Page 1 of Bound in Promise
1
VICTORIA
Wednesday, September 25, 10:30 PM
I’m trapped in a random, rundown hotel with my psychotic ex and a broken phone. All because he’s desperate for my trust fund.
A trust fund I still don’t have access to, even though I got married specifically to get the money and get the hell away from the mob looking to collect on my ex’s dead father’s debt.
Yeah, it’s a crazy mess and one I never wanted to be involved with.
All I’ve ever wanted is to graduate from my parent-approved private university, finish the community college culinary program that my parents definitely did not approve, and move to Paris with my bestie to open a bakery and enjoy life far, far away from my controlling parents.
Is that really too much to ask?
Well, apparently it is, considering I’ve been kidnapped by Liam, my off-the-charts crazy ex for a road trip to who knows where. Liam’s refusing to tell me anything about his plans, but I know enough to be terrified.
With every exit sign we passed, putting more miles between us and Graham Community’s culinary arts building parking lot—you know, the lot he kidnapped me from—increased my fear.
It was almost a relief when Liam instructed me to finally turn off the interstate and pull up to this budget hotel. Until he pressed his gun into my rib cage and forced me to cooperate as he booked us a room.
He spent the entire check in process gloating to the elderly clerk about how we’d just gotten married and were on our way to our honeymoon.
Meanwhile, Dante, my actual husband, kept calling, clearly trying to get a hold of me. Once we got into the room and the door closed, Liam stopped masking his rage, confiscated my phone, and smashed it against the bathroom tile floor until it broke in pieces.
All I could think about was if Liam meant what he said back at Graham. Is he truly planning to hurt Dante?
I can’t imagine it.
Honestly, I don’t want to. We’re in this together, and Dante is doing everything in his power to protect me. But now I’ve failed him. I have no way to warn him that he needs to be careful, that his nephew is planning to make me a widow—not with a broken phone and zero chance to escape.
No, for once Liam is paying attention to every detail. He’s kept a deadly weapon locked on me for the last several hours.
I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that the mob is nothing new to Dante, that he was part of this kind of organization before, that he had a reputation. Hopefully he has a sixth sense for when people are trying to kill him.
“Eat, Vee,” Liam growls, shoving a styrofoam container of Chinese food at me. “You’re no good to me dead.”
Oh, well, at least there’s that.
I don’t bother to touch it. My stomach is twisted into knots, making it impossible to imagine eating anything. My mind won’t stop trying to think my way out of this awful situation. “I’m not hungry.”
He glowers at me, stabbing his plastic fork into his spicy noodles. The combination of the smell and my fear for Dante’s life is making me nauseous. “Is this how you’re gonna be? A straight pain in my ass?”
Fear slithers through my veins, but I keep it off my face. I won’t give him the satisfaction. He’s never been this aggressive, this crazy, in the past. And while I never allowed Liam to push me around before, there’s something to be said for the minimum level of cooperation to stay alive. But he doesn’t get to have my fear too.
“What did you expect? You carjacked me!”
His expression softens a tad before he rests his elbow on the small table, picking his fork back up again. “You wouldn’t have listened otherwise. You wouldn’t even let me in your dorm?—”
“You were trying to break the door down, Liam. You scared me.”
He shrugs as if it doesn’t matter. “You were dodging me.”
I’m relieved when anger starts to heat my chest. I’d rather feed off that than give in to the absolute terror hovering at the edges of my mind. “I can do whatever I want?—”
“You were my fiancée, Vee. Not his. How the fuck did you think I was going to take it?”
“You were going to steal my money and leave me here,” I argue, tears burning the back of my eyes. “So, yeah, I?—”
