Page 2 of Vengeful Vows

“Not for much longer.” He rises from behind the desk and walks over to Bree, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her head up.

She bares her teeth like a cornered animal, and I smile.

She has bite. Many would be screaming, begging for their lives if they encountered the head of the Burke family and his two heirs. But not Bree Murphy.

“Wanting to claim the kill for yourself, Da?” Gray sets his empty glass down on the table beside him.

“The opposite.”

I frown, watching as my father tilts Bree’s face left, then right. “I don’t understand.”

“You need to clean up this mess,” Da snaps, letting go of Bree and turning on me. “You had the brilliant idea of kidnapping Niall Murphy’s daughter, putting us at the top of his hit list, so you’re going to marry her to fix that little predicament.”

I blink. Once. Twice.

“Oh fuck!” Gray howls with laughter, clutching his chest as he tries to catch his breath.

“No!” Bree snarls.

All this time, through when I clamped one hand over her mouth, threw her into my arms, and carried her out, she hadn’t spoken a single word. She fought me, of course, and I have the claw marks along my forearms to prove it. She’d even gotten in a swift kick to my nether regions that is still aching, but she hadn’t screamed. She had kept that pretty mouth closed, and I almost found it intriguing.

I guess this is her line.

But this is kind of my line too.

My eyes go to my dad. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious.”

“Never pictured you as the settling down type,” Gray teases, standing up and strolling over to the bar cart.

I clench my hands into fists and round on my father.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” I spit. “Why not Gray? He’s the oldest.”

“Fuck off.” Gray chuckles as he lifts the lid of the whiskey decanter and pours himself another large glass. “She’s what, nineteen?”

“Twenty-one,” I correct.

Gray cocks an eyebrow at me.

“Yeah no. I like mine with a little experience if you catch my drift. No offense, little girl.” He winks in Bree’s direction.

She bares her teeth, straining against the leather bindings once more, making her tits bounce.

Fuck.

I try to erase the image from my mind as I try to work through my racing thoughts.

“No, not happening.” I shake my head.

“Too late. Gray is too old for her, and you need to suffer the consequences of your actions.” My father jams his index finger into my chest.

Despite the fact that I’m a six-foot-two adult man, my stomach still twists at the look of disappointment in his gray eyes.

“I don’t see how marrying the daughter of our enemy is going to solve our issues with Niall. If anything, you’re adding fuel to the fire.”

“Yeah. You don’t scream son-in-law of the year,” Gray chimes in.

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