Page 20 of Tarnished Vow

Please let it be worthy of his death.

“Nothing, I’m just tired,”

Keeping her out while she is tired. I could justify his death for that. But she is lying to me. Moving my hand to her back, pulling her closer to me.

Fuck. I’ve missed her.

“Come home with me,”

Resting her hands on my chest. “I can’t.”

“Fine,” my breathing sharper, as she moves her hand to my neck, “I’ll take you home.”

“I’m staying with the Voss’s this weekend. His fucked-up cousins are in town.”

“I can make them leave.” it wouldn’t be more than a few phone calls to have them removed from my city.

She smiled, but I wasn’t joking.

“I should get back to them,” she pushed my hand off her back.

I hated this. Ifuckinghated this.

“I don’t want you to go back to them.”

Instead of stepping back, I kept her trapped against the wall.

“Please don’t go back to them.” If she thought I was above begging, she was wrong.

“Okay. But then, what?” She moved her head back to stare at me. “This was always going to happen. You knew this.”

Sure, logically I did. But now, I was living it. And it was physically fucking painful to see her with him. Every day, my life was harder to live without her.

She sighed, “You’ll adjust.”

“And if I don’t?”

Closing her eyes, as if I was the one causing her pain. When this was all her fault for getting into an arranged marriage.

“If seeing me around is only making things harder, maybe?—”

“Don’t you dare fucking say it,” Holding the side of her face, forcing her to look back at me. The thought of her leaving my city just made the rage worse.

“Maddy?”

Fuck my life.

Turning my head to glare at the bastard. Noah Voss. What kind of name is that?

“Is everything okay?” He looked from her to me, then took a step forward. “People told me about your thing with her,” he gestured to Madeline. “Actually, they warned me.”

Mythingwith her.

“Crow. She’s mine, she’s not yours. So, this,” he pointed between us. “is over understood?”

Did he just order me? He fucking did. Standing in my nightclub, in my city, thinking he could tell me what to do.

Dropping my arms. Fuck waiting for her to justify his death. I wanted him dead.

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