Page 34 of Beautiful Vows

Before I was shot, I was sure he was about to tell me how he felt about me. Not that I told him, but my feelings were real from the moment I married him. But I know our union will only breed more tragedy.

And I’m not taking a chance.

As I look out the window over the moonlit sea, I make a silent vow. Because I know these innocent babies will become the next pawns in their power games.

I know the stakes could be even higher with twins.

Would Dante’s enemies target them for revenge?

Would that be the Syndicate?

Or would the Syndicate see them as future assets to be shaped and controlled?

The mere possibility chills my blood.

No, I can’t risk it. The decision saddens me to my core. But I won’t allow my children to be burdened by a legacy tainted in blood.

I get why my mother ran when she was pregnant. In the end, she chose my freedom over her life, and I’m doing the same. Repeating her life. But it’s not about me anymore. It’s about my babies. The cruel irony isn’t lost on me.

Like my mother before me, I’ll pay any price.

Only for today will I allow myself this last moment of grief before I forge a fresh path.

Tomorrow, our new life starts.

Chapter 12

Lia

I find solace in this place.

I don’t like the humidity, though. It's so bad that my skin feels like there's a tap on the top of my head, and I don't want to even think about how much my hair is a damp mess.

I suppose it's because I don't care about how I look right now. Yet as deep as the hurt I’m drowning in, I can’t wallow any more. She’d not like that.

My mother.

It still feels surreal.

Not that I know her, or remember her, but as I glance down at the letter on my knee. The one I’ve read over and over.

The letter from my mother to me.

Antonio gave me three envelopes, one for each of her daughters.

I should have given Milly hers, but I have to be strong enough to talk to her and Amara first.

Picking up the paper, I read her words again. Probably for the hundredth time since the moment I’ve been alone.

Reading about her sorrow at what she planned to do. And the wishes she had for me to be free. Telling me she had no choice. Her love for her children was greater than the role she’d been born into. Telling me how she loved her home in the Swiss mountains. How safe she felt there. But she knew one day they’d find her.

She told me how much she wished she could have married Antonio. The only man she thought she would love until she fell in love with my dad—Fredrico Rossi. Not that she mentioned that. I suspect it was something they agreed upon.

After everything I learned, I’m thankful Dante did it his way and not as the Syndicate would have liked.

And despite me running as far away from the Syndicate that I can, there is a part of me that would love to change how it’s organized.

My mother was the ring that bound the Syndicate, because the Moretti female was the most powerful of all the families.

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