Page 88 of Dangerous Vows

He’s in the line of fire, because of me.

I keep this information to myself until Joseph leaves. Then I walk to Pietro’s study, where I find him buried in a laptop. He’s like an army of one. I doubt he gets as much sleep as Matteo, and he has a toddler.

“You didn’t tell me,” I accuse, stepping into the room, “that Luca has been reassigned.”

He doesn’t look up. “You’ve been through enough.”

“I still deserve the truth.”

“You want the truth?” His voice sharpens. “You’re locked up here because someone put a hit on me, and you could be next. You want to be outside when the bullets start flying?” He closes the lid on his electronic device.

“If I wanted to be locked up, I’d go back to my father or marry Vukan,” I snap.

His head quickly jerks to meet my gaze. His eyes blaze as he jumps to his feet. Then, he’s flying across the room until we’re face to face. “Don’t say his name in my house. You are mine.”

His hand wraps around my neck, and for a second, it’s as if we’re back to where we were before everything changed.

“You think I’m keeping you here to punish you? I keep you breathing. Miloš and your father want to take everything from me, and you’re the crown jewel.”

I’m breathing so hard that my chest is visibly moving. I meet his gaze, and it’s a battle of wills.

I inhale, preparing for him to ravage my mouth, but he drops his hand as if my skin burned him. He takes a step back and rakes a hand through his hair. “You think I want this? Don’t you know that I worryconstantly about you and the baby? Do I want to murder your father for what he did to you? Of course. Don’t you know what I’d give to go back in time? Back to where this all started without the complications? But that’s not how this works. Not when there’s a war on our front door.”

“And when it ends?” I whisper.

He exhales slowly. “Then I let you out of this house. But you’ll always have guards. That’s how we live. It’s the only way to keep you and my baby safe.”

But it’s what he’s not saying that makes me worried. Where do I fit into that picture? I don’t trust my voice to answer. For once, I wish he’d lie to me. I wish he’d tell me he loved me and wanted me, even if it’s not true.

But I’ve learned the truth resides in what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t declare his love for me because all he cares about is this baby, and I’m just a complication he has to bear for him to get what he wants.

I’m here to make him a father.

This realization is so devastating that I gasp like I’ve been knocked on my ass.

“It’s my baby, too!” I shout as I flee the room. I’m not hungry, but I know the baby needs to eat, so I nibble at the warm food before returning to my room to binge-watch an old TV show.

I had a simple plan to obtain protection from the Borrellis. I thought I would be safe and free. But I flew from one cage and into another. I never saw myself pregnant, and because of it, I’m tied to Pietro and this dark world forever.

Pietro iselusive as the Abominable Snowman. It’s the middle of the night when a steady flow of voices wakes me. Their voices lulled me out of my dreams even though they’re speaking softly.

I hear Matteo’s deep voice is smooth and commanding. Pietro’s isstill short—clipped, even though it’s his usual tone with me, I’m surprised he’s speaking to his brother like that.

Pietro has become my Darth Vader of karma. Maybe I was doomed from the start—but what’s his excuse?

Our fathers carved their anger into our flesh. We both carry scars from our childhood, but something shifted the night I was beaten to a pulp.

The night everything cracked open like an egg.

The night something in both of us died—and something darker took its place.

It’s killing me to live with Pietro and knowing he won’t touch me. I’ve been here for weeks, and I’m getting stronger, but he’s not changed toward me. I can’t imagine living like this. I want him to pull me into his arms and tell me we can fix this, we can fix us.

But day after day, his lack of involvement disappoints me.

Then there is the fact that I’m horny as fuck, and he’s here, within my grasp, but unobtainable. It’s a mind fuck.

I hear the brothers talking, their muffled voices drifting through the walls. It seems they are discussing their business and how to find Miloš.

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