Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 85

We got Valentino to design the wedding gowns and the grooms' tuxedoes, and we also got Sylvia Weinstock to be responsible for the cakes, then she hired the amazing photographer Joe Buissink to snap every moment that would happen at the wedding; and Kevin Lee took care of the amazing flowers.

Anyway, the wedding would take place in Kent in a gorgeous medieval cathedral, and the reception would be at the Duke of Rossington's elegant garden, as was tradition for generations in the Rossington Household. The whole wedding would be gorgeous and lavish, Sasha assured us confidently, and everyone had faith in her expertise. She's a celebrity event planner after all.

So far, everything was perfect -- except that my fiancé was missing. He did not call me, and when I tried to call him, he didn't answer. Most of the time, his phone was off. I was starting to think that he was having second thoughts about marrying me, now that we were both eighteen (he was eleven months older) and it was legal for us to marry.

After all, we had only four days before the wedding. But why didn't he just bail out two months ago? I deserved an early notice! And...

And it hurt. A lot. I wanted to smack him on the head like I usually did when I was pissed at him, or maybe hit him with a car till he was tossed across England. What was wrong with him? It'd been a week since I last saw him.

That was the last time he told me he loved me and kissed me in front of our friends and relatives, saying afterwards that he had to go fix something first. He didn't say what or where he would go.

He was even supposed to have a bachelor party tomorrow! Not that I liked that. I certainly didn't want him to be around half-naked girls dancing on his lap...but it was much better to know that he'd be at the party tomorrow with Frederick and Richard, then hide from me completely. It wasn't fair.

I'd kill him. I swear, I would.

"Are you all right, Kells?" My best friend, Vivian Lennox, soon-to-be Lady Kneap, was hovering at the doorway, her hand on the gleaming gold knob.

She knew about Michael. Everyone did. And it changed everything because all of them looked at me with sympathy. They knew I didn't like being pitied, but what was happening was too much to even get mad at them. Lady Cutting wanted to send a whole team of special agents to track her stupid grandson down, but I told her to let it go.

"Yeah," I said with a snort to Viv, "I'm fine. I'm great. Just great."

"He might have a good reason for being MIA."

I rolled my eyes and turned away from her. We were in my room in Rossington Park, and I was going insane because it was such a big room. At first I felt like I was the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer, or maybe Marie Antoinette -- but even though I felt like a princess in a gorgeous room, I wanted my prince to be beside me. Not that Michael and I shared a room, but he snuck in here sometimes so we could talk or make out. Now he's gone.

"He's not going to leave you, Keller," Viv whispered, patting my back as I started to sob. "He'll come back for you, you'll see."

It worked once when Grams told me Michael would come back, but I had a feeling the second time around wouldn't work. It was obvious that Viv's voice was a little desperate to comfort me, so maybe that was the first thing that came out of her mouth that she thought would make me feel better. Not.

"I'll murder him!" I suddenly hissed, getting away from her arms, standing up, and pacing the room back and forth, one shaking finger pointing at her. Vivian's eyes widened, looking shocked.

"No, you won't --" she started.

A knock came from the door and someone stepped in. It was the duke's butler, Headford, holding a silver salver on top of his flat palm, a piece of folded paper on it. He cleared his throat.

"What?" I snapped. I really liked Headford, you know. But the stress of the wedding and the chaos it brought before it finally went smoothly, and now that Michael was missing, was taking a toll on me.