Chapter Seven

Gen hurried into the hotel room where the bridesmaids were bustling about, putting the finishing touches on their looks. Clutching her dress draped over one arm and her heels dangling from her free hand, she made her way straight to her sister. Gen’s face lit up with a bright smile as she caught sight of Jada, who was glowing in the fairytale princess gown she had always dreamed of. Catching her own reflection in the mirror, Jada spun around, eyes wide with surprise.

“Genevieve! Oh my God!” Jada exclaimed, lifting her voluminous skirt and rushing toward her sister as quickly as she could manage.

Jada wrapped Gen in a tight embrace. “You look stunning,” Gen said softly, her voice thick with emotion.

Jada’s expression shifted quickly. “Me? Who cares about me right now? What happened last night?” she asked, her hands moving rapidly over Gen’s body, searching for any sign of harm.

Gen let out a light laugh. “What are you talking about? It doesn’t matter! You’re the one getting married today!”

“Yeah, right. We all know she just made him leave with her. Probably took him back to the hotel and dropped him off,” Mallory sneered from her spot on the couch, clutching an almost empty bottle of champagne.

Gen shot Mallory a challenging look. “Why don’t you prove it then?” Mallory’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Tell me everything that happened. Now,” Jada demanded, her voice sharp.

Gen shrugged, trying to sound casual. “Nothing much. We went back to his place. I spent the night there.” She shrugged again, as if it was just another ordinary event rather than a rare occurrence.

Jada scoffed loudly. By now, all the other bridesmaids had gathered around, their curiosity piqued. Gen began to change, slipping out of her casual clothes to put on her maid-of-honor dress. Suddenly, Jada’s voice pierced the room. “What is that?!” she cried out.

“What?” Gen asked, glancing around, confused. Jada stepped closer and jabbed at her chest.

“Ow!” Gen hissed, clutching the spot where her sister had poked. Her eyes widened in shock as she hurried over to the mirror. She groaned when she spotted the large, angry hickey marking her skin. So that’s what he’d been doing all along. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered under her breath.

The girls around her stifled giggles, except Mallory. She grabbed Gen’s arm roughly and spun her around to get a better look at the mark, her eyes flashing with anger.

“I can’t believe this,” Mallory growled lowly.

“So you did sleep with him?” Jada’s voice trembled with panic. Could she really believe Gen had broken the bet and gone home with the guy?

“I can cover it up!” one bridesmaid, Anna, said, holding up a bottle of foundation with a triumphant smile.

“See? It’ll be fine,” Gen reassured her sister. “No one will notice, and if it shows up in photos, they can just edit it out!”

Jada placed her hands on her hips, visibly frustrated. “I don’t care about pictures. I just can’t believe you actually went home with him.”

“What’s the big deal?” Gen asked, settling into a chair as Anna began dabbing the foundation over the bruise. “I can go home with whoever I want. I’m an adult. I’m five years older than you, Missy.”

“Fucking hussy,” Mallory hissed as she passed by to grab another bottle of champagne. Gen shot a sharp glare at her retreating back.

“I don’t care if you want to be casual about it. I think all of us here have had one-night stands before,” Jada said, her voice softening. “But Accardi doesn’t do one-night stands. The guy is a psycho, Gen. I tried to warn you last night, but you two were obsessed with that stupid bet. Please tell me you didn’t give him your number or tell him you live in Boston,” she pleaded, hands clasped tightly.

“Of course not,” Gen said quickly. “It was just a one-night fling.” She didn’t mention that he had given her his number—now just another piece of discarded street litter. “I even gave him a fake name.”

Jada exhaled deeply and sank onto the couch. “Thank God.”

“Besides, you must be thinking of the wrong guy. His name isn’t… What did you say? Archie?”

“Accardi,” several bridesmaids repeated in unison.

“Yeah, the guy I was with was Matteo, not Accardi,” Gen said, rolling the unfamiliar name off her tongue as if it were foreign.

Mallory laughed from across the room. “She doesn’t even know who she slept with!”

“Shut the hell up, Mallory!” Jada snapped, shooting a death glare at her future sister-in-law.

“I know him better than you ever will,” Gen teased, giving a suggestive wink.

“Accardi is a family name,” Anna explained, blowing on the foundation as she studied her work from different angles. Her warm brown eyes looked up at Gen. “The Accardi family is one of the biggest crime gangs in New York. They’ve been powerful for generations.”

“The man you went home with last night is the boss of the whole family,” Jada added.

Gen chuckled softly, standing up to slip on her heels. She tried to reconcile the man who had cried in her arms with the ruthless image of mafia bosses she’d seen in movies. Picking up the half-eaten bagel sandwich he’d made her, she smiled to herself. What would Mallory say if she knew her obvious crush had made her breakfast after sharing some of his deepest vulnerabilities?

“It’s not true,” Jada interrupted her thoughts. “Seriously, he’s dangerous, Gen.”

“Look,” Gen said firmly, her voice steady, “I had a one-night stand with a very handsome man. We had a lot of… fun. That’s all there is to it. End of story. I won’t see him again.”

“Good,” Jada said, relief washing over her.

“Did you hear about his family?” one bridesmaid asked, pulling curlers out of her hair.

“Yeah,” another replied. “His mom and brother died in some freak accident. It was all over the news last week.”

“What?” Gen’s stomach tightened with unease.

“Here,” one of the girls said, handing her a newspaper.

Gen took the paper with both hands and stared at the front-page headline: Accardi Family Mourns Death of Two of Their Own. The photo showed two caskets being lowered into the ground. A somber group of men stood before the graves, and the man at the front, hands clasped behind his back, wore a look of chilling fury—Matteo himself.

Before she could read further, Jada’s nails dug into her arm, pulling her toward the bathroom.

“I need your help peeing,” Jada muttered.

“Ew…” Gen grimaced, concern flickering across her face. Once inside, Jada pushed her aside and folded her arms. “So, how do we do this?” Gen asked hesitantly. “I hold your train and you squat, or…”

“Tell me the truth. Now,” Jada demanded.

Gen sighed, sitting on the edge of the tub and nervously fiddling with her fingers. “Damn, I guess I’m terrible at poker.”

“The worst,” Jada agreed.

Gen rose and leaned in close, lowering her voice in case Mallory was eavesdropping with a glass pressed to the door. “Nothing happened, okay? Nothing.”

Jada visibly deflated, pressing a hand to her chest as if she’d just been acquitted of a crime. “Good. So he dropped you off at your hotel. That’s good.”

“Uh, not exactly.”

“What do you mean ‘not exactly’?” she whispered sharply.

Gen shrugged. “I went home with him. We slept together.”

Jada’s hands curled into fists and she stomped her foot. “You just said…”

Gen grabbed her sister’s arms gently but firmly. “We did not have sex, Jada. We just…” She blushed, struggling to find the right words. Pulling her hands back, she wrapped her arms around herself. “We just held each other.”

Jada narrowed her eyes. “Held each other?”

Gen nodded.

Jada rubbed her temples. “You won’t see him again?”

Gen shook her head.

“Do you promise?”

Gen nodded again.

Jada exhaled deeply. “Fine. Okay. It’s done then.”

She turned to leave.

“He didn’t seem like a bad guy, Jade,” Gen called after her.

Jada stiffened, then turned back with a look of understanding laced with pity. “They never do.”