Page 4 of Possessive Vows

Nico opens the door to their apartment as the elevator doors open. I haven’t spoken a single word to him since my parents ended our betrothal, and the few times I’ve seen him, Serenity was by his side. Facing him now, with his hair brushed but not styled and wearing jeans and a shirt instead of a suit, he looks like a completely different man.

A man he never would have gotten to be if he married me.

Even with bags of worry and exhaustion under his eyes, satisfaction and joy shine from his dark orbs.

“Serenity looks good on you,” I say.

Nico curbs his wicked smile, but lust flashes in his eyes. Instinctual fear washes over me. Even though I never saw my abusers’ faces, my mind supplies their expressions with shocking clarity. Disgust curdles my stomach as phantom hands roam over me.

“Yes, she does. Thank you, Camilla,” Nico says.

His gentle tone pulls me from my spiral. Loretta’s phone vibrates in her pocket. She excuses herself and paces to the sitting room on the opposite side of the receiving area.

Nico leaves the door wide open and gestures for me to follow him into the apartment. I fit my purse strap more firmly on my shoulder and step into my sister’s haven. Her husband leads me into the kitchen.

I set my purse on the counter and thoroughly wash my hands at the sink at Nico’s behest. He watches with eerie intensity. Unease creeps up my spine, but he maintains his watch as Loretta joins us and goes through the same process.

My unease melts away as realization spears through me.

He protects my sister and his daughter from germs with the same ruthless intensity as he does from bullets and bad guys. Wonder flows through me until my aching joints pull me back into reality.

I’m happy my sister found love, but I’ll never let a man touch me ever again.

“Are you wearing perfume?” Nico asks.

I look down at myself with a frown. Ever since the attack, potent smells make me queasy, especially cologne or the smell of metal, but I also stress sweat like crazy, so I alternate between three different body sprays. A light, fruity scent still wafts up from my clothes, but the stench of fear underneath clogs my nostrils.

The day flashes through my mind. All the surfaces I touched. The places I went. I bumped into Valentina at the park. Spent too much time in public.

Nothing is as filthy as my skin. My bruises may have faded, but I’m dirty.

So dirty.

“I need to shower,” I murmur through tingling lips.

I shouldn’t be here. I’ll infect Perla. I’m filthy. Broken. Unworthy.

A colorfully wrapped candy appears in front of my face on Loretta’s palm. My tongue lifts to the roof of my mouth as though to protect itself from the memory of extreme sourness.

“Need another?” Loretta asks.

I am safe. I am alive. I am loved. I am healing.

I scoff despite my queasiness and shake my head but take the candy and place it beside my purse on the counter.

“No, but I really do need to shower. I’m—”

“You’re here, Cams, and that’s what matters,” Serenity says from her bedroom doorway.

She stands barefoot in a blue and purple pajama set with her hair in a ponytail and my niece in her arms.

Nico stiffens and starts toward her.

I shake my head and meet her watery gaze. Her lower lip trembles, but Nico’s broad shoulders as he stalks down the hall block my view of her. She calls out despite his approach.

“You’re not dirty, Camilla. What they did to you wasn’t—”

“I stink, Serenity,” I interrupt. My insides shake. She saw through me too easily. I force myself to continue, needing to erase her anguish. “We went for a walk in the park. I smell like sweat and it’s gross. Plus, I’m wearing body spray.”

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