Page 8 of Cruel Vows

“Aiden, you’re really going to tell Ellie she has to marry me?”

She’s more likely to rip his head off when he breaks the news to her than she is to agree to marry me.

Aiden shrugs. “Ellie won’t put up a fight. She knows her place.”

He takes off before I can say anything else, striding beneath the dim lights and getting into his car. The engine roars as he guns the car to life. Music pounds from his speakers, shaking the windows, before he disappears into the night.

I turn to Dad, my head spinning. “You can’t make me marry Ellie. She’s not good for this family. She has nothing to offer it.”

Dad puffs on his cigar, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “The way I see it—and the way you should start seeing it—is that she offers this family an alliance we need.”

“Remaining friends with them wasn’t enough?”

“Do you truly believe that Aiden forgave you for killing his father?” Dad scoffs and takes another deep puff of the cigar. “You would be a fool to think that he’s forgotten it. A smart leader bides his time.”

“Aiden wouldn’t kill me.” I step around the corner of the building, watching the men with guns patrolling the marina.

None of them step toward the pallets of cocaine as they are unloaded from the shipping container. They stare straight ahead, focused on doing their duty to protect the shipment above all else.

Dad nods to the men. “You would do good to finally learn to follow directions as they do.”

“I killed Maxwell on your orders. If there’s anyone Aiden is going to hold a grudge against, it’s you.” I lean back against the building, reaching for the pack of cigarettes in my pocket. “I’ve followed your orders my entire life.”

“Then continue to do so and marry Ellie Lynde. You have three days to get your mind in order, and then the marriage will be happening, even if I have to walk you to the altar at gunpoint myself.”

I swallow hard as I tuck the clipboard beneath one arm before shaking a cigarette from the pack. “I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Dad steps forward as a sleek black car pulls up in front of the warehouse. “Do not disappoint me.”

“I won’t.”

Though I may disagree with the marriage, I value my life too much to go against my father.

He crosses over to the car, opens the back door, and slides in.

It’s only when the window rolls down that my heart jumps back into my throat, the way it always does when he’s displeased. “Rebecca is going to help you verify the pallet count.”

And there it is.

The reminder that as long as he is alive, nothing that I’m ever going to do will be good enough for him.

Rebecca gets out of the other side of the car with a sympathetic smile. “Hey, Sean.”

“Becs.” I put the cigarette between my lips and light it, taking a long drag.

Dad says something to his driver that I don’t catch, and they whip out of the parking lot.

Rebecca sighs and shifts her purse higher on her shoulder. “What did you do to piss him off this time?”

“You mean other than having hesitations about marrying Ellie Lynde?” I take another long drag, blowing the smoke in rings toward her.

She bats away the smoke, her eyes widening. “You’re going to marry Ellie. As in the woman who used to threaten to kill you?”

“The same one.” I flick the ash, inhaling again.

Normally, the heady smoke calms me at least a little, but tonight the tobacco isn’t doing its job.

And that has everything to do with the demon woman I have to marry.

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