Page 30 of My Solemn Vow
“Yes,” Neil answers shortly, and I had forgotten my initial question. Lucky for me, I guess, Uncle Neil doesn’t miss an opportunity to talk down to me. “Yes, we do expect you to do as we say and marry the D’Medici woman because once our families are joined and the bodies are buried, the bad blood can be put to rest. The truce was called. We all have a duty to do.”
“Fuck. The. Truce,” I snap.
I tried to keep my voice down before, the echoing in the main part of the church always feels so loud, but now I’m at full volume. My fingers inch closer to my gun.I could kill Neil...
“We have what we need. The information I got should stop the bleeding out and their attacks on us. This would be the leverage needed to take the D’Medicis down.” I try to bargain with them and remind them where I was.
My wolf snarls,End them both, and we can stop all of this. All. Of. This. We can protect our pup.
No.I stop myself, leaving my gun in the holster, pacing back and forth before him. Neil isn’t the man I’m taking an issue with. Beyond that, Uncle Neil isn’t worth the bullet, the penance, or the cleanup. He has never made a move to become alpha or take over the business. Probably because he knows he can’t.
I let out the snarl from my wolf. “Bring the person who called the truce here, and I’ll kill them. It’s not too late to fix this mess.”
Neil takes a step back.
If I were having this conversation with my father in front of anyone more than Neil and Father Michael, one of my father’s chief advisors, I’d be out of line. It would be grounds for a gun to my head or teeth around my throat for openly questioning, challenging, showing distrust of the head of the family.
“I don’t think you’d like the outcome of that.” My father is barely even showing emotions. But his hands are in his pockets, and his eyes are bright gold. I’m pissing him off even if he refuses to say it. “Before you try to void the truce, perhaps a little information about it would be prudent.” This time, he releases a small growl, warning me. I stop pacing again. “It was called to protect Kerrianne.”
It’s as though he threw a bucket of ice water on my soul.Fuck.
“And the woman you’re supposed to marry is the one who turned a gun on her own people for Kerrianne. So, if you’d like to kill your new wife and violate the well-calculated truce, you’d better have a foolproof plan to keep your daughter safe from the retaliation they’d be well within their right to take...”
I didn’t put it together. An incident at the school, Sean being dead, and the truce. Nausea rolls through me. I rest my hand against the pew beside me, bracing my weight.If the D’Medicicalled a truce to save Kerrianne and I were to kill the truce caller, then they would come for Kerrianne.
“You don’t have to like the situation. You don’t have to like your bride.” My uncle tries to justify this as he hems and haws. “It’s peace. We could only wish to be so lucky to see true peace in our lifetimes.”
“But you will.” My father cuts him off, reassuring me with a hand on my shoulder. “You will see peace. She’ll be a good wife for you. Antonella D’Medici was raised in this life. She knows her place. It doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful, and don’t think I’d let just anyone be in my granddaughter’s life.”
Antonella D’Medici, a niece of Gregorio D’Medici, then. Fuckin’ Mafia princess.
I drop my head and scoff as sounds of vehicles pulling up in front of the church filter through the thinner panes of stained glass above our heads—easily heard with wolf ears.
“You were mated to Holly before. Wolves surviving their mate’s death isn’t usual, Valor. She might not have been your fated mate, but living a life alone isn’t good for you.” Dad throws his and Mom’s concern, one they don’t bring up, at me.
I desperately wanted Holly to be my fated mate, but it wasn’t in the cards. We claimed each other and had Kerrianne, but losing her didn’t make me feral. Sad, but not feral.
Car doors slam just outside.
“That’ll be them, then.” Father Michael nods toward the back of the church, where I’d been brought into this mess thirty minutes ago.
I assumed today was Sean’s funeral. Instead, it’s a nightmare that happens to lay a loyal soldier to rest.
“It would be better if the truce was never called. We were so close to decimating them all.” I scoff, snatching my jacket off the pew before following Father Michael and the pack’s leaders back to the church’s entryway.
No one contradicts me, and with each step, acceptance seepsin. I shrug on my jacket, relaxing my shoulders, and focus on the light of my life. Surviving the loss of Holly was easier because my little raptor needed me. Kerrianne couldn’t lose both her parents.
We descend the stairs in the vestibule and approach the main doors.
Once the final car of the caravan parks, the driver gets out and rounds the hood while two guards from the lead cars walk along the wall of vehicles. The driver opens the front passenger door, and Don D’Medici steps out. But the rear passenger door is opened from the interior. A guard blocks her from the rear of the car, but no one helps her as she maneuvers her dress and gets out of the car.
I catch sight of the four-inch heels she’s wearing and keep that in mind for judging her height against me.
She’s not struggling, but it’s clear she’d move more easily with assistance.
Her dress is fitted from her collarbones to her thighs, just above her knees, where it flares out around her. It isn’t a traditional white wedding gown. Instead, the black fabric catches the early morning light. Sequined or some sort of sparkly lace fabric covers a simple, but not plain, black gown of some nature. It’s long sleeved, and the garment’s modesty is unexpected, but I can’t put my finger on why.
Because she’s not flashy like the usual Mafia wives we’ve stalked,my wolf supplies.She’s beautiful.
