Page 40 of Deadly Vows

“She was a failed attempt at something bigger than her life. She means nothing to the Trovolis now.”

I tense as the door opens, and Luca strolls in dressed in leisure clothes. Out of instinct, my heart beats faster as I take him in. And when his steel-colored gaze drifts in my direction, I choke on my breath.

Instead of anger, a look of pity crosses his features as he crosses the room and sits next to me. He doesn’t say anything as he reaches for my face, but I quickly flinch away out of instinct, and he lets me, lowering his hand.

His eyes shift to his palm, and I can see he’s warring with himself.

“Elise…” Luca trails off, once again plunging us into uncomfortable silence. I’m sure we look pathetic from an outsider’s point of view. We were forced into this situation with no advice on how to deal with it ourselves. Both of us were brutally taken advantage of, our lives as we knew them blown up. Both of us were pawns, used by a man so wicked he would use his own flesh and blood to gain power. And yet, neither of us knows how to comfort the other. Neither of us knows how to live with this knowledge.

“You should be dead right now. You do understand that, right?” he asks, breaking the silence.

I squeeze my eyes shut as my tears come faster. My sobs are violent, forcing the sound to permeate the room, and I hate it. I hate how weak I am. How, in every aspect of my life, I’ve lived for others. Luca doesn’t understand just how deep his question scrapes at me, just how many meanings there are in that one sentence.

I should have been dead long before I tried to kill him. I should have died with my mother. I should have died with my father. I should have died from my father’s attempts to kill me for the future of the Trovolis. I should have died when I stepped in front of Luca’s gun all those times, and when I threatened him. And I especially should have died in that diner when Ari should have taken me away to meet my fate. And just realizing that makes my tears relentless in their onslaught.

I hear Luca breathe deeply before I feel his arms around me.

But I don’t want his comfort. I tense, shoving him away from me in a panic. I don’t want the arms of the man who murdered my family around me. We both glare at each other, warring with ourselves to accept the life that fate has dealt us. But we don’t know how.

I release a bitter chuckle, sagging against the headboard.

“You should be too,” I say.

After a moment, I look up at him, feeling less vulnerable as he watches me. He can see what little will I have crumbling. I release a bitter chuckle, looking away from his expression.

“Don’t look at me that way. You’ve known everything about me, probably from the day your father told you about our engagement. Don’t look at me with pity when you thought I was part of this mess in the beginning,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself. “Don’t look at me as if you actually feel something for me,” I whisper.

I lower my eyes as the room blurs, more tears rolling down my cheeks.

“No one does,” I say.

It’s heartbreaking to realize how truly alone you are in the world. Your life never meant anything to anyone. You were no more than a game piece.

I tense as Luca roughly pulls me into him.

“Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that again,” he says sharply. “I told you before that you are mine, Elise. And I will end anyone who gets in the way of that.” I tense as Luca’s hand slips under my oversized shirt, his hand gently drifts over the healed scars that spell out his name.

“You are with me now, Elise. You are not alone. It’s me and you now,” he says.

I know in his mind that sounds like enough. But I see it for what it is. It’s a declaration of just how twisted his obsession has grown. He’s right. I should have died for what I did. And even the great Luca Pasquino couldn’t hand down that sentence to me. He would rather turn a blind eye to my betrayal and ignore my blood than follow through on what needs to be done for the sake of his family.

Luca pulls away from me, the expression on his face growing more unnerving by the second as he studies me.

“No one in the Pasquino family knows what transpired between us, and I want to keep it that way,” he says, further deepening my concern.

It also sheds light on how it took him so long to find me. He didn’t use any resources at his disposal because he wanted to keep this quiet. I’m assuming my brother’s existence is something he’s keeping under wraps for now as well. That is, if he hasn’t killed him already.

“So you’ve suddenly forgiven me for what I did? For what my father did?” I ask.

Luca scoffs, shaking his head.

“Of course not. I only said it’s you and me now. I never said you’ve earned back my trust. And just because I can’t kill you doesn’t mean I will let it slide, Elise. Today marks a new beginning for both of us. There are things that have been in motion since before our marriage, and I need you to be with me if I’m going to face these problems,” he says.

I tense when I feel his fingers under my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his.

“You are a Pasquino now. Your family is dead to you. And if you want to fix what’s broken between us, I suggest you come to terms with that,” Luca says.

After a moment, he turns away from me, but my hand reaches out, gripping his shirt before he can get up.

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