Page 12 of Stolen Vows
“What the fucking hell do you think you’re doing?Where were you?”Pietro hisses.
I lean back in shock at his tone.Nothing in his actions over the last two months has hinted that he’s anything but adoring and pleased with his daughter.
Valentina opens her mouth to respond, but he yanks her arm so hard she stumbles into him.
“Why weren’t you sitting next to Romeo?Are you trying to ruin everything?”
“No, Daddy.I’m sorry.I wasn’t feeling well and Romeo said he’d save my seat, so I went to the restroom, and—”
“Did your period start?”
Pietro’s entire countenance changes.He loosens his grip on her arm, steps back, and cups her face.Valentina doesn’t evade.She blinks wide, overly innocent eyes up at him as he continues.My gut sours at the poorly concealed excitement building within his concern.
“Is it painful?Should we leave?I can cancel my plans for the next few days.”
“No, Daddy, don’t do that.I’m fine, really,” Valentina says.
When she bats her lashes at him, a wave of nausea surges through me.She looks so much like her mother in this moment it’s eerie.I swallow bile.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.You haven’t come to me since we left home.Are you sure?”he half apologizes, half pleads.
“I’m sure.Don’t worry about me.I’m okay.”
“You’ll come to me when you need help,capisci?”
“Of course, Daddy.”
Unsettled by the vibe, I lean closer to the screen, but Pietro shifts, preventing me from studying Valentina’s expression.After a moment of holding her, he nods and offers her his elbow.
“Let’s get back to the party before anyone asks the Yovannis about our absence,” he urges.
When Valentina perks up and offers him a radiant smile, I sneer at the screen.
She manipulates her father with appalling ease.
I drop the headphones onto the keyboard and stalk out of the room.
Between her childish nightgowns and pitiful act to get her father’s attention, Valentina proves to be more conniving than I realized.
I stop halfway down the hall when a disturbing thought crosses my mind.
What if I was never her target?What if she lied to her father about me to make him jealous?Is she the reason her mother disappeared?Was she clearing the way so she could have her father to herself?
Disgust twists my insides, but I push beyond my initial reaction and humor the idea.
It doesn’t quite match up.Sure, Valentina likes older men, but there was no seduction in her responses to her father.
Would they stay apart for two months if they were lovers?
Despite the alerts I set up every night, uncertainty creeps into me.
I pull my phone out of the inner pocket of my suit coat and dial a contact labeled The Kid.
Two years after Pietro left me for dead, I ran into Noah Romano, a scrawny seventeen-year-old boy down on his luck and in the wrong place at the wrong time, on the streets.It was my second venture out into the slums to relieve my pent-up fury on no-name lowlifes as I built my strength after my last surgery.I took him under my wing and gave him direction, and now he’s the wickedly smart tech genius behind all my operations.
He answers before the first ring ends.
“Hey, boss, what’s up?”
