Blood And Vows

The Night Before Forever

The estate grounds were quieter than usual that night. The rehearsal dinner had ended hours ago, and the guests were gone, leaving behind faint laughter that still clung to the air, like perfume that refused to fade.

Anika slipped off her heels as soon as they stepped onto the cobblestone path behind the O’Connell mansion. The sky above was a stretch of indigo silk, scattered with stars. She held Liam’s hand, the cool night air brushing against her bare shoulders.

“Finally,” she said softly, exhaling. “No cameras, no reporters, no speeches.”

Liam chuckled, squeezing her hand. “Just us, the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. O’Connell. You sound disappointed.”

“Not disappointed,” she said. “Just… relieved. I was starting to forget what quiet felt like.”

He stopped walking, turning to face her. “Then let’s freeze this moment,” he said. “Before everything changes.”

Her smile softened. “You’re not nervous, are you?”

“About marrying you? Never,” he said. “About the merger? Maybe. Our families don’t exactly do small things.”

“Neither do we,” she teased.

They walked toward the lake, a silver mirror under the moonlight, and sat on the wooden pier. For a while, neither spoke. The world seemed still suspended between past and future.

Liam brushed his thumb over her engagement ring. “Do you ever think about what life would’ve been like if we weren’t born into this?”

“All the time,” Anika said quietly. “Maybe we’d be living in some small city apartment, running a tiny business together. No legacy. No boardrooms. Just us.”

He smiled. “You’d still boss me around.”

She laughed, leaning into him. “You’d love every second of it.”

They kissed again, soft, familiar, full of the kind of tenderness that made everything else fade.

Then Liam pulled back, his brow creasing slightly.

“Did you hear that?”

Anika frowned. “Hear what?”

He looked past her shoulder toward the tree line. “Footsteps.”

“Probably one of the guards,” she said.

He nodded slowly but didn’t look convinced.

What they didn’t know was that Colby had already stepped out from the far side of the property, jacket half-zipped, gun holstered beneath it. He’d seen a shadow move earlier, lingering too close to the eastern gate. Something in him said don’t ignore it.

He followed quietly, keeping a distance, eyes sharp, scanning the dark.

Down by the pier, Liam rose to his feet. “Stay here,” he told Anika gently.

“Liam…”

“I’ll just check. Two minutes.”

She sighed, watching as he moved toward the trees. The night swallowed him whole.

Seconds stretched. Then.

A single gunshot split the silence.

Anika froze. The sound echoed through the valley, sharp and final. Birds scattered from the trees.

“Liam!” she screamed, jumping to her feet, heart hammering. She ran toward the noise, her bare feet slapping against the cold earth.

When she reached the clearing, her breath caught, the world tilting sideways.

Liam lay on the ground, motionless. Blood seeped into the soil beneath him.

And standing just a few feet away, gun trembling in his hand was Colby.

His eyes were wide. Shocked.

“Anika…” he started, his voice breaking. “It’s not…I heard someone…”

But she couldn’t hear him. The sound in her ears was a rushing roar, a thousand beats of grief and disbelief colliding.

Her gaze locked on the gun, on Liam’s still form, and the horror took over.

“You…” Her voice cracked. “You killed him!”

Colby dropped the weapon immediately, taking a step back. “No! I came to… I swear I didn’t…”

“Don’t!” she cried, falling to her knees beside Liam, clutching his shirt, shaking him. “Liam, wake up, please…”

Colby hesitated, torn between reaching for her and staying away. His voice was raw, desperate. “Anika, I was trying to protect you both. Someone else was here, I saw…”

But she didn’t look up. Her sobs broke through the night, the sound of a heart shattering beyond repair.

Behind them, lights flared from the mansion. Voices. Running feet.

Colby stood frozen as security guards swarmed in, shouting orders and flashlights cutting through the trees.

When Anika finally lifted her face, streaked with tears and blood, her eyes met his, and what he saw there made him flinch.

Not grief. Not confusion.

Condemnation.

The next morning, the world would wake to headlines of The Tragic Death of Liam O’Connell.

Behind those headlines, two families would begin to crumble.

In the shadows, someone else, someone unseen, would finally smile.