Page 15 of Deadly Vows

Luca hears me, grabbing my father’s collar to drag him to my feet. He pulls out a gun, pressing it against the back of his head.

“Fucking tell her,” he growls.

My father groans in pain, blood pouring from his mouth. He still refuses to look at me, his eyes focused on the ground. He chuckles, looking at Luca, directly up the barrel of his gun.

“You kill me, then what? All she’ll have is speculation. I won’t be able to tell her anything—Argh!”

A shot goes off as Luca fires a bullet into my father’s arm. My father hunches over in pain, and I scream. He is inches from me, blood soaking the shirt he’s wearing. His breaths are heavy as Luca motions for his men to grab him, hauling him away from me.

“Bring me a first aid kit,” he says, kneeling in front of me.

The pain in my arm is nothing compared to the pain in my chest. This is just a torturous way of Luca letting me know my father doesn’t love me. His words in the car make perfect sense now. He was preparing me for this. It is also where the hostility over the past few weeks came from. My father crossed the line, and Luca thought I was in on it. Somehow, he found out otherwise and has now decided to punish my father. And if he really means what he said in the car, my father won’t be leaving here alive.

Luca’s eyes remain on the bloody wound he inflicted as someone approaches with a first aid kit. My father’s chuckle fills the room as he finds the strength to provoke Luca one last time.

“You can patch her up all you want, but as soon as you kill me, they’ll be coming for her. She was a failed attempt at something bigger than her life. She means nothing to us now; she is just a waste of what could have been our chance at a higher level.Enjoy her while you can, she is good for nothing else but keeping your bed warm at night until my people come to take her from you in exchange for my death,” he says in between ragged breaths.

Luca’s body stiffens as my father speaks. Rage pools within his steely-colored eyes, the muscle in his jaw twitching as his rage takes over. My father is only a few feet away as Luca stands, pulling his gun out.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to wipe the Trovolis from existence, eh?” he says.

My father chuckles, looking death in the face. “See if she’ll want you then, Pasquino.”

“Luca, no!” I scream so hard that my throat burns from the effort. Luca fires a shot, right into my father’s skull.

Nausea hits me and everything I had eaten prior to this moment comes out of my mouth from what I just witnessed. Luca looks from me to my father’s slumped body, shoving him with his foot.

“Look what you made her do,” he grumbles in irritation.

I hang my head, my body vibrating. I don’t know what to feel. I don’t know what to do. He murdered him, right in front of me. I look around the room to see a mixture of fear and pleasure in the eyes of the men who follow this madman. And when I look at Luca, I see excitement. My eyes shift to my father.

He never loved me, I know that. But today solidified any doubts I had and any chance at closure. If what my father said before is true, then Luca just rang the bell for an all-out war between our families.

And according to my father, I am no longer part of mine.

Chapter Seven

Elise

Life goes on. In my case, it has completely passed me by. Luca has set off a war between our families, and my family has heard the starting bell loud and clear. My father’s funeral was held earlier this week, and I was not invited. Not that it matters. In all of their eyes, I am no longer a Trovoli.

It’s been a tense week between Luca and me. Luca not only revealed a disturbing secret to me, but he also brutally ended the life of my father in front of me. My father may not have loved me how I wanted, but he was still my father. And Luca doesn’t seem to understand that. In his eyes, my father used me and deserved death, and I should see it that way as well. As we arrive at the restaurant, I ignore Luca’s outstretched hand as he attempts to help me out of the car. In doing this, I know I am pushing him, especially since he’s proven he’s capable of virtually anything. But it’s all I can do to keep my sanity.

The hostess leads us to the back of the restaurant, where a private dining area has been reserved for someone as important as Luca and his father, who insisted on having this dinner.

“Luca! My son and his lovely wife have finally arrived!” My stomach dips in discomfort as we are greeted upon our entrance by Luca’s father. Lorenzo Pasquino. His boisterous voice echoes as we approach, and Luca steps up to greet him. They embrace, both men happy to see one another, before Luca pulls a chair out for me.

I am barely seated before they launch into conversation, Luca’s face lighting up as he speaks to his father. They talk of trivial things like games and business. It’s obvious Luca and his father get along very well. The wall that usually surrounds Luca is gone as he speaks to his father.

My chest aches at the sight.

It’s obvious now why Luca never trusted me in the first place. He believed I was part of my father’s plan. And now that he has proven I had nothing to do with it, he has shattered everything I’ve ever known, leaving me completely alone.

“Elise.”

I look up at the sound of my name and see Luca watching me with a concerned expression.

“I… I’m sorry, I seem to have drifted off,” I say quietly.

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