I laughed. "It's over there." I nodded at the silver ice bucket on a stand. "I'm only having one glass, though. I would like to actually remember my own wedding day."
She poured our drinks into crystal champagne glasses and handed me one. We clinked them together.
"Here's to a...headboard-banging wedding night."
"Layla, stop it." I scolded her, but my lips twitched in a smile.
"I can't believe you're marrying someone you haven't even shagged yet. What if he's awful in bed? What if he's got a micro penis?"
I made the unfortunate mistake of taking a sip of my drink right at that moment and ended up snorting the champagne out of my nose. "Jesus, Lay! You talk about me not making a mess of my makeup and then say something like that to me. And no, he will not have a micro dick. He's one of the Cornell men. I cannot imagine a single one of them being anything
less than hung like a donkey."
It was her turn to snort laughter.
The door opened, and we both hid our giggles between flattened lips.
My father stepped back into the room and glanced curiously between us. "What are you two laughing about."
Layla and I shared a look and almost dissolved again. "Nothing, Dad," I managed to say. "Just girl stuff."
"Well, pull yourselves together," he said. "The car's here for you." Bloody hell, it was time. Fresh nerves tumbled in my stomach.
I didn't really need a car. The church was only around the corner from the hotel where we lived in Shoreditch. East London was my family's territory, where, across the river and to the south, belonged to the Cornells, and the Gilligans had the more upmarket area of Islington and North London. In central London, our territories merged, and there was the problem. It was impossible to live in London and not need access to the
central part of the city. Areas were fought over for dominance, and while we did our best not to step into each other's strongholds, there was never a line
down the street marking one territory from another. Now the Gilligans had pushed out the family who'd been running West London, taking even more of the city for themselves. Their crime family had been growing stronger, month on month, making both us Wynters and the Cornells more vulnerable. The only way to keep them from taking over the city for good was this alliance between our families, starting with a marriage between two of their offspring.
The church was the same one my parents had been married in twenty- five years earlier. That was why we were getting married over on our side of the city instead of the Cornell's. Harvey said he didn't care where the actual wedding took place, so long as we lived in their slice of the city. I had to admit, the idea of leaving our portion of East London unnerved me.
I'd lived here my whole life, except for when I was away at a private boarding school during my teenage years, and now I was going to be living somewhere else. Admittedly, it wasn't as though it was even outside of the city, but it was the other side of the river, which felt like another part of the world. We didn't go there—or we hadn't until now—just like the Cornells didn't step on our turf either. I guessed all of that was going to end now. We had to try to figure out how to be one family.
"I don't really need a car," I protested.
My father raised his eyebrows at me. "If you think I'm going to have a daughter of mine walk to her wedding day, you don't know me at all."
I smiled, but there were times when I felt like I didn't know him. He did his best to shelter me from the worst of his business dealings, but I wasn't stupid. I knew the hotel we lived in, and all the other businesses he had around our corner of the city, were just a cover-up for his main businesses, none of which were legal. Money laundering, illegal gambling, counterfeiting, were just a scratch on the surface. But I couldn't complain.
I'd benefitted from the money he earned and was still benefitting from it
now. From my expensive education to my wedding dress, they were all paid for by my dad's businesses.
"Are you ready, Hallie?" Layla asked me. I smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm ready."
I had to be, didn't I? With two of London's most powerful crime
families filling up a church, waiting for my arrival, I didn't have much choice.
Layla chugged the remainder of her champagne.
My father frowned at her. "You know that's a Dom Perignon vintage and costs four hundred quid a bottle. You're not supposed to drink it like tequila."
"Damn. You should have told me sooner," she quipped. "I would have drunk more of it."
Despite himself, my father smiled. No one could be mad with Layla for long. She had the kind of confidence I craved.
I would have liked to follow her down to oblivion as well, but I needed to stay sharp. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself in front of my new husband's family.
My dad put his arm out to me, and I slipped my hand into the crook.
With Layla behind us, picking up my train, we caught the private lift from our living quarters down to the lobby. The doorman hurried to open the large glass hotel doors, and we stepped out onto the street. London's traffic fumes hit my nostrils, the usual noise and bustle filling my ears—distant
police sirens, horns honking, the constant drone of vehicles. A couple of my father's men had directed people to the other side of the street, so I didn't
have to weave my way through strangers on my way to the car. The classic Rolls-Royce had ribbon running down the long bonnet. Despite my protests about not needing a car, I had to admit it was beautiful.
I was grateful the weather had held off. It might be early summer, but that didn't mean anything in England. One thing we could rely on in this country was that the weather was always unreliable.
The driver opened the door for me, and I slid onto the soft leather of the back seat, careful not to wrinkle my dress, and swallowed my nerves. I'd be fine once this part was over, I told myself. It was just the thought of standing at the front of a church with everyone staring at me that was making me so nervous, not the marriage itself. Once the wedding was done, I could relax, and Harvey and I could start to get to know each other properly.
In the bedroom.