Page 27 of Heartless Vows

The walls close in. Pressure builds in my head.

I tuck my back into the corner beside the yoga mats and curl into a ball. My mind splinters. I press both hands over my mouth and sob, but no tears flow down my face.

If I make noise, they’ll find us. They’ll kill us. We’ll scream and beg for them to stop, but they won’t. They’ll laugh and hurt us even worse. They’ll hit and threaten us until we can’t scream anymore.

Just like they did my aunt.

Chapter 8

Giorgio Vivaldi

I swing into the physician’sparking lot thirty minutes early and sigh when Fiero’s info pops up on the dash. With an aggravated jab at the touchscreen, I answer his call and snap out awhatin greeting.

“You’re fucking joking, right? That’s what your dad called you home for yesterday? You’re getting married?”

I grunt an affirmation as I pull into a spot and throw the car in park.

“Who’s the unlucky broad?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, no shade to the future missus, but she’ll be stuck with your sorry ass for the rest of her life, so she must’ve used up all her good luck already.”

“You’re only comfortable saying that because we’re on the phone,” I snarl.

“Damn straight,stronzo, especially with the last six months still fresh in my mind,” he says with an exaggerated mock shiver into the phone.

I sigh and flip down my visor.

“So, who is it?” he asks.

“Aurora Achilles.”

As the silence stretches between us, I check my hair in the mirror.

“The girl who yelled at you and then fainted in your arms at the Moretti/Taddeo wedding? Didn’t her parents ship her overseas to never be seen or heard from again? When did she come back to New York?”

“Apparently she never left,” I snarl.

“What? How?”

“They homeschooled her.”

“Only her? As far as I know, Tristan Achilles is going to a private school.”

“And how do you know that?”

He sighs, and in my mind’s eye, I see him running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

“It’s the Achilles family. One of New York City’s founding mafia families. Tristan is Horatio’s heir. Keeping track of them is hella easy when you’re just a Vivaldi soldier nobody notices.”

I grit my teeth, frustrated at my lack of information.

“Don’t beat yourself up over not knowing. I mean, there’s a reason everyone waits to gossip until you’re out of earshot.”

“So, you’re saying I’m purposefully kept in the dark because I’m Matteo Vivaldi’s heir?”

“Yep. It’s part of who you are.”

---