Chapter four

The day of the wedding finally came. Gwen put on her best smile, with as much composure , she sat on a chair inside her dressing room. To her left sat Dorothy, her maid of honor, Sally her bridesmaid, and Allison another bridesmaid, all friends of hers. They looked gorgeous in their burgundy colored dress paired with nude three inches open toe heels. Their hairs were wrapped neatly and pinned on top of their heads, a small crown sitting loosely. To Gwen's right, was Cassandra. She looked devilishly handsome in her black pants suits. Cassandra's hair was in a ponytail, and she had on the same pair of nude heels as the bridesmaids. The really wanted to match.

Gwen burst into laughter at something funny Allison had said, nodding her affirmation.

"... but seriously Gwenevere, men are the worst. They believe women were born to only exist in a subservient capacity and it's all thanks to the patriarchal shit show of a world we live in." Sally said, vexed. She'd always thought she had the worst luck with men, until she met Gwen and heard her story.

"Well I think it's all bullocks. I don't give one bloody hell whose fault it is, but fucking step on my toes even once, and it's bye bye." Allison threatened in her British accent.

"Relax guys. This is my wedding. Let's not talk about things like that. It's not right."

"Look who's talking. You're having your husband killed today." Allison whispered.

"Allison sweetheart, I don't care if you whisper, don't fucking say that again." Gwen's tone was warning. She'd made it clear that talks about her plans were prohibited. She could t afford the risk. The Vice's were a powerful people and she didn't want to complicate her life on account of a slip of tongue.

"Alright. Chill."

"Yeah, Gwen, chill. You're being awfully panicky today. Do you want him dead faster?" Sally joked.

"I'm serious guys. I'm sorry to rain on your fun but I don't want to take any chances. So if you don't mind, let's not talk about it anymore."

"Talk about what?" Barbara walked in, her face quizzical.

The girls put on a smile.

"Actually Barbara, Gwen was going on and on about Damian being so perfect and how their love could last a million years, and we told her that there was no such thing as a perfect man. We started mentioning instances where we'd seen the perfect couple split up and she started to feel panicky. We're sorry. It wasn't our intention to cause her to have cold feet. We just wanted her to understand that no relationship is easy, you know. And love is never enough. It takes effort and a whole lot of commitment." Cassandra explained. She was satisfied with herself. A smug smile flashing on her face when Barbara looked away.

"Wow. You girls are just..." Barbara turned to Gwen,

you know Gwen, your friends are absolutely right. Love will never be enough. It's very important, but it's never enough for something as perpetual as marriage. They are right. But don't be afraid, because you're starting even better than most married people." Gwen could tell Barbara's marriage had something to do with her last statement. She'd heard the story of the Vice couple. She always thought Barbara was a strong woman for having survived such an ordeal. "You'll be fine, dear. You have wonderful friends, I must tell you."

The girls all smiled at each other, holding each other's hands.

Gwen had a bitter taste in her mouth. She really liked Barbara and deciding to take her son away from her, that was the only thing she felt guilty about.

"Thank you." Gwen said, smiling at her girls.

They gave their best giggles.

"Anyway, it's time." Barbara chimed. She'd dropped the serious expression she was carrying "I was sent here to get you."

Gwen nodded.

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful. My God!"

Barbara's eyes watered.

"Don't start crying Barabara, you're gonna make me cry too."

"No. We don't want that. I'll stop. I'll stop." She said laughing.

"Ready?" Barbara said, Looking at all five girls.

"Ready." They chorused.

***

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony..." The priest announced, continuing the wedding procession.

Gwen turned to Damian who smiled at her, and winked. Damian mistook the smirk on her face as a smile because of the heavy veil over her face. Gwenevere stretched her hands and pinched an unsuspecting Damian who flinched on his seat. Barbara smiled when she noticed the two were a little distracted side by side each other.

Damian smirked at her, shaking his head. What he did not know was that this was the sign Cassandra had been waiting for. Cassandra smiled from behind the curtains where she hid upstairs in a room. The church was very big and roomy. It had a floor over it, which consisted of five rooms, they were used to house the less privileged who came to the church. Because the Vice's wanted this to be an only invite wedding, they paid for the rooms to be vacated for the wedding day. The church was so big it could accommodate about five hundred people, and it was full to its brim. Aside from the reporters who overflowed in the hall, every business mogul was in attendance. This was the perfect cover. Gwen had picked it specifically for its size. It was big enough for a crowd.

The plan was full proof. Gwen, Cassandra, Allison, Sally and Dorothy had followed Barbara to the church a few days before the wedding under the guise that they wanted to see how the famous Blue Pearl looked. This was obviously a lie because Gwen knew exactly how it looked. She'd done her homework meticulously. When they'd gotten here, Cassandra had snuck out of their company, and broken into the room that had its window slightly parallel to where the bride and groom usually sat during the joining. Luckily, the occupants of the room had been asked to make themselves scarce while they inspected the place. Cassandra cut a small hole in the glass, just big enough for the suppressor in her gun, then she carefully placed the glass back in its place. She hoped no one would notice, and as if luck was no longer on Damian's side, nobody had noticed.

Damian's smile slowly faded away in fear when he saw a red dot on Gwen's right shoulder. He screamed for everybody to get down, hugging Gwen, also with the intent of dragging her down, praying that he'd seen the dot early enough, but he hadn't.

For the plan to work, Gwen had instructed Cassandra to shoot at her immediately she gave her the sign. She knew Damian would protect her with his body and more importantly, no one would question her.

People scattered, screaming and crying as they tried to run out of the church. The priest fell to his back in both fear and shock and Gwen played her part by screaming when Damian fell on her, a bullet at back of his head.

"Ahhh!!!"

Sigurd started to crawl to where Gwen laid as if lifeless with Damian on top of her. Barbara upon seeing this sight, jumped up from the ground, her fear abated, she ran to her children, getting there before Sigurd who age and fear had made very slow.

She shook Damian, then Gwen, neither responded. She held him, trying to move him from on top of Gwen. She soon noticed that most of Gwen's wedding gown had turned red. In fright, she scanned Gwen trying to trace the blood, and that's when she saw it. Her hands trembled. They were covered with blood. Even in her fear she was determined to know the source of the blood.

Barbara began to rummage Damian's still body. Her hands moved from his stomach to the top of his head. She screamed when her hands felt something bruised and moist at the back of his head.

"No!!! My baby! Damian!!!"

***

The Vice family, as well as the groomsmen stood outside the operation theater with faint hearts. It had only been a few hours since a couple of doctors took Damian inside. Barabara stood precariously. She hadn't stopped crying since the incident. Sigurd comforted her, his own tears held in for so long, coupled with all the waiting, almost drove him mad.

Gwen finally opened her eyes. Panicking, she rose from the bed, sitting up. She looked at the cannula in her hand. Immediately, she began to

remove it, struggling as she did.

"Gwen, there's no need for drama. We're the only ones here."

Gwen stopped, falling back to the bed.

"Is he dead yet?"

"Nope. The bastard is still fighting for his life, apparently."

"Great." She said dryly.

"He won't make it. I guarantee it." Cassandra smiled.

"He'd better not, Ella." Gwen said, warning in her voice "You're a better shot than that. What the fuck was that about."

Cassandra whose sniper name was Ella had made it clear she never liked the plan from the beginning. She was afraid Gwen was overestimating Damian's love for her and if she'd done the job too well and Damian didn't protect her, Gwen would be in Damian's shoes now. The thought frightened her. "Believe me. He won't make."

"Where is everybody? Nobody cared enough to check up on me, huh?" Gwen tried to lighten their moods after noticing how tense the room was.

"Doesn't matter, now does it?" Allison said almost angrily.

The girls were right. It didn't matter. Not because Damian was the one who got hurt and so his family needed to be there for him, but because they'd never really had anybody in their life who cared enough for them, and put their well being first.

They'd gotten used to being alone except when they were in each other's company which only ever happened once in a while, or on special occasions.

Gwen missed the days when she had people who loved her and cared about her even if they were only pretending. Over the last few weeks, Barabara had made her feel what she hadn't felt in years. Barbara had pretended to care, had pretended to love her, or so Gwen thought.

She'd felt a small sting when she was told Barabara hadn't come to see her once. The girls obviously had expected it, so they took no mind to her absence.

Allison and Gwen were cut from almost the same cloth. The rest had grown up dirt poor, abandoned by society and their family. They'd been forced to fend for themselves from a very tender age, learning the cruelty of humans as they developed into adults. Now they knew only one way to live, and they lived it to the fullest.

Dorothy was a black American, with more than enough boobs and ass for two people. She was the thick one in the group. The sexy witty one who traveled around the world on cruises and private jets. She was a VVIP escort.

Sally was the thinnest and smallest. She worked in real estate now, but before then, she hacked the shit out of everything hackable. Now she was simply trying to be a good mom and provide the good life for her two year old daughter.

Cassandra was the most dangerous of them all. She was both brains and beauty, and thanks to her stepfather raping her at age twelve and her mother blaming her for it, which led her to the streets where she met more men who took advantage of her in exchange for food to survive, turned out to be a misandrist and a trained sniper. She'd fought in Iraq and Palestine war. It was during a two on one training with her teacher in Iraq that she'd met Gwen...

Allison was different. She was the heir to her late father's empire until she turned twenty and her uncles snatched everything from her. She was mistreated and almost killed, but Gwen being the fearless person she was saw the wickedness and stepped in to save her. This was during one of her business trips to London. Allison was the youngest in the group and the least talented. She was a year younger than Gwen and had little experience in their world. With Gwen's help she got her revenge on her uncles, taking everything back. Even though she had the choice to go back to her life before meeting Gwen and the gang, she made the decision to stay in their line of work. They were her only family now. Plus, her world now seemed so boring without the extracurricular.

"Gwen..." Barbara barged in, looking frightful.

The girls all kept quiet looking at each other, their faces a reflection of what they all thought.

Damian had to be dead.