I was never going to marry her. Not for you, and not for fucking anyone else, either. After all you did to me, to my family … to my best friend, you thought I would give you something, Kev? There’s your first mistake. I allowed you to have it with this little lesson added on, of course. I won’t be as nice the second time around, so try not to make another one.”

“You fucking—”

“Insults are for weak men who lack any real ability to challenge their opponent in a better way. Try something else. Surprise me.”

Kev’s face reddened, and he clenched his fists into tight balls at his side as he came as close to Andino as he had been to Dante earlier. Like Dante had, Andino stayed as still as stone and refused to let the man’s size or proximity intimidate him.

Kev was a fucking bully.

Nothing more, and nothing less.

He didn’t hold any real kind of weight or power. He couldn’t do shit. Andino might laugh at the man if this whole thing wasn’t so goddamn dull now.

“For what?” Kev asked, so close that his hot breath made Andino want to punch the man right in his throat. “What did you do this for, then? Her—Haven? A whore your family will never allow you to marry because she’ll never be good enough for them? Was that it?”

Okay, so maybe Andino wasn’t quite like Dante.

He went for the face instead of Kev’s throat. His fist came up lightning fast, and slammed into Kev’s mouth. He felt the man’s teeth split his knuckles before Kev dropped like a rotten sack of potatoes to the ground. The room turned deathly silent as Andino bent down, and grabbed the man’s face to force him to look at him.