Page 67 of Vow of Silence

I can’t make most sounds. Consonants, anything that requires airflow like the letter S.

He hesitates, holding my gaze, nostrils flaring before he adds,

I could never say your name.

It’s selfish to feel that loss. To take the emotion from him and make the pain mine. But I’m done with putting on a brave face. His reaction blurs as my tears come freely, yet I don’t cry for the fact I’ll never hear my name on his lips. I cry that he must bear that loss of freedom. That no matter how much he might want or need to say my name, he never could.

Shit.

He nudges my arm with desperation, the movement short and jerky.Look at me,it says. Urgent as he offers his phone again.

Don’t be upset. It makes me feel bad that you hurt.

I shove the device away and climb onto his lap, looping my legs around his waist. “I hurtforyou, you big dummy.” Hands on either side of his face, I dot kisses to his forehead, nose, and lips.

A gentle shake of his head, the slightest wrinkle to his brow.Why?

“I realized, just now, that giving our vows will be kind of one-sided, hey?” I try to smile, but the forced action only makes me cry harder.Damn it.

Benito jerks his head back, eyes rolling. He’s mad, and rightly so. That fucking uncle of his stripped him of his right to promise himself to the one he loves.Does he love me?Actions would say he still feels strongly for me—sure—but love is another beast altogether.

His head dips while he hammers out another line on his smartphone, shoulders heaving with the deep breaths he takes. I massage the muscles, fingertips caressing his nape and burrowing through the lengths of his ebony hair.

Then, we make our vows another way. A way that only you and I understand.

I frown, lifting my gaze back to his. “You mean, like secret sign language?”

Eyes wide, he nods.

I let the idea sink in, simmer, and roll around in the muddy parts of my mind. The longer I think about it, the more I like the suggestion.

“I think that sounds cool.” Benito matches my grin with his own. “Our language.”

He nods once, slowly, while he wraps his hand behind my neck and pulls me close. Fuck vows—I taste the promise on his lips right here, right now. He kisses me with the conviction that assures me even if he can’t say it, it’s true.

Benito De Santis still loves me.

Same as how I never stopped loving him.

TWENTY-SIX

Benito

If I had things my way, our language would never require words. I hold Stas to me while she leans to my left and runs those sinful lips down my heated neck. Her legs tighten, pulling her closer to my core as she moves. Fuck hiding anything anymore. I grind my hips up and show this woman exactly what she does to me.

Nearly ten years have passed since I made the hardest fucking decision of my life and cut her free. A decade without something I truly believed would be mine for the taking from the moment I first got it: her love.

She made me work for it at the start. Pushed me away because of who I am, the last name that attaches itself to my life like an anchor. While I was blinded from the moment I first saw her, she guarded her heart fiercely.

The day she let me in was the sweetest victory I’ve had the pleasure to taste.

Two stupid teenagers with more love than our worlds require. With nowhere else to show the emotion, we drowned each other in reverence until our twisted bliss closed our eyes to the danger we put ourselves in. A Bratva princess in love with a Mafia prince never has a happy ending. Even now that we’reliterally promised to each other through the meddling of our families, I can’t see anything on our horizon but more trouble.

A union such as ours can only be viewed as a weakness by our opponents. A sore spot to pester and itch at until one, or both, of us breaks.

Compromise.

It’s what I’ve always done: gone without for the greater good. Well, not anymore. Duty and honor can only get me so far, especially when the work runs out. What will I have to keep me sane when I’m too old to hunt? What will there be to bring joy to my days when my hands are no longer steady enough to kill?

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