Page 37 of Bound in Promise
He wants her.
He invited us to dinner to learn more about her. It’s a trap I’m not sure we’ll be able to avoid.
“That’s not going to happen,” I vow, flipping back the comforter and standing from the bed.
“Dante, I can’t leave. I need—” I spin on my heels and pin her with a glare.
“You need to be alive, Victoria. That man will not leave you the fuck alone after you pay him back. He’ll want more. And if you won’t give it to him willingly, he’ll take it. You’re not safe here.”
“What is he going to do, huh?” she says, sitting up from the tangle of bedding. “He can’t bully us forever. The cops have to be sniffing around him for something. If he keeps bothering me, I’ll?—”
“We’re done talking about this. You don’t know shit about men like him. He will either keep you for himself or sell you to the highest bidder. Your career will be the least of your worries if he gets his hands on you, princess. Your best bet is to follow my lead and adapt.”
Her facial expression shifts to ugly hatred. She’s reached the end of her rope as it finally clicks for her that the life she knew is officially over.
All it took for that realization to hit was her ex being shot to death.
What complete and utter fucking shit.
“I’ll decide what I want to do,” she fumes. “You’re not the boss of me.”
“I will be if I have to. You’re not going through this alone. I married you to protect you. The last thing you’re going to do is pay this motherfucker thinking you can go back to life before he knew you existed. Your life will never be the same again. You can thank the ex-boyfriend that you so pointlessly cried for. He fucked you over, but I got involved to make sure you don’t die, or worse.”
Victoria’s jaw locks, but in the next second I can see her nostrils flare as she takes a deep, calming breath. “You know I appreciate that?—”
“I don’t,” I lie. I know she’s grateful, but the truth is, I don’t enjoy seeing my wife shed tears over another man. One that’s been inside her, that wanted her for himself. No matter how long or short the affair may have been. “My offer still stands. When I get you out of the States, we’ll go our separate ways. I’ll give you a divorce without taking a dime of your money. You’ll be able to live your life in peace and start over with new friends and people who will support you. You obviously don’t have that here with your parents. So, maybe this was a blessing in disguise.”
“Just because I have a soul, Dante,” Victoria growls low, “doesn’t mean I have unresolved feelings for Liam. He died next to me. I heard him fall to the ground. None of that was supposed to happen.”
“I’m glad it did,” I confess wholeheartedly. “Because now I don’t have to worry about him touching you again or stirring up even more shit. However, I still have him to thank for Angelo’s dinner invitation. Fuck knows what his intentions are and if he’s about to screw my whole fucking plan up.”
Victoria frowns. “What do you mean?”
I shake my head at my little ray of sunshine. She isn’t getting it. Angelo is not a good man. Obviously, she saw him kill my nephew. But now she’s an even bigger target than before. “He wants you, princess.”
And that means I’ve moved to the top of his hit list, although I don’t tell her that.
Angelo can have my head blown off next so that I’m not an obstacle in his game anymore. Without me around to fight for her, he could easily take Victoria’s money and keep her.
“He—you’re sure?” she asks me. “But we’re married.”
I level an exasperated look at her. “You think that matters to him?”
My wife doesn’t reply, not that she needs to. We’re stuck in this, and whether she wants to accept it or not, there’s no way out. But I’ll be her savior and her villain—by any means necessary.
I’m her husband.
Even if my wife did just weep for hours over her asshole ex-boyfriend.
Even if she doesn’t want anything I have to offer, despite the fact that I’m doing everything I can to make sure she’s still breathing at the end of the day.
“I’ll come back to check up on you,” I manage to bite out, needing some space to get my head back on straight.
This woman is making me feel things I have no business feeling, and I’ve gotten too involved.
She doesn’t want me.
That’s good.
