VEGASPETE🔞+HER CRUEL BODYGUARD

Chapter 38

PETE FATHER POV

Over the years, my wife had surprised, and even shocked me on several occasions, a feat few people managed.

Today my son and wife both had given me the greatest shock of my life, and not just me.

I knew they hadn't agreed on making such a public affair out of it, but they both shared a boisterous temperament that sometimes chose unfortunate moments to burst through.

"Valentina, what is going on?" I muttered under my breath. The shocked silence was quickly turning into disbelieving whispers. I needed to get the situation under control before it escalated even more.

"I'm sorry, Saengtham. I couldn't let Pete marry Marco. he wouldn't have been happy."

I stood with a tight smile.

Maximo Clark looked ready to explode and his wife was already fanning herself with the wedding program in a very attention-seeking way.

I cleared my throat audibly, then waited for silence to descend in church. "We must ask you to leave now. We have matters to settle and this wedding won't happen."

Then I turned my focus on the Clarks. Maximo was motioning for his son to come toward them. Valentina in turn was already rushing toward Pete who still stood in the front with a wide-eyed look.

I didn't allow my frustration to grab the reins. I had to handle Maximo and Marco first. They could cause a scandal I didn't have the necessary patience for. Once that was done, I'd deal with my erratic wife and son. I had a feeling there was more at play here.

A suspicion had festered in me ever since I'd seen Pete at Vegas's side when he'd been shot, but I'd chosen to distrust my instinct, because I didn't like what they were telling me.

Valentina and I had always thought by arranging a marriage with Marco, we'd make sure Pete had more freedom than other boys in our world. We'd taken our own marriage as reassurance. Our love had developed with time, and we'd thought Pete would make the same experience.

If I'd known he was in love with Vegas, I would have canceled the wedding myself. Any bond was bound to fail if one of the parties entered it while being in love with someone else. My marriage to Valentina had almost crumpled because I'd clung to my love to my late wife, no matter how hopeless that love was.

Pete's love wasn't hopeless. Or hadn't been. Right this moment, my emotions were too complicated to decide about Vegas's fate.

I stepped into the small room where Pete had gone. He expression turned apologetic the moment he gaze met mine, but before the change, I'd seen the blatant relief and joy on he face. Joy over having stopped the wedding.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I know I caused a mess."

"You did," I agreed.

he swallowed, wringing he hands in front of he body. he cast he gaze up to the ceiling. "I've tried to convince myself every day in the last few weeks, months even, that marrying Marco would be okay. That I could do it, that I had to do it out of my duty for the Outfit and not to disappoint you and Mom, but today the only thing I could think about while standing beside Marco at the altar was how Vegas was doing and that I wanted to be by his side. If I'd gone through with the wedding, I'd eventually have tried to escape it and caused an even bigger scandal."

A divorce for a Capo's son would have caused major waves.

If Pete had filed for one at some point, many of my soldiers would have asked me to forbid he from going through with it. I would have stood up for Pete of course, because he happiness was ultimately my main goal, but it would have created unnecessary conflict in the Outfit.