Page 5 of Beautiful Vows

Antonio’s gaze meets mine. “I know it’s hard to trust us after everything that has happened, but please, hear me out.”

“Trust you?”

I wait for him to speak again.

His expression softens, and a hint of remorse flickers in his eyes. “Yes. Lia, I know it’s not that simple,” he replies, his voice tinged with regret. “You’ll soon find out that nothing is as it first seems.”

“Isn’t it?” My words are laced with bitterness. “Did you kill my mother?”

“It is difficult to answer.”

“You either did or didn’t. It isn’t hard to answer.”

“Let me go to my safe. I have something for you.”

“No,” I insist, my voice firm. “Stay there.”

“I have a video for you,” Antonio says, his voice tinged with seriousness. “I don’t fear death. I never have, Lia, but I fear you will never see this. Before you kill me, let me play it.”

My gaze finds the gun lying on the table in front of him once more. “Okay.”

Like he knows what I’m thinking. He slides it away and places it in a drawer. His gaze meets mine, and for a moment, an unspoken understanding passes between us.

“We’ll talk about your reason for being here once you’ve watched the video. It’s a message…” He pauses for a moment, and I’m sure I see him turn away when tears spike his eyes. “For you.”

I swallow hard, my throat dry and constricted. Numbly, I nod, my curiosity mingling with dread. “For me?”

He turns back to me after a beat and says, “Yes. It’s from your mother.”

Chapter 2

Lia

I’m not buying it, no way. “I don’t believe you,” I retort, hating that he’s trying to use my mom right now, and it stings. These men murdered her and now they’re laughing at me. Taunting her death in my face.

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“No. You’re trying to trick me.”

He takes his gun from the drawer and points it at my face. I close my eyes, ready to die, then open them. If he’s going to kill me, I want him to see my life disappear as he takes it.

“Do it.” Strangely, the voice in my head is telling me he can’t—I just don’t know why.

“Brave or stupid. I can’t decide which.” His words linger as he lowers the gun. “You need to trust me. If I wanted you dead, you would already be six feet under.”

“Trust is earned, and I am not yet ready to let down my guard, not even for the possibility of a connection to my mother.”

“Then hopefully this helps.” He slides his gun across the table.

I grab it without taking a breath, holding it up to his face and say, “What’s really in the safe?”

“It’s a video for you from your mother. From Aurora Moretti to her daughter, Aurelia Moretti.”

It really is.

Antonio’s words hang in the air. I exhale small breaths as the revelation sends a shock wave through my entire being, threatening to shatter the walls I've built to protect myself.

My eyes flick from left to right as I watch him as I try to process the weight of his words. “A video. I’ll see her?”

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