Page 29 of Vow to Me

“Everything,” Luca finishes for me.

He’s right, it was everything. He iseverything.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Luca

I’m not a good man, in any sense of the term. My only redeeming qualities are that I refuse to hurt women and children. I don’t show kindness to people unless they’re from my close circle, which includes my brothers, my father, Alec, and now Izzy. I don’t really have anyone else; I have an aunt from my mother's side and a couple of cousins, but they’re not part of the Mafia life, my aunt left this life behind before her kids were born and never looked back. We speak on occasion but keep our distance for the sake of their safety.

I didn’t lie earlier when I told Izzy that tonight I wouldn’t be gentle. That was the truth. The lie was that I was only fucking her. As I lie here, catching my breath after the most intense sexual experience of my life, I realize something.

That was not—in any way—mejust fuckingmy wife. That was me consuming her, showing her a part of herself that she didn’t know existed. That was me letting her inside me, showing her the deepest, darkest side of myself. That was me letting her in completely, and it was me—in my twisted, depraved, fucked up way—making love to her for the first time.

“Hey, Iz?”

“Yeah?” she mumbles sleepily in reply.

“Why did you go through with the marriage? You don’t seem to particularly like your father—so it wasn’t for his approval, and you can take care of yourself just fine, you could have run at any point, so why didn’t you? Why did you marry me?” I ask, it’s something I’ve been wondering about since she came into the basement to tell me about her phone call with Antonio, it’s clear she is in no way his biggest fan, she can physically take care of herself and she’s always working, so it’s not like she needs money.

Izzy tenses in my arms before she swallows and peers up at me.

“My mama always believed in arranged marriages, I can’t understand why, but she did. Her and my father’s marriage was arranged, but they loved each other fiercely, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. A part of my father died the day my mother did, he wasn’t always this bad, he could be, but it wasn’t his constant personality like it is now. Mama always used to tell me tales about how one day, they would arrange a marriage for me, to someone who would be fierce and strong, someone who could protect me, always. I guess I married you because I thought that it would make her happy, even though she’s not here anymore. I felt like I would be disappointing her—letting her down—if I didn’t go through with it,” she says with misty eyes, but she blinks before any tears can fall. My strong girl, my fierce little queen.

“I may not be the man you dreamt up when you were a child, but I’ll always take care of you, I’ll always protect you and give you choices, I don’t want to dull your light or your fight, Izzy. You’re a queen,mia regina.I’ll help you fight any demons youhave, baby, but you don’t have to be strong all the time, it’s okay to fall apart too. I’ll be here to help you put yourself back together,” I say, and she snuggles closer into my side, her body shakes, and her silent tears soak my skin. I hold my wife in my arms as she sobs silently, she doesn’t let me see her fall apart, but she lets me hold her through it, drawing strength from me as she breaks my heart in two.

It’s been five days since the gala, and I’ve spent the last few days catching up with work on our legal side of business, spending time with Izzy and tracking the movements of Elias Williams.

Turns out, the asshole who dared to lay his hands on my wife isn’t just some dumb fuck nobody. No, he turned out to be a prominent businessman, and the mayor’s cousin. And while under normal circumstances, I’d happily bring him to one of our warehouses and torture the stupid fuck before putting him out of his misery, unfortunately, that would be a danger to me and my family.

Needless to say, I am in no way letting him get away with touching what’s mine, I just can’t make it a public display to warn others of what happens if they decide to do the same, much to my dismay. So, I’m having to settle for killing him quickly, with a less personal touch than I would like but I’d rather that than let the slimy little fucker live.

I’ve spent some time following him, learning his patterns, his routine, his schedule. Which is how I’m currently sat in an armchair in the corner of his bedroom, knowing he’ll be arriving home in approximately seven and a half minutes.

I take in my surroundings, cringing at the over-the-top, pretentious bedding, to the watch collection he has on display as though it’s a piece of fucking artwork. Elias Williams likes to fancy himself as a god, it seems. He’s egotistical, has no concerns in taking what he wants, like his attempt on taking my wife for himself—very poor judgement on his part—and seems to enjoy gambling, spending his money in strip clubs, owned bymyfucking family and tends to act like he's the center of the universe.

That fucking ends tonight.

I hear the car engine rev as it pulls up to the house and into the driveway before cutting off.

Elias likes to make the impression that he’s vastly wealthy, but if that was the case he’d have better security, or security at all for that matter. It was embarrassingly easy for me to break into his home, I’d expected more of a challenge if I’m honest.

Fucking finally, I hear his footsteps coming up the stairs and approaching the room I’m currently waiting for him in. I feel like I’m in one of those movies where someone’s waiting in a dark corner, who turns on a lamp to announce their presence. The asshole opens the door and removes his watch, placing it in his like glass cabinet with the others.Figures.

I clear my throat to grab his attention and he startles, jumping back like a scared little kitten and—best of all—crashes into thedresser, sending the cabinet of watches crashing to the floor before it shatters at his feet, making me chuckle.

“You made a mistake Elias; do you have any idea of what that might be?” I sneer. Moonlight bathes the room enough for him to make out my face, so I can see the instant he realizes who’s in his home, a mixture of recognition and fear passing his features.

“Mr Rom-mano, I’ve just come from one of your clubs, the girls are great. W-what are you doing here?” He stutters like the little bitch that he is.

“I could give two fucks about any of that, you piece of shit. I’m here because you dared to lay your filthy hands on my fucking wife,” I growl, and all color leaves his face as he blanches.That’s right motherfucker, be scared.

“It was… it was rumored to be an a-arranged marriage. I did…didn’t think you’d care if I helped myself,” he whispers and backs himself into the corner of the room, theoppositeside of the room to the exit I might add. Fucking idiot.

I take a deep breath to try and keep my rage from taking over. The assholedidn’t think I would carethat he touched my wife? My Izzy?Mia regina?

Fuck,breathe Luca.

Images of what could’ve happened if my girl hadn’t managed to fight back infiltrate my mind and the edge of my vision turns black, my control snaps and I let the rage take over.

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