Chapter 89—Nera

“It’s time,” Oreo said, knocking on the bedroom door gently. “Smitha and I are going to go find our seats, okay? Unless you need anything? Tequila? More coffee? A lime-green sleepy made from the tears of your enemies with one of those swirly straws?”

I snorted a laugh. “That’s oddly specific. Are you sure that’s not what you need?”

“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I’ll see you out there.”

“Okay. Thank you, Oreo.” I smoothed down the front of my drop-dead gorgeous dress and took a deep breath.

This was it. No more doubts, no more fears—just love and hope. At least for a little while before all hell broke loose yet again, like it always did.

But together, we’d handle it. Of that, I was certain.

Everything was ready. How the show had managed that in such a short time, I had no idea. Maxx had assured me that all I really had to do was recite my vows, just the standard, pre-written kind for a normal Xenoxx wedding, and then kiss him. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t fuck that up.

I’d never really daydreamed about my wedding as a child. Other girls did though, so I automatically assumed something was wrong with me. Was that kind of relationship not important to me? Was I afraid of commitment?

Yes and yes, I eventually realized, but that changed when I married Mike. We didn’t have a fairy-tale wedding, which was fine. I’d been happy and hopeful, exactly like I was feeling now, but this time was different. This time, I knew exactly who and what I was marrying.

And even so, I still loved Maxx with all my heart.

I turned to fully embrace my future with the Xenoxx Faid clone king when a faint breeze rustled through the open window of the beach house, carrying with it the scent of the salty air and spicy cologne.

My feet stalled long before my brain caught up and then classified the strange mix of smells into flashing warning signs.

From behind, a muscled arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me backwards. Panic surged through me as I struggled, kicking and flailing, but it was no use. They were too strong, and I was wearing a goddamn wedding dress.

“Hello, Nera,” a chillingly familiar voice whispered into my ear. “Miss me?”

“Let go of me, you fucking monster!” I spat, recognizing the voice of my ex-husband.

He had no right to be here, no right to touch me. But he didn’t seem to care.

And no one was around to hear me scream.

“Monster?” He chuckled darkly. “That’s rich, coming from you. Now, we’re going to have a little chat, and you’re going to cooperate, or else things are going to get ugly.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked, my voice shaking with rage as I tried to squirm out of his grip.

“Consider it a promise,” he replied coldly.

With lightning speed, I brought my elbow up and drove it into his stomach. He doubled over, gasping for breath, and I quickly broke away from him. I scrambled across the room and grabbed Maxx’s machete hidden beneath my bouquet, leveling it at Mike as he straightened up.

“Ah, Nera, always so feisty,” he sneered, reaching behind his back to retrieve the twin daggers I’d stolen from him. He must’ve stolen them back from inside the little trunk at the end of the bed Maxx and I slept in. “I’ve missed that about you.”

“Get out of my life,” I snarled, tightening my grip on the machete.

“You first,” he said.

In the bedroom cramped with six beds, we circled each other like predators sizing up their prey. My heart pummeled my rib cage as I searched for any sign of weakness, any opening I could exploit. My gun, I thought, was in the upstairs bathroom.

Why? Well, why not? Better to be prepared while vulnerable than shit out of luck.

As we circled one another, I thought about Maxx waiting for me at the altar. I couldn’t let this man take away my chance at happiness. With fierce determination burning in my chest, I lunged forward, my machete slicing through the air. He easily dodged it.

“What the fuck do you want?” I yelled, my blood boiling.

He lashed out. The wind from his daggers barely missed me as I ducked to the side. Regaining my footing, I slashed at him again. His reflexes were quick; he leaped out of the way, the machete barely grazing his shoulder. A smirk formed on his lips, his steely-blue eyes unemotional.

“I can’t believe you’re marrying him,” he taunted. “A Faid, Nera? How could you after everything that’s happened?”

“He’s more of a man than you will ever be,” I spat, launching myself forward.

My fist connected with his jaw, sending him reeling backward. It wasn’t enough to stop him, though. He retaliated with a swift, stinging jab to my side, forcing me to stagger away from the force of the blow.

“You would marry a Faid after what they’ve done? Everything they’ve taken?” he sneered. “You’re weak. Pathetic. You’re thinking with your pussy, not your head.”

“Okay, Mr. Make Everyone On This Planet Love You. Nacket asked if you loved her, so does that mean you got some tentacle action? Tell me, who haven’t you already fucked on Alien Love Paradise?”

He shrugged. “A means to an end.”

“For what? So you can continue siding with the people who murdered our daughter? Do you not see how completely fucked up that is?”

He shot out his hand and yanked my hair painfully, ruining its perfect style that had taken hours to complete. The ache in my scalp brought tears to my eyes. All of this served as a distraction for him to slip the machete from my grip and throw it to the floor behind him with a loud clatter.

“It wasn’t supposed to be her. It was only the start of a test to see if it could be done.”

“A test that took your daughter,” I shouted, aiming my voice toward the open window.

Would someone hear me? Would they get here in time? In time for what, I didn’t know.

I twirled myself around by my hair in his grip and stomped my heel into the top of his boot. Grunting, he released me. I spun to face him again, now defenseless, with him blocking the way to the door.

“It didn’t go as planned,” he said. “We were going to blame the Faid hack on the Xenoxx, create a universal outcry so they’d flee their planet to seek refuge.”

“So Earth Space Fleet could have it.” It wasn’t a question because it didn’t need to be. I saw the truth in his cold eyes. “Oh yes, I know all about the valuable minerals in its core.”

“I had no idea Rain would receive the hack first. The signal came down from Earth Space Fleet satellites at the exact same time she chose to climb that fucking mountain. I didn’t know that’s how it was going to work or even when they were going to do it. It would’ve never been Lucy if Rain hadn’t climbed that fucking mountain.”

“Sure, blame the Faid, not your employer. Makes total sense, Mike.”

“Don’t you get it, Nera?” He tilted his head, for some reason reminding me of a rabid dog. “After the first hack, we couldn’t hack any of the other Faid. If the plan had worked, we would’ve been rich. You and I wouldn’t have had to live in that crappy house.”

“And that’s worth the death of our daughter?” I hissed.

My mind raced with memories of our past—the pain, the heartache. Lucy, with her infinite energy and zeal for life, snuffed out much too soon. It had broken me beyond repair, had shattered my soul into a thousand jagged pieces, and Mike had known about all of it.

But now I had Maxx, someone who truly cared for me and our baby, and I refused to let my ex-husband take me away from him.

“I’m pregnant, you bastard. With Maxx’s baby.”

His eyes widened, and for a split second, his guard dropped. That was all the opening I needed.

I lunged forward, grabbing his wrists and twisting them sharply so he’d be forced to drop his daggers. Before they hit the floor, I snatched them midair.

He was now unarmed, but I wasn’t quite done with him yet.

I jerked my head at the bed behind him. “Sit.”

The weight of my ex-husband’s gaze was almost suffocating as he stared at me, trying to decipher the truth in my words. I could see the little gears turning in his head, calculating the odds of my claim being true.

“Are you really so desperate that you’d use an innocent life as a pawn?” he spat, venom dripping from every syllable.

“Desperate?” I laughed, the sound bitter and hollow. “You’re the one who attacked me on my wedding day. I’m just fighting for my family.”

“With a Faid, Nera. How could you forget?“ His voice cracked with disbelief.

“How could you forget? You just admitted that the Faid were innocent and that you still work for the bad guys.“ I leveled both blades right at his stupid face. “Sit. I won’t tell you again.”

“Fine,” he snarled.

But he didn’t sit. With a sudden burst of speed, he charged towards me, a woman holding twin daggers with questionable sanity while wearing a wedding dress. I almost couldn’t believe his stupidity either.

Time slowed.

His fists were clenched, and fury blazed in his eyes. I braced myself, ready to meet his attack head-on, but at the last second, he feinted left, attempting to catch me off guard. I barely managed to sidestep his advance, especially in heels, and block his reach for one of his blades.

“You lose again, sucker,” I taunted, trying to keep my voice steady.

He pivoted and swung a wild haymaker in my direction. I ducked under the blow, my messed-up hair whipping across my face as I narrowly avoided the hit.

He lunged again. My body moved instinctively, fueled by adrenaline, by determination. I had fought for my life countless times before, but this time was different. This time, there was more at stake than just my own survival.

As he snatched for his blade again, I countered with a swift kick to his knee, forcing him off balance. He stumbled backward, pain flashing across his face, but I didn’t give him a chance to recover. Closing the distance between us, I delivered a fierce uppercut to his jaw.

He sprawled to the ground while I shook out my screaming knuckles.

“Stay down,” I warned, my chest heaving as I fought to catch my breath.

Two pairs of furry handcuffs lay on a nearby trunk, so I picked those up, but I left the leg spreader bar and the colorful assortment of dildos. Didn’t want ol’ Mikey to get the wrong idea.

“Go to hell,” he snarled, spitting blood onto the floor.

But despite his bravado, defeat shone in his eyes—the realization that he had lost our fight because he was a losing loser who loses, and with it, any remaining claim on my life.

“You forget I’ve already been there for the last ten years.” I cuffed his wrist to the nearest bedpost with a satisfying snap of the fuzzy handcuffs. “And for the years I was married to you.”

I hauled his other wrist to the same bedpost and cuffed his other hand there too. Then I cuffed his ankles to another bedpost.

“I’ll be back and I’ll bring my new husband with me,” I said, collecting all the weapons I could find, just in case. “I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say to you. I let you live, but I can’t guarantee he will. I’m sure he’ll put these dildos to good use, and not in a fun, kinky way either.”

I strode toward the bedroom door, leaving him broken and defeated on the cold, unforgiving floor, with the fragments of his shattered ego scattered around him.

“I miss her too, you know,” he croaked out, his voice barely audible.

“Then act like it,” I replied, my voice icy. “Do something right for once in her memory.”

When he didn’t say anything, I turned out the lights on him.

“That’s what I thought,” I added, then left.

I put one shaky foot in front of the other toward the man I loved, the man who offered me a future that was worlds away from the darkness of my past. And I would not let anything stand between us, least of all my shitty ex-husband.

Only he’d hurt me worse than I thought, I realized as I hauled myself out of the beach house. My breaths came out in ragged gasps, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. My right leg hurt like a mother, and my head throbbed. My once pristine starlit dress now bore the stains of my struggle, splotches of red standing out like gruesome flowers against the silvery fabric.

Even though Mike hadn’t killed me, Oreo just might for ruining this dress.

“Maxx,” I whispered, his name giving me strength. “I’m coming. Don’t start without me.”

I probably should’ve stopped in the bathroom to bandage myself up, but the wedding was all that mattered. Maxx and our baby were all that mattered. Nothing could keep me away from our future together.

As I rounded the corner of the beach house, my heart leapt at the sight of Maxx at the makeshift altar a few yards away from me. A grand arch adorned with jungle flowers cascaded over a thick tree trunk, which was the altar itself, and a pulsing, radiant amethyst jewel sat on top. The chairs in perfectly arranged rows twinkled with multicolored fairy lights and luminous flowers, and everyone seated within them were dressed to impress.

The hovering camera drones swiveled to face me and then swept through the air at full speed. Everyone gathered turned to follow their progress, and a murmur rippled through the crowd as they took in the sight of me—bruised and bloodied, but unbroken.

My gaze locked with Maxx’s at the altar as I dropped my weapons and limped closer. He looked so resplendent in a purple cloak, and I…did not. He snapped into a sprint, his lightning eyes flashing with worry and fear.

Several more people raced toward me, but the sun was too bright and the dimming shadows were too dark to see who they were.

In an instant, Maxx was by my side, the first even though he’d been the farthest away. “Nera, what happened?”

“Sorry I’m late,” I replied through gritted teeth, wincing as the pain in my side flared up. My hand rose instinctively to cover the pain in my side, and my fingers came away slicked with crimson. “Got caught in a little, um…traffic.”

Then someone turned the lights out, and I collapsed.