Page 9 of Corrupt Vows

Red-hot fury blasts through me. I shake with it.

“I have my own amendment to make,” he says.

His slightly mocking tone both humiliates and infuriates me. I expect him to heap more insults on injury by demanding I keep my distance.

Hope blooms. Maybe he’ll push the wedding back a few years. Maybe I can finish college as a Vivaldi.

“She moves in with me the day we announce our engagement.”

The blood drains out of my head. I turn to my father.

“No. Say no, papà.”

My father grinds his jaw and stares at me with emotionless eyes.

“This isn’t happening. I won’t marry him,” I say.

“Yes, you will,” he demands.

My heart shatters. He’s never been sweet to me, but I’ve worked hard to be worthy of his protection. I want him to be proud of me. I need him to accept me and love me no matter what mistakes I’ve made.

I haven’t made a mistake, yet the look in his eyes promises retribution if I argue.

I can’t stop myself. The rage boiling in my veins is too painful.

“You said I could marry—”

“No, we didn’t,” my mother interrupts. “Don’t mistake your daydreams for reality, Serenity. Thisishappening. Youwillmarry Nico Russo, and you’ll do it with a smile and a gracious thank you.Capisci?”

I fight the urge to shrink in on myself. She may as well have backhanded me. Pain stabs through my heart from my parents’ betrayal.

Emotions clog my throat. I can’t nod my head and agree with her, but I can’t openly rebel, either.

I know I have no choice, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go willingly.

“She can continue her college classes, as long as they don’t interfere with our wedding plans—which will be in four months, not six,” Nico says as though he’s buying furniture and not negotiating my entire future.

To my horror, my father nods and thanks him.

He doesn’t push back. Doesn’t tell Nico his plan is ridiculous. Doesn’t demand I stay home for the precious few months I have left with my family. Doesn’t protect me. Doesn’t care for me.

What I want doesn’t matter. My dreams aren’t important. I mean nothing to him.

His talk of family being the center of his world goes out the window. All the disgusting things he’s ever done in his life, including the horrible scene I witnessed in this study years ago, weren’t for the family.

They were for him. He covets power above all else.

I have no words to describe the level of hurt his betrayal causes me. My mother has always criticized me, so while her harsh words sting, they don’t cut nearly as deep as my father’s.

I breathe in through my nose until my lungs ache.

If this were a fairytale, Alfonso would bust down the door and save me, but this isn’t a fairytale, I’m not a damsel in distress, and Alfonso isn’t that kind of man, which is why I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

When my mind tries to place Nico as my knight in shining armor, I laugh. Out loud.

Which makes the situation impossibly worse.

I devolve into cackling like a witch on Halloween.

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