Page 73 of Bound in Promise
Sunday, October 6, 7:00 PM
“You can’t be serious! You’re demanding I jump on a plane to Paris alone? Without saying anything to Ellie? Are you out of your mind, Dante? I’m not leaving like this!”
Well, that went like shit.
We checked into an Enzo-approved luxury hotel to rest and regroup. God knows we all needed it after the shit hit the fan at Lombardi’s estate. Enzo and I took shifts staying up while Victoria slept like the dead.
She woke up sometime in the late afternoon, and I let her FaceTime with Ellie. I’d almost forgotten the sound of my wife’s laughter. She and her friend were all smiles as they assured each other they were safe and whole. Then we made a feast out of the room service menu.
Things were fine until I told her we were leaving for the airstrip in a few short hours. And she’d be boarding the plane alone.
To say she’s not taking it well would be an understatement.
Her crystal blue eyes are narrowed into thin slits and she’s stomping back and forth in front of the rumpled bed. I would’ve warmed her up to the idea on the drive here, before she had a chance to rest up, but Enzo was in the car and I didn’t want him hearing us fight. He doesn’t need to know the dirty details about our impending separation. Bad enough that he’s on the other side of the suite’s connecting door, making the final arrangements for Victoria’s arrival in Paris.
I didn’t think she’d be so pissed about the timing of it all.
She’s been kidnapped, groped, auctioned, and rescued through a bloody firefight in the last twenty-four hours. And now she’s on her way to a new country without anything familiar—not her shit, not her husband, dumbass. How did you think she’d take it?
“Victoria,” I begin, as gently as I can. “I will make sure you have everything you need when?—”
“I’m not going?—”
“You have to get out of here,” I repeat for what feels like the hundredth time. “I don’t know how Angelo set his business up and I don’t want you in the crossfire when shit hits the fan. After you land in Paris, I’ll make arrangements to get you whatever you need. Once I’ve tied up all the loose ends, I’ll come and make sure you’re settled and let you know it’s over.”
She gapes at me, her eyes glistening with tears.
I’m not trying to be a douchebag. However, we’re not out of the woods yet. No, she won’t be safe until I know Angelo’s organization is well and truly destroyed.
“You’re going to ship me off,” she replies matter-of-factly, “to a country I’ve never even visited. You expect me to just be okay with that?”
“It won’t be like that.”
“No,” she replies, crossing her arms over her chest. “If I can’t come back after I leave the States, then you’re coming with me.”
“Victoria—”
“Do you think I’m stupid, Dante?” she sneers. “If you get yourself captured, or worse, killed, how in the hell am I supposed to save you if I’m in fucking France?”
I stare at her, briefly speechless. I can’t believe that’s where her mind went.
Then it clicks back on that there’s no way I would allow her to do something that dangerous in a million years.
“That’s not going to happen,” I snap. “I’m just making sure all our bases are covered.”
“And then what?”
I inhale. My body is already tense in anticipation of the next problem we’re about to have.
“We get divorced,” I say flatly, hating when I catch her quick flinch.
“You’re still on that, huh?”
I bow my head. “You deserve so much more than what I can offer you, princess. I won’t lie and say I won’t miss you.”
She stares at me for another moment, and my stomach twists itself into knots.
I could tell her more than that, but what good would that do? Exposing my feelings for her would only confuse her. I’m trying my best to make this as easy as possible.
