Turn Towards the Sun Book Two: After the Rain

Turn Towards the Sun:

After the Rain

Jennifer Domenico

Copyright © 201
3 Jennifer Domenico

All rights reserved.

ISBN
:
1482040247

ISBN-13
:
978-1482040241

To everyone who has ever fallen in love with a fictional character…

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

What an amazing journey I’m presently on. I didn’t set out to write a book, much less several, and I’m so glad I followed this particular dream. Since my first book was published, I’ve learned so much, developed my voice, and grown as a writer.

I have a beautiful group of friends that has continued to grow. These wonderful people encourage my whims and support my quirks. Because of my first book, my friend base has expanded to include some amazing people whom I never would have met without going on this crazy adventure.

I love all my friends, old and new, and want to shout out to just a few…

To my test readers – you gave me advice and insight that helped me to make book two as strong as it could be.

To my ladies (and one gent) of the Triple M book club – not only have many of you become my friends, but you’ve also inspired and entertained me along the way. You are my daily addiction. I love my 1-click whores!

To Megan – thank you for your support of my books and what you’ve done to spread the news. You’re awesome.

To Beth – I cannot thank you enough for your enduring enthusiasm and your authentic love of my characters. Thank you for everything.

I want to thank my awesome book cover designer, Joy McNamara, for the creative ideas that led to such beautiful covers, and my editor, Vickie Johnstone, for doing the tough work.

Finally, to my amazing husband, I adore you. Tu sei il mio tesoro. Ti amo tanto, per sempre.

1 CHAPTER ONE

“What are you doing here, Anna?”

We stare at each other like two cats about to fight over the same territory. I cannot believe this woman wants to have a confrontation with me on my wedding day.

I notice right away that Anna’s appearance is different. She looks much thinner and her face is bare of makeup. Her hair is now an unfortunate shade of platinum blond, pulled back into a severe ponytail, and she looks strangely casual in a loose, black T-shirt and jeans. The chic, stylish woman I knew before is nowhere to be seen. Only her eyes reveal her true identity and they burn with hatred.

Anna shoves me back into the room and slams the door, leaning against it. Adrenaline rushes through my body. “Anna, you need to get out of my way, and you need to leave,” I tell her, firmly.

“I’m not going anywhere, gold digger, and neither are you.” Her words slur as she speaks and I detect the faint smell of liquor on her breath. Oh shit.

She glares at me with pure animosity. “You think I’m just going to let you take what’s mine? You’re wrong, bitch.”

“I didn’t take anything of yours,” I argue. “He wasn’t yours.”

I don’t like where this is going. She’s behaving very strangely, and I wonder how emotionally stable she is.

“This is supposed to be me. Don’t you get it? This is my life.” Anna’s voice cracks a bit, but she doesn’t move.

I don’t know what else to do, but try to reason with her. “Someone will come looking for me. Everyone is waiting.”

“That’s fine,” she replies. “We’re not going anywhere.” And then she pulls a small gun from her waistband.

My breathing quickens. She came here to kill me on my wedding day? How did she get past the extra security with a gun? I realize that her clothes make her look like the other wedding workers and it would be impossible to account for every single person here today. I glance nervously at the clock. I should be meeting my dad. Oh God, someone, please come looking for me.

Softening my voice, I urge her, “Anna, please, you don’t want to do anything crazy.”

Pacing back and forth in front of me, she replies, “I don’t have anything to live for – nothing. The only thing I’ve ever wanted you have now. And I can’t stand that.”

Slapping the gun across her hand, she adds, “It wasn’t supposed to happen here. I just couldn’t get you alone.”

I’m shocked. “Were you following me? Did you break into my house?”

“It’s not your house, you stupid whore. It’s mine.” She raises her voice, scaring the hell out of me.

I need to get out of here. I try to reason with her again. “Hurting me won’t solve anything. It won’t bring Enzo to you. He’ll hate you.”

Anna’s eyes shoot up at me, full of venom. “He already hates me.”

“No, he doesn’t. I wanted him to, but he doesn’t.”

“Why should I believe you?” she asks. “You don’t care about me.”

“That’s true, but I’m telling you the truth. I think he felt sad more than anything about what happened.”

She glances at me, but keeps pacing, clearly agitated.

We both jump at the sound of pounding on the door.

“Ava, everyone’s waiting. Are you ready?” The welcome sound of my dad’s voice comes through the door.

I rush towards the door, but Anna points the gun at me. Glaring, she lowers her voice, warning me, “Don’t say a word.”

My father calls out again, “Ava?” He tries the handle on the door, but Anna must have locked it, because it doesn’t open. “Ava, are you okay in there?”

I listen in horror as the sound of his footsteps fades away. Oh no, daddy, please come back. Please help me! I glance at Anna. “They’re going to come back for me – they won’t believe I just disappeared.”

She laughs. “You’ll be dead by the time they get here.”

Tears prick my eyes. “You don’t really want to hurt me, Anna. You don’t…”

Her eyes shine with contempt. “Oh, yes I do. I want nothing more than to hurt you. I want you to beg for him, but he won’t come, just like in Italy.”

“You were in Italy?” I gasp. “You pushed me? It was you all along, wasn’t it?”

Anna walks closer to me, and I hold my breath. “Money wasn’t the way to hurt him – you are. Now I see it. He’ll never get over losing you, and he’ll never forgive himself if you get hurt. It’s the only way. Don’t you see, Ava? You have to die.”

Too scared to even cry at this point, survival is the only thing on my mind. In a panic, I push past Anna toward the door, but she shoves me away. Turning, I grab her arm in a bid to get the gun from her.

“Let go, bitch. Let go,” she screams.

A voice cries out, “Ava, are you in there? Open the door!” It’s Enzo, and he’s banging on the door behind me.

“Enzo, I can’t!” I shout, trying to wrestle the gun away from Anna.

“Shut up,” she yells at me as we struggle. “You can’t save her, Enzo!”

“Open this fucking door or I’ll break it down,” he yells.

All I want at this moment is to live, but Anna is much stronger than she looks. I fear that I won’t be able to fight her much longer. Lifting my leg as high as I can in my dress, I knee her in the stomach. Bang! I jump back as the gun goes off, and Anna slumps to the floor.

Rushing to the door, I unlock it, shaking, and literally fall into Enzo’s arms. Two policemen rush past me towards Anna’s motionless body on the floor. Blood is pooling beneath her, and I’m not sure if she’s alive.

“Ava, are you hurt?” Enzo asks, holding me tight.

“I don’t think so.” I burst into tears. “She came here to kill me.”

“Shush baby, she can’t hurt you now.”

The whole wedding party is standing outside, waiting. Enzo guides me out into the courtyard and my parents rush out to hug me.

Worry creases my dad’s forehead as he speaks. “I knew something was wrong, baby girl. I could hear a commotion in the room. I went and got Enzo, and we called the police.”

We watch quietly as the paramedics arrive with a stretcher, and then an officer approaches us. “Mr. Milano, we’d like to get a statement from your fiancée when she’s ready.”

“Is she dead?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No ma’am. She has a gunshot wound to the leg, but the injury is not life threatening. She does appear to be under the influence of a substance, however.”

“Officer, this is supposed to be our wedding day,” Enzo says. “Is there any way we can wait until later to give a statement? It’s obvious that we want to press charges for attempted murder.” He squeezes me as he speaks.

The officer nods. “Yes, sir, that will be fine. You can come by in the morning and we will handle the official business then. For now I just need some preliminary information. What is the woman’s name?” he asks, looking at Enzo.

“Anna Pierce. She is a former employee of mine.”

At that moment the paramedics walk out of the room, carrying a stretcher on which Anna is strapped, looking small and pathetic. “I hate her, I hate her,” she cries, struggling against her restraints.

Chills run down my spine and I turn my head away. The officer continues, “Miss Pierce will be admitted to the hospital and monitored. We’ll formally charge her in the morning.”

“Thank you, officer,” Enzo says, shaking his hand.

I glance around at the worried faces of our friends and family. Genevieve is pacing around the courtyard, barking orders into a walkie-talkie.

This was supposed to be the best day of my life, yet it was almost my last.

Enzo holds me so tightly I can barely move. “Ava, my love, I was so worried,” he says. “I thought you’d backed out.”

“Backed out? Not even close. I was just about to leave my room when Anna showed up.” I pause, still shaking from shock. “She said the only way to hurt you was to hurt me, and that you’d never get over it, never forgive yourself. It was her who was following me, here and in Italy.”

His eyes widen. “She told you that?”

“Basically, yes. I think she’s been planning something for some time; maybe ever since she was fired.”

Enzo’s face twists in anger. “How could I not see it? How the hell did she get past security with a fucking gun?”

“She blended in,” I point out. “I don’t think any of us thought she was the person stalking me. I guess her obsession with you was stronger than you knew.”

“I did suspect her briefly, but, honestly, I ruled it out. I didn’t think she had it in her. But she’s the only person who had a reason.” He shakes his head. “She was right about one thing, Ava – I would never get over losing you. I can’t believe how close I came to just that, and it’s my fault you were in danger.”

“No,” I say, “it’s not your fault she lost touch with reality. I’m still here, Enzo. I’m fine. Okay, so I’m shaken up a bit, but fine. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Let’s go get married.”

Enzo looks concerned. “No, Ava, you should rest. We’ll reschedule.”

“We can’t reschedule and I don’t want to, anyway. I want to be your wife today. The best way we can get over this is to move forward with our plans. I just need a few minutes to compose myself.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t you want to end this day married to me?” I ask, my eyes welling up with tears again.

“Yes, I do. More than anything,” he replies, hugging me. “Grayson will stay here with you.”

My dad steps forward, choking back emotion. “Enzo, I’m staying here. She’s my baby girl. I want to.”

“Of course, Mr. Bradshaw…”

“Call me dad,” my father says, reaching over to squeeze my fiancé’s shoulder.

Enzo’s face softens and he lowers his eyes. “I swear I’ll take care of her. This incident was–”

“I’m not worried, son. I know how you feel about my daughter. None of us, including you, could have anticipated something like this. Now, go take your place. We’ll be there soon.”

Enzo offers him a thankful smile and leaves to talk to Genevieve, who is busy setting everything up again.

Dominic, the property manager, approaches us. “Miss Bradshaw, why don’t you go into room 116 to freshen up?” he suggests.

I glance back to see room 115 still swarming with police. I smile at him. “Thank you.”

Dominic opens the door, and my dad and I step inside. It is Enzo’s old room. I doubt that we’ll ever stay here again. I smooth my dress and my dad makes sure there are no blood stains anywhere. I check my makeup. Surprisingly, I look okay and my face shows hardly a sign of the drama I’d endured just a short time ago.

Genevieve rushes in. “Ava, everything is ready to go again. I’m so sorry this happened. I can’t believe it really.” She hands me my makeup bag and perfume.

“I think we were dealing with a very clever girl,” I reply. “Everything looks really beautiful. I know it will still be great.” I squeeze her hand to reassure her, before taking a deep breath.

“Let’s fix you up a bit,” she suggests, and starts to fuss around me.

I’m thankful that Camilla did such a good job of pinning my hair up, as there are only a few stray hairs to smooth back in place. I powder my face and reapply my lipstick.

When I’m finished, my dad kisses me on the cheek. “You look wonderful,” he says.

Genevieve fixes my veil so that it falls around my shoulders and we walk outside. I take my father’s arm as we head toward the ballroom. Upon reaching the doors, we pause to give me a moment to compose myself. I enter the room to the sound of beautiful, Italian classical music – Andrea Bocelli, my favorite.

I glance around the packed room of guests as everyone stands and looks at me. I can only imagine what they are thinking, having waited over an hour for me to appear. I have no idea what they have been told or if they know what happened. Gradually, my eyes reach the front of the room where Gabby, Francesca and Cassie are standing, looking lovely in their pale yellow, strapless dresses. Only in Arizona can you get away with strapless gowns in October.

Grayson, Calvin and Paolo look distinguished in dark brown tuxes, with sunflowers tucked into their lapels. Paolo nudges Enzo to turn around, which he does, and his face lights up.

I fight back tears and already my face is aching from the smile I’ve plastered onto it. Even Anna couldn’t ruin this moment for me. I feel like I’m in a dream as I move closer to my groom. My dad places my hand in Enzo’s while offering a warm, comforting smile.

“Dearly beloved,” I hear the priest start, and then I tune out, focusing only on my charming Enzo standing in front of me. He squeezes my fingers as the priest speaks.

The priest turns to the crowd and says, “And now the couple will share their vows for one another…”

Leaning forward, Cassie hands me the tissue that she knows I’m going to need. Enzo looks into my eyes, saying nothing for a moment. His gaze is so intense, so full of love, that I don’t know if I can take it. My eyes well up in anticipation of the words about to come from his lips.

“Ava, I spent hours composing just the right words to say to you in this moment, searching for those that would capture what is in my heart, how you make me feel and what you mean to me. I learned that there are very few words that are potent enough, descriptive enough or meaningful enough.”