Page 97 of The Vow

I inhaled deeply, my chest burning with the heat of all his promises.

I will always protect you.

It was only ever you.

All the pain I’d carried was nothing more than dry kindling set ablaze by his truth; Damon hadn’t left me for Sandrine. He’d never stopped loving me.

I slid the ring onto my finger and for a fleeting second wondered what would’ve happened if I’d listened to Damon and stayed at the apartment that night instead of going to lookfor him…no. I shuddered. I couldn’t think like that. There was no way to know if Damon’s handler or Sinclair’s men would’ve reached me first. No way to know if things would’ve worked out better…or far, far worse.

There was only what happened. What I’d believed he’d done and what he’d believed had happened to me. Who he’d become to save me and how he’d stayed away to protect me. Something I had a sinking suspicion he was doing now.

Rising from the bed, I went to the dresser for one of Damon’s undershirts. I had to laugh when I saw a handgun neatly placed next to the pile of shirts. Taking one from the top, I slid it over my head, the fabric hanging low on my chest and hitting just above my knees.

The elegant scent of amber and whiskey settled over me, and heat sprouted under my skin, recalling the feel of Damon’s touch. The magic of his mouth. The promise of him.

I was always yours.

Heading from the bedroom, I padded straight for the kitchen, hearing Nonna moving around. Damon’s promise to return weighed on my finger, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to know where he’d gone and why he’d gone without me.

“Buongiorno, signora.” Nonna’s smile burst across her face as she set a plate full of eggs on the counter for me. “I see you found something else to wear.”

The older woman couldn’t be happier if she’d won the lottery. Part of me savored the youthful twinkle in her eyes, another, smaller part was annoyed that she was right all along.

Anger was a funny thing. Like a wall, it could protect you and keep harmful things away, but it also blinded you. There was no seeing or hearing through a wall; it blocked out everything. Damon could’ve shouted the truth at me, beat it against the barricades, but only I could lower my defenses and let it…let him inside.

And I had…only for him to leave again.

“Nonna, where’s Damon?” I asked, standing on the opposite side of the counter rather than going to the seat she offered.

“Did you sleep well?” She ignored me and asked, though she knew exactly how I’d slept—and who I slept with.

“Nonna…” I scowled and flattened my palms to the counter.

She ducked her head and reached for a bottle of hot sauce from the cabinet, moving it and my plate over to me.

“Mangiare.” She shooed her hands at me like my husband disappearing on me for a second time was nothing to worry about until after breakfast.

“I’m not eating until you tell me where he is.”

The fact that she wouldn’t tell me was one thing, but the flash of concern in her eyes before she tore them from mine was what ignited my spark of worry until a full-blown flare.

“Please.” I stiffened, hearing the vulnerability that oozed from my plea. I sounded desperate. Anxious. All things I hated to be let alone revealed to others, but after what he said last night and then waking up alone this morning, I was afraid Damon had done something severely stupid.

Nonna’s hunched shoulders sagged, and she slowly faced me.

“Signor Damon left early this morning with Signor Pat,” she confessed. “He told me to make sure you had big breakfast when you wake. He didn’t say where he going.”

Dammit.

“Told him wasn’t good idea,” she muttered, her real disapproval showing through. “Signor Damon very stubborn. Too stubborn.”

She shook her head, and in that moment, I could see the thousands of times she must’ve scolded my husband over the last decade.

I knew I should be angry at Damon for leaving again. For not telling me. But the ring on the nightstand wasn’t only a promise to return; it was an explanation for his absence.

He’d left to take care of my demons. To save me like he’d promised. And to come back to me like he’d vowed.

I couldn’t be angry at him for that, but I could be angry that he thought he had to do this alone. Like he owed me this…penance for staying away for so long.

---