Page 32 of Silent Vows

“I deserve to know,” she cuts me off, pressing play. The determination in her voice reminds me of Sophia, and for a moment my chest feels too tight.

The security footage fills her phone screen, grainy but clear enough to transport me back to that night. Sophia in the lake house, very much alive. She’s arguing with someone off camera, her voice thick with tears that I once thought were genuine.

“I won’t do it!” Sophia shouts from the tiny screen, her voice bringing back memories I’ve spent a decade trying to bury. “You can’t make me choose.”

“Choose what?” Bella whispers beside me, but I keep my mouth shut, taking another sharp turn that sends gravel spraying. The SUVs are falling behind, but my focus splits dangerously between the road and the video that’s about to destroy everything.

The footage jumps forward, and my grip on the steering wheel becomes painful. Sophia’s at the window now, gun in hand, but she’s not pointing it at me like I claimed. She’s backing away, terror etched on her face in a way that still haunts my dreams.

“Please,” she begs on screen. “The records were buried for a reason. If anyone finds out what really happened?—”

The footage cuts out, leaving the car in suffocating silence. I can feel Bella’s eyes on me, can practically hear the wheels turning in that quick mind of hers. She’s piecing things together, and God help me, she’s too smart not to see the truth.

“What records?” She turns to me, face pale in the morning light. The cuts on her legs have stopped bleeding, but seeing them still makes me want to tear someone apart. “What really happened that night, Matteo?”

Before I can answer—before I have to choose between lying to my new wife or destroying my daughter’s life—bullets pepper the back of the car. One takes out the rear window, showering us with safety glass. For once, I’m grateful for the interruption. I jerk the wheel hard, taking us down a narrow dirt road that few know exists.

“Hold on,” I order, reaching into the center console with my injured arm. Pain shoots through my shoulder, but pain is an old friend. I’ve learned to use it, to let it sharpen my focus rather than dull it. The small remote feels heavy in my palm as we clear the trees.

I press the button, and the world erupts behind us. The explosion turns the morning sky to fire, a massive fireball blooming like some deadly flower. Both SUVs disappear in the inferno, the blast wave rocking our car. In the rearview mirror, the destruction paints Bella’s face in shades of orange and red, making her look like some avenging angel.

“Jesus,” she breathes, and I catch the mix of horror and awe in her voice.

“IEDs,” I explain shortly, already calculating our next move. “I have them planted on all my escape routes.”

“Of course you do.” Her voice holds a note of hysteria that makes me want to pull her into my arms. But she’s quiet only for a moment before: “You still haven’t answered my question. What really happened that night, Matteo?”

I guide the car onto the private airstrip where my jet waits, engines already running. The sun catches the polished metal of the plane, making it gleam like a promise of escape. The pilot stands ready at the stairs, and I can see Antonio’s men taking up defensive positions.

“Not here. Once we’re in the air?—”

“No.” The sound of her seatbelt unbuckling makes me tense. She turns to face me fully, and Christ, the sight of her undoes me. Those endless legs bare beneath my shirt, dark hair wild from our escape, tiny drops of blood dotting her skin like rubies.

Even in crisis, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. “I just watched the lake house get shot up. My mother is dead. I’m sitting here in your bloody goddamn shirt with no shoes andabout a hundred cuts from broken glass. I think I’ve earned the fucking truth. Now.”

The rising sun catches her wedding ring, and memories of another ring, another woman, another impossible choice flood back. I kill the engine, knowing we have precious little time before someone tracks us here. But she deserves the truth, even if it destroys us both.

“Sophia found something,” I force the words out, each one tasting like ash.

Bella’s sharp intake of breath cuts through the morning air. Her mind is already connecting dots I’ve spent years trying to keep separate. “What did she find?”

“Documents that would destroy not just my position, but Bianca’s entire future in our world.” I make myself meet those hazel eyes that see too much. My daughter’s future weighs against my new wife’s trust, and for once, I choose honesty. “Sophia was going to use them to force me to step down, to hand everything to Johnny.”

“Because Bianca isn’t yours?”

Her quick understanding shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. My silence stretches as I study her face, wondering how she pieced it together so fast. “The truth about her father…it’s worse than any question of bloodlines.”

In the distance, sirens wail—a reminder that our time is running out. Bella’s quiet for a long moment, processing. When she speaks, her question reveals why I’m falling for her despite my best intentions. “Does Bianca know? About any of it?”

“No.” The word comes out sharp, protective. “And she can never know.” I start the car again, pulling up to the jet’s stairs. “Now you understand why this video changes everything. Why we need to leave. Now.”

“Because once people start investigating…” Her mind works quickly, filling in blanks I’ve spent years protecting. “They’ll find whatever Sophia discovered.”

“They’ll tear us apart.” I help her from the car, noting how she leans into me despite everything she’s just learned. The trust in that small gesture makes my chest ache. “Starting with you.”

“Then why tell me at all?” Her eyes search mine, looking for truth in a man who’s built his life on lies. “Why not let me believe your original story?”

I catch her chin, making her meet my gaze. Her skin is silk under my callused fingers, and goddamn, I don’t deserve the way she looks at me—like she wants to understand rather than judge. “Because I won’t start this marriage with the same lies that ended my last one.”

---