definitely make sure she arrived safely at the church. It had been concern for his own sanity—after that kiss—that had kept Cooper from getting any sleep.
“Wedding jitters kept you awake,” Parker said. He tugged at his bow tie as his neck reddened. “I don’t blame you. This damn thing feels like a noose.”
“It’s going to feel more like one if you don’t let me pass you,” Cooper threatened.
Parker chuckled. “I understand wanting to make a break for it, but I promised Mom that I wouldn’t just get you to the church but I’d get you to the altar, too.”
“I have to go to the bride’s room,” Cooper said.
Parker shook his head. “You’re not backing out now.”
“Don’t worry,” Cooper said. “It’s too late for Mom to get your name on the marriage license instead of mine.”
“It’s too late for you to back out, too,” Parker said, “because if this is about the ransom and she doesn’t get the money...”
Stephen would be killed. “Has anyone called with a ransom demand?” The last he’d heard nobody had yet, but that had been hours ago...in Tanya’s hotel room right before they’d kissed.
“According to Logan,” his twin relayed, “no.”
“This isn’t about ransom,” Cooper said, “but it is about the money.”
“You think you’ve figured it out,” Parker realized.
He shrugged since he had no proof. His biggest concern was that his suspicions were correct. And that the bride was alone with the person who wanted her dead.
Instead of reasoning with Parker, he just shoved him aside and hurried out into the empty church. No guests had arrived yet. Hell, it was his wedding, and he wasn’t even sure who had been invited. Only the wedding party had arrived. Him as the groom and Parker as his best man.
According to Logan, the bride had arrived safely, too. But had she stayed that way?
He rushed down the aisle to the vestibule and knocked on the door next to the restrooms. No one responded, so he pounded harder. “Open up!”
The lock clicked and the door creaked open only a couple of inches. A chocolate-brown eye narrowed and glared at him. “What are you doing here?”
He lifted a brow and then made a show of glancing down at his tux. “I don’t know. What am I doing here—in a monkey suit?”
“You’re a monkey?” his sister teased.
His heart lurched at her laughter. God, he’d missed his family. He’d missed his siblings’ relentless teasing and his mother’s relentless bossing. He had missed someone else, too.
Her voice called out to his sister. “Nikki, is that Cooper? Has he changed his mind?”
“He has if he’s as smart as you’ve always said he was,” a bitter voice chimed in. Despite her hysterical outburst the night before, Rochelle had showed up to support her sister. Or sabotage her?
“You can’t see her,” Nikki told him. “Mom would have a fit over the bad luck you’d have if the groom saw the bride before the wedding.”
Mom and her damn superstitions...
He assured her, “I don’t want to see the bride.” Again. He’d already seen her on the morning of their wedding day; he had already kissed the bride.
“Well, if you’re here about that other thing—” she lowered her voice so only he could hear her “—Stephen’s computer...”
“Have you made any progress?”
“I might have if it hadn’t gotten smashed up...”
He flinched with regret. He needed to know what was on that computer. “Is it beyond repair?”
“No,” she assured him. “It’s just going to take me a little while longer. And we’re kind of busy at the moment.” She lowered her voice again. “Someone cut up Tanya’s wedding dress.”
His heart clenched. “Is she all right?”
“Yeah, Mom fixed it.”
“The dress?”
“No, there was no fixing that dress,” she said with a shudder. “It was completely destroyed.”
And his suspicions increased. Cutting up a dress was an act of incredible jealousy and pettiness.
“Mom found her another dress.” Nikki uttered a wistful sigh. “Wait until you see her...”
He stepped forward, but his sister shoved on his chest and pushed him back. “You’re going to have to wait,” she told him. “Mom’s gone above and beyond for this wedding and you’re not going to ruin it. You are not seeing the bride.”
“I actually want to see the maid of honor.”
Nikki opened the door a little farther. She wore a dress in some bronze color that complemented her reddish hair. She narrowed her brown eyes and glared at him. “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong.”
He nodded and acknowledged, “I might be. Let me talk to her.”
Rochelle pushed past her friend and stepped into the vestibule with Cooper. She wore the same bronze dress as his sister but it wasn’t nearly as flattering. Maybe that was because of the resentful look on her face. She hadn’t bothered doing anything with her hair either; it hung in lank strings around her bare shoulders. “Have you come to your senses yet?” she asked.
“Maybe...” he murmured as he studied her face. Her eyes, a grayer shade of green than Tanya’s, were red-rimmed and swollen as if she’d cried all night. That could just be what she did every time she got drunk. He had met his share of sloppy drunks over the years. Or maybe she had been that upset over Stephen’s disappearance.
How upset had she been over his engagement to her sister?
She expelled a shaky breath of relief. “That’s good. You shouldn’t marry my sister.”
“Why not?” he asked. “Do you want your grandfather’s inheritance all to yourself?”
She sucked in a breath. “I—I don’t care about his money.”
“What do you care about?” he asked. “Stephen?”
Tears shimmered in her eyes and she nodded again. “She didn’t care about him at all.”
“Then why would she marry him?”
“For the money, that’s all she cares about,” Rochelle said. “No, that’s not true.”
“No,” he agreed. Tanya had become a social worker, she wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t care about other people. And she wouldn’t
