Page 50 of Ruthless Vow

Click.A bomb blew up the motel I was staying in.

Click.No one knew I was there except my aunt and her people.

Click.Someone in my aunt’s organization set those two bombs.

And just like that, the truth is clear. Bianca had known my father would be working late at the restaurant that night. How many times had I wondered why Bianca even needed my father to reclaim her heritage?

She didn’t.

Bianca is the one who killed my father.

Then she tried to kill me because when I didn’t shoot Leo on the yacht, my usefulness ran out. I hadn’t carried out her orders, and I had blown my cover. I would no longer be able to funnel information to her about the Russos.

The note I’d left for her had told her exactly where I was staying, led her straight to the Desert Mirage Motel.

The person in my aunt’s organization who has been setting those bombs is my aunt.

I should have told Leo exactly who I reported to. I should have told him everything. I should have asked Salvatore for help years ago.

Bianca has been holding my sister hostage for more than two fucking years. Why did I not acknowledge what she was capable of?

And Sofia? Is she even still alive?

My rage and pain swell and I throw back my head and scream. Who fucking cares if Danila hears me?

I’d climbed into this limo like a lamb to the slaughter, blinded by the possibility of seeing my sister again. But that isn’t where we’re going.

My aunt has ordered my death.

And Danila is driving me to my grave.

17

Nicole

When we come to a stop,I wait, tense, listening for any sounds. I’ve already searched the back of the limo. There’s nothing here I can use as a makeshift weapon. Even the water bottles have been removed. I don’t have a plan to get myself out of this. Not a good one. I exist now on sheer adrenaline and pure survival instinct.

And rage. A whole boatload of rage.

The back door opens with a creak.

“Let’s go,” Danila instructs.

I emerge slowly from the limo and peer around at my surroundings. It’s almost fully dark. Only a thin line of red, orange, and purple at the horizon shows the spot where the sun went down. We’re in the desert, at the side of a two-lane road. Overhead, the moon is almost full, a round silver disk in the star-flung navy sky.

Danila gestures with the gun he’s holding. “Walk.”

I consider making some sort of a deal, but what do I have to offer? Bianca’s rich, I don’t know how rich, while I’m nothing but a liability with a few thousand dollars in her savings account.

Besides, I have a strong suspicion that Danila has ties to the Chicago syndicate. Which means he’s unlikely to turn against her even if I had something of value to offer.

It infuriates me that I can’t figure a way out of this. And that I got in the back of that limo of my own free will, not once but twice. The first time outside the storage facility. The second time, just now in front of my aunt’s house. I let myself be lured into the spiderweb, a hapless fly about to be devoured.

Maybe a part of my aunt feels bad about giving this order. I doubt it. Bianca would consider getting rid of me a smart business decision.

I keep walking, anxiously eyeing my surroundings, searching for a way out. Rock formations and dunes dot the landscape. Potential hiding places.

The moon is both my friend and my enemy, offering enough illumination that I can study my surrounding… and enough illumination that Danila will be able to see me if I run.

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