Page 36 of Heartless Vows

“I know,” I say.

“I don’t want this,” she states.

“I know.”

Her lack of interest and the trust she showed me when she fell asleep beside me—twice—sealed my decision.

“Thenwhy?”

“There is no why. It just is.”

She sighs, glances at the papers in her hand, and sends me a fresh scowl. I continue before she asks why again.

“I have no ulterior motive, Aurora. You asked for my protection. This is the only way I can assure you have it.”

After searching my face, she sighs yet again and drops her forehead to my chest, pulling her hair from my loose grip. I give her a moment to process before wrapping my fingers around her nape.

She lifts her head and pierces my soul with her animated emerald eyes.

“Fine, but if you disappear or die, I’ll devote every ounce of power and spend every cent on either finding or reviving you, just so I can kill you myself.”

It’s not the response I expected, but I was an idiot for expecting anything less. I let my amusement and adoration play on my face and smile.

“Of course,mia topolina.”

She elbows me as she faces the table. With more force than necessary, she slaps the papers onto the desk, snatches a pen from the center of the table, and scribbles where my lawyer instructs.

“We’re not taking actual paper copies of this, are we?” Aurora asks.

She’s too fucking smart.

“No, we’re not. This is a private document. It’ll never leave Mrs. Tamsin’s safe.”

“No electronic copies?”

“We keep scans of every document on a local database,” the woman says.

“Do you mean a local hard drive?” When my lawyer looks as lost as I do, Aurora continues. “Databases don’t store data, they analyze it. Do you have an actual device that stores the files here, or are they sent to a cloud or external storage provider?”

“I… I’ll have to check,” Mrs. Tamsin says.

“There’s no point for either of those. If you have a fireproof safe, then just keep this copy in there. Don’t scan it,” Aurora demands.

When Mrs. Tamsin looks torn, I lean my elbows onto my thighs and take Aurora’s hand.

“Give me a notarized copy. No scan, just a copy. I’ll keep it in my safe.”

Aurora’s fingers stiffen in mine.

“You arenottaking that into the Vivaldi family home. Or into any workspace or office where you conduct business.”

“You’re right. I’m not.”

“Then where are you putting it?”

“My townhouse. The address is listed on the document.”

“Just because it’s yours doesn’t mean it’s safe. What if your father—”

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