Page 88 of Vicious Vows

“If I want to remain in power.”

“I thought it was your father who was in charge.”

“The territory goes to me and Milo next.” I might not have asked for that, but it was my birthright. I had an obligation to this family, and I would see it through.

“Is that what you want?”

“Don’t deflect,” I said. “You’re the one who screwed up today.”

It didn’t matter what I wanted. This was who I was. She could either accept the fact that this was how things would be or she could go. I couldn’t force her to stay. I never could.

The problem was that I didn’t want her to go anywhere. I wanted her to stay. She needed to accept who I was. But how could she? Five minutes ago, I was going to kill her father. If she hadn’t inadvertently intervened, I would have succeeded.

My business problems would have been resolved, but how could we move forward?

“I shouldn’t have snuck out,” she said.

I stared into the woods. Gian came after me. He could have killed me, Milo, or Lissia. I couldn’t let him go for such a despicable act. I couldn’t give him the opportunity to try again. And he would try again.

“You shouldn’t do plenty of things, but that never stops you.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “We’re a lot alike that way.”

“I’m sorry for defying you.”

“You’re a liar.” I laughed quietly. “You do what you have to do without hesitation and without regret. That’s what I love most about you.”

“You’re not mad at me?”

“I’m furious, but not because you wanted to see your father.” It didn’t sit well with me that she had a reason to come here, but blood was blood. I had to accept that. “I’m angry because you did it behind my back.”

“I had to.”

“You climbed down a fire escape, got into a car with a person you didn’t know, and you left without any guards to come to a place where you didn’t know you would be safe.”

“Every time you summarize my adventures, you make me realize how stupid they are.” She unbuckled her seatbelt, maneuvered over the control panel, and then slipped into my lap.

“Perhaps if you ran these ridiculous plans by me before you did them, we could save a lot of aggravation.”

“But then they wouldn’t be spontaneous and impulsive.”

“Exactly.” I gripped her face between my hands. “My line of work is too treacherous for me to have unexpected surprises like the one I got today.”

What if she had walked in on me shooting her father?

“I want to be with you,” she said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”

“It can’t happen if you’re dead.” I closed my eyes. “Or if something happens that we can’t come back from.”

“We can come back from anything.” She turned her head and kissed the inside of my hand. “I’m just trying to stop the bad from happening.”

“You can’t.”

Having her close to me calmed my murderous intentions toward her father. Killing Gian would only destroy her and ruin us in the process. That was obvious, but what wasn’t so clear was how I was going to resolve this without carrying out my father’s orders.

“You’re not as ragey as I thought you’d be over finding me here.” She kissed the corner of my mouth. “How come?”

If she knew the real reason I had come here, she would know why I couldn’t take out my aggression on her. As mad as I was at her for being so irresponsible, I couldn’t be unreasonable. I had my secrets too.

“Why did you come here?” I asked, ignoring her question. “What were you trying to accomplish?”

---