Page 39 of The Marriage Contract

“Did you think I was going to let you takemy woman?”

Dario walks down the hallway, looking so different from any other time I’ve seen him. There’s no captivating smirking. There’s no handsome glint in his eye. He looks terrifying. He looks like a piece of a world I need to run from. Run fast. Why did I ever agree to this?

Vesper raises his gun, and Dario quickly shoots him again, this time through Vesper’s gun-wielding hand. My ears ring as Vesper drops his weapon. Then Dario leaps at him.

I slide against the wall, sitting down heavily, wanting to look away but somehow unable to. Dario doesn’t look at me. He tosses his gun to the floor and then collapses on top of Vesper in a flurry of violence.

Gasps escape me as Dario beats him to death, each punch to the face causing blood to spatter, coating his hands, face, and neck. My hand covers my mouth. Devastation tears through me.Thisis the man I had feelings for?He’s saving you, another voice yells, but Dario looks like a demon.

“Mother.” He hits Vesper. “Fucker.” He hits him again. Over and over, he pounds his fists into Vesper’s face. Over and over, I attempt to drag my gaze away from the sickness. It’s the most violent, most grotesque thing I’ve ever seen.

“Piece ofshit.” Dario stands up and then stamps on Vesper’s head.

“Dario,” I say, or try to. My voice is hollow. It’s like I can’t produce sound. “Dario, it’s over.”

Slowly, Dario stumbles away. He looks at me, the haze clearing, then looks down at Vesper as if only now realizing the side of himself he’s shown to me.

“Elena,” he moans, moving toward me with his blood-spattered hand outstretched.

I cringe away. He looks demonic. Again, I try to remind myself he just saved my life. Yet the panic surging through me is too much to take.

“You think I’m a monster,” he growls.

I can’t deny it.

“It doesn’t matter,” he snaps after a pause. “You’re coming with me.”

With his bloody killer’s hands, he scoops me into his arms and carries me through the farmhouse.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DARIO

“She doesn’t want to speak to me,” I tell Mother, a strange numb feeling cloaking me.

“She’s never seen anything like this before,” my mother replies, her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve lived in this world for most of my life, andI’venever seenthataspect. You can’t blame her for being in shock.”

“She looked like she hated me,” I say, looking up at the night sky as I sit on the back porch. “Do you know what she said when we got into the helicopter?Don’t look at me. Don’t touch me.She doesn’t even want me to bring her aunt and her friend here. She said she feels dirty, different.”

“Dario,she’s in shock.”

I grit my teeth, but I can’t stop reliving the beating I gave that lowlife who was going to hurt Elena. When I stormed the farmhouse after the successful shootout, and I saw him standing there with her, the monster in me came out—the part of me I never wanted her to see.

“I’m going to see how she’s doing.”

My mother sighs. “Is that a good idea?”

“She’s my fiancée,” I snap.

My mother tilts her head at me.

“What?” I say.

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

She doesn’t reply, so I walk through the townhouse to Elena’s bedroom. When I knock, she moans, “Go away.”

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