Delta: Revenge (2 page)

Sophia adjusted her gaze from her peep toes to Josh, who looked the all-important part of adoring and handsome groom. He was so perfect.
On paper.

Oh, God.

The corset tie at her back itched. Had she moved that much just now? Had it tightened? Could she get married? To Josh? In this dress?
Of course I can.
Was it nerves? She’d spent years with him and was now standing at the altar
hyperventilating
.

Sophia forced her lip-lined smile into place and swallowed away a wave of white-hot warning signs, taking as deep a breath as her dress would allow.

She had questions; Josh was always so smooth with his answers.
Too
smooth? She’d caught him in a lie or two or twelve. He was a reformed cheater. But that was behind them—right? Her stomach churned with a nauseated knowing.
Think!
Wow, this was a mental moment she could have had before the minister started doing his job…

Josh was perfect. They were friends. The sex was fine. His body was great. He made a killer soufflé. He was a pediatrician—the world’s greatest job, according to everybody. Particularly her mom.

Shit. That was not a list of husband-like qualities. When was the last time she’d swooned? Had she ever melted against the man who’d have her for forever?

“Oh, God,” she whispered, positive the church tilted at an angle. Had she
ever
melted with him—swooned to the point that the world didn’t matter? Even when they were dating?

Josh’s eyebrows went up.

Adequate sex and a good soufflé? Seriously? Seriously! She’d never swooned over him. Never. Not once. Sophia’s mouth rounded, unsure—

“
Oh, God
.” That guilt-soaked whisper did not come from Sophia.

Nor did it come from Josh or the minister.

It didn’t come from her mom or a little angel sitting on her shoulder readying to spit wisdom that might sound something like
run
.

Sophia spun in the mermaid-style wedding dress that her mother insisted was famed designer Paul Lang’s gift to the female form. The dress
was
heaven for the right person. It really was perfect. And gorgeous. And tight—very tight—except where the skirt whooshed out at her thighs. Turning, Sophia caught a glimpse of her best friend, also known as the maid of honor, whose mouth continued to hang open after the profession of
Oh God
in God’s house.

Sophia’s questioning, semisuddenly knowing eyebrow crept up. “You okay, Liz?”

“Oh God.” Liz’s bottom lip trembled.

“What the heck?” Josh mumbled, low and quiet and guilty as all hell.

Sophia pivoted back to her groom. “I… can
not
believe you.”

But his eyes were slits, evilly studying the shit out of Liz and totally bypassing his bride. Sophia spun back, ridiculously, as the silent church dropped a notch quieter.

“Liz?” Sophia asked.

Her watery eyes said way more than her mouth did. “Soph—”

Josh made a noise like a growl. Sophia might end up with a broken heart, maybe a moment of embarrassment of epic proportions, but what she wanted to do was bum-rush him and knee him in the nuts.

Mom wouldn’t approve. Dad would do so privately. Colin, her brother, would cheer her on. The event planner would somehow make a magical PR drape fall from the cathedral ceiling and end the show.

None of that would actually happen, though, and did she seriously think he was never going to change? Maybe or maybe not. But an affair with Liz?

Her mother was likely having heart palpitations that very second. Lord knew that when her parents had to play the role of the ambassador and his wife, they didn’t have drama, especially when the press was in the room.

Sophia was losing her mind and focus in front of pews of people…

“I’m—” Liz’s colorless face brought Sophia back.

“
Lizzie,
” Josh cut her off. “Shut it.”

Sophia twisted back to Josh. “Lizzie? Since when is Liz Lizzie?”

“I’m so sorry,” Liz whispered to Sophia’s lace-and-corseted back.

“You’re kidding me. Josh?”

The minister cleared his throat, glaring at Josh but also at
Sophia
as if she’d had an idea the affair would come to light
at this moment
. “If you’re ready to continue.”

“Really?”
Screw him and Josh.
Sophia turned again to her maid of honor. Liz hid her face with the bouquet that she’d helped pick out. Tabby, the bridesmaid behind Liz, leaned forward in a way that indicated that if Sophia gave the sign, she’d take out the wayward bridal-party member with a right hook and a body slam.

The minister cleared his throat again. “Perhaps you need a moment in private.”

Stunned, Sophia ignored the minister and turned to Josh, who mouthed,
Please
.

She should be hurt. But Sophia was angry and channeling all her fury. She pulled her long skirt around, took in the full church—all watching the altar in rapt attention—and slowly found her parents. Dad’s eyes and firm jaw said the same thing as Colin’s death glare. Mom was a moment away from clutching her pearls or maybe passing out.

Dad and Mom had very different outlooks on life. Mom was very much concerned with her role—the events, the society, blah, blah. She was great and loving in her own way but still uptight. Dad looked the part of the man who’d done time in Benghazi, Afghanistan, and Kirkuk. He was very much about country and honor, a former marine who bled red, white, and blue. But he also did a poor job of hiding the fact that he was okay with Sophia being a daddy’s girl.

Behind her family were a few close members of Colin’s Delta team. That was when her disbelief-turned-anger morphed into embarrassment. Colin and his friends were like superheroes. They were willing to sacrifice their lives for a greater good. There was Grayson, the good guy, Mr. All-American, sitting with Emma—his wife—and their child. Next to him sat Trace and Marlena.

Then there were the guys Colin ran around the world with, likely breaking hearts. But at least they were up-front about it, not cheating and lying like Dr. Josh. They were
the boys
—Ryder, the guy with the golden smile, and handsome, focused Luke, who seemed as though shadows sometimes chased him. And Javier. She couldn’t look away from him. He could’ve been the poster boy for Calvin Klein, exotic edition. He was tall, dark, and handsome. And now, he looked like a… killer.

They all did.
All for one and one for all
—that might have been the Delta motto, because each of the chiseled mugs matched Colin’s. They all wore looks that said they were ready to protect what was theirs: her.

Josh’s hand reached for the Paul Lang original, and she stepped out of reach as though the good doctor were covered in something contagious. An audible gasp swept the church. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Colin stand up in his pew as if he might side tackle her asshole of a groom. But there was no need for that. Sophia was strong like her brother. Like her father. She was tough in her own right, strong and brave, and didn’t need this bull crap. Throwing on a smile as fake as her marriage would have been, she spoke only to her mom. “Time for the reception.”

And that was that. The smile was still there. Maybe she was strong like her mother, too.

For all the risk she’d lived through, for every fight she’d waged overseas to help women and children in the parts of the world that didn’t value them as people, how had this happened to her?

“Sophia—”

“Shut up, Josh.” She squared her shoulders, held her chin up, ignored her mother’s pained expression and her father’s homicidal one, and walked back down the aisle. The only sound was the swishing of the spectacular skirt that wasn’t very Sophia Cole to begin with.

CHAPTER TWO

As soon as the heavy church doors shut behind Sophia, the loud explosion of gossip quickly fired up. Three inches of carved wood was no match for wedding-day gossip. Any second now, one of her girlfriends would race behind her, but if she had to bet money on who would make it out the door first—

“Sophia Marie!”

She smiled because she’d known it. The money would be on her brother every time. But she kept walking with pounds of white fabric in hand. Colin was by her side, matching her power stride before she could mumble, “How mad is Mom?”

“Soph?”

She angled around the sidewalk, heading toward the parking lot. “Got your car keys on you?”

He chuckled. “Shit, girl. Yeah.”

“Well, let’s go.”

“Stop a sec.” He pulled her to a standstill, both hands on her shoulders. “Seriously, you alright?”

Quickly taking inventory of her feelings, it was shocking how she was more upset with being pissed and publicly humiliated than cheated on. She’d spent too much time on the other side of the world doing what she could to make sure lives and feelings were valued for this to happen. “I’m ready for cake. Lots and lots of cake. And to get out of this dress.” She was literally sewed into it and needed to escape.

“Soph?”

“Seriously. If Josh and
Lizzie
want to bump uglies, good for them.”

Colin tried to hide a laugh with a hand rubbing his face then brushing into his close-cropped hair. “You’re not alright.”

“Probably not. But I’m ready to have a drink and eat a lot more than I’ve allowed myself in two weeks. Okay?”

His fingers flexed on her shoulders. “You were always too good for him.”

“What, Dr. Josh? Who’s too good for that guy? Mom couldn’t have the invitations engraved any faster than she did.”

Voices of well-meaning bridesmaids neared them, but she didn’t want to see them. She didn’t want to know who knew, who might’ve guessed, or who’d been as oblivious as she was.

Colin wrapped an arm around her lace-covered shoulders, and they hit the church parking lot. A minute later, he had her and several pounds of lace and silk in the passenger seat of his Wrangler. A rev of the engine and a slam of gas, and they were headed to their parents’ estate, also known as the site of the reception, the location of cake, and the home of the open bar.

“Yeah?” Colin’s phone was pressed to his ear. “Ten-four.” He laughed in a way that told Sophia her mother had done something that would make her want to pull out her perfectly coiffed hair and veil—God, she was still wearing the veil.

“What?”

Colin dropped the phone in his lap. “Nothing you can’t guess.”

Sophia dropped the visor and opened the mirror to see what could be done about the veil.
Not much
, at least not until they were out of the car and in a bathroom with someone dexterous with hairpins.

“Mom announced the party is to continue. Both sides are headed over to enjoy dinner and dancing.” He shook his head. “Fun times.”

“Of course she did.”

“Really, you announced it first. Think Josh will show?”

“No way. He’s scared to death of you.”

“As he should be. I’ll track his ass down if Dad hasn’t got to him first.”

Sophia grumbled and leaned her head back. “This is Mom’s nightmare.”

“No, sweetie.” Colin gave her a sad half smile. “It’s Dad’s.”

“What?” Dad’s nightmares were about middle-of-the-night phone calls and stuff like nuclear weapons.

“His little girl hurt like that? Josh better run.”

She let Colin’s point of view take hold. True enough. If it wasn’t her brother being overprotective, it was her dad. Either way, she wouldn’t want to be Josh with the family bulldogs loose. “Just take me to my party. I need champagne and fondant.”

***

The linen-covered table matched the moneyed elegance of the Coles’ estate. The extravaganza made Javier’s skin crawl. He’d grown up in a hut in the
favelas
—the slums—in the overcrowded, stacked neighborhood of Complexo do Alemão. Back then, he hadn’t known palaces like this existed. His world had been military police, cartels, traffickers, crisis, and occupations. Life was hell, but hell had been normal.

He wouldn’t have comprehended this if he hadn’t been yanked from Brazilian poverty, from the money-making hustle of street fights in Rio de Janeiro, and trained as a mercenary and a solider.
As an American.

Titan’s Delta team claimed him as one of their own. It’d worked out well. They wanted talent with local intel and a hatchet to bury, and Javier wanted a means to his revenge-fueled end. There was an added, unexpected bonus: he would travel the world, see beautiful things—beautiful
people
. Like Sophia Cole.

She set the bar. She was the one unattainable woman whose face he pictured when he flirted with other
available
girls. Sophia, after years of coloring his dreams and starring in his fantasies, was now
single
.