Page 118 of Vengeful Vows

What happens when he finds out? Does he come after me right away? Shoot me between the eyes? Will he make me suffer first?

“Did you send your father a coded message? I need to know. I need to know if you betrayed me and my family. If you almost got me killed.” His face is blank, his blue eyes hard as he stares into my soul.

Tears fill my eyes, and I can’t stop them from falling. “That was before,” I whisper.

Declan’s hands fist, crumpling the papers, and he stands up, nearly knocking the chair over.

“So, you did it. You’re the reason we were ambushed, the reason I got shot. You nearly got me killed.” His voice is flat and steady, but it cracks at the end. “How could you? How could you tell me that you love me when you betrayed me? Damn you.” He throws the papers at me.

They hit me in the chest, and I let them fall to the ground. Tears keep streaming down my face but something like anger is rising up within me.

“That was before, Declan. Before I knew that you loved me. I know it’s not much of an excuse, but this is not all on me. You kidnapped me, made me marry you. You made me fall in love with you. Made me torn between my family and yours. Damn you for that!”

“I thought my family was your family.” His jaw is tight, and I know he’s gritting his teeth so hard his jaw will ache later.

I take a step toward him. “You ripped me from my family. I haven’t seen my father in weeks!”

“Your father is a monster!” he roars, slamming his hands down on the desk. “I saved you, can’t you see that?”

“I’m not some fucking princess in the tower waiting for my white knight, Declan,” I shoot back. “Nobody asked you to save me. And fuck you for even saying that. You didn’t do this out of some need to save me. You did it to start a war, and you know that.”

“That was before,” Declan says softly, his shoulders slumping. “That was before I fell in love with you.”

“Then why can’t you understand why I did what I did?”

“Because you betrayed me!” he shouts. “Because you lied. Do you even have a dog?”

“I did,” I admit, crossing my arms over my chest. “She died years ago.”

“So, that was it,” he seethes. “It was the fucking dog, all along.”

“Does it really matter, Declan? What matters is that this is done. This is over. Kill me if you want to. I’m tired of worrying about it.”

He freezes, staring at me, his gaze boring through me. “You really think I could do that? You think I’m just going to jump across this desk and strangle you with my bare hands?”

“I don’t know.” I tilt my chin up. “How am I supposed to know what you do to someone like me? To a dirty Murphy who got you shot?”

Declan stalks toward me, putting his hands on my shoulders, his fingers digging into my flesh, but I don’t wrench away. I look right at him, wanting him to see me before he kills me.

I’m not afraid.

I’m angry. How dare he kidnap me, force me into this life, and then get mad at me when I try to escape it?

“What would you have done?” I demand to know. “What would you have done if someone uprooted you from your life, showed you a whole new way? Would you just take it? Or would you try to escape any way you could?”

Declan loosens his grip, and I wrench away from him.

“You act like you and your family are perfect, like you’ve done nothing wrong,” I accuse. “But who was it that started all of this? Because it damn sure wasn’t me."

“You can't argue that your father isn’t a monster.”

I scoff. “And you can’t argue that yours isn’t one either!” My voice raises. My skin feels hot all over, and looking at Declan, I can’t believe this is the same man who had his arms wrapped around me all night.

“It’s different,” he insists, and I bark out a bitter laugh.

“Of course, it is. It’s always different when it’s you, isn’t it? If I’m so beneath you, then why did you ever make love to me? Why did you tell me that you loved me? Why did you marry me? And why won’t you let me go?”

He’s trembling enough that I notice it. “The Burkes don’t sexualize children. The Burkes respect women, not send them to prostitute themselves. There’s a difference between Niall Murphy and my da.”

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