Page 5 of Heartless Vows

“No man who values his balls would stay in eyesight when you go feral with a knife,” he responds.

I sneer and meet his gaze.

“They hurt my family, Fiero.”

The nonchalance disappears from his countenance.

“I know,” he says as he stands and drops his arms to his sides.

“They raped and beat Camilla until she tried to kill herself.”

I can’t breathe through the fury and guilt squeezing my chest. I’ll never forgive myself for not being there when my older sister needed me most.

“They did,” he responds.

I step toward him. He stands his ground, never dropping eye contact despite my intensity.

“They kidnapped Serenity and attacked Nico Russo. My younger sister almost had to raise her child without its father,” I say through gritted teeth.

“I know,” he says.

I pull my knife from my belt and hold it on my upturned palm in front of me. Fiero’s unflinching response solidifies my belief in him. I trust him with my life.

“They will feel every inch of this knife as I sink it into their body over and overand over again,” I promise.

“They will,” he confirms.

Unable to find fault in his response yet too dissatisfied with my ineptitude, I press the tip of the knife to my outer forearm and apply the barest pressure, proving how deadly sharp I keep my blade as fresh crimson flows down my arm, creating new designs within my intricate tattoos.

“I willslice and dice,”I emphasize his ridiculous choice of words, “until they beg for mercy, but they’ll find I don’t have any. They’ll tell me their deepest, darkest secrets, and I still won’t stop. They’ll scream and cry and plead, but I’ll just keep cutting even when they beg for death.”

“You will,” Fiero says with the same cold conviction now condensed behind my sternum.

“Everyone will know it’s a mistake to fuck with the Vivaldi family,” I vow.

“They already do,” he says.

Despite the certainty in his dark eyes, I don’t believe him.

“It’s been six months since Camilla’s attack. Six months of no leads. Six months of theseteste di cazzorunning free. Six months of—”

“Terror. Six months of pure terror. For six months, you’ve tortured everystronzostupid enough to stick his head up. No one with half a brain will step a toe out of line when everyone knows you’re on a hate-fueled warpath,” he deadpans.

I freeze and dig the knife a little deeper into my flesh, using the sting to center myself.

Because he’s right. Thebastardois right.

“It’s not just you, either. Nico Russo razed an entire block just to snuff out threats.”

I grind my teeth and twist my blade to renew the pain.

“That wasn’t Nico. It was Serenity and me. Nico was still in hospital.”

Fiero tilts his head and quirks a brow.

“And you waited until now to tell me?”

“I couldn’t recruit any of our men. We couldn’t leave traces back to the Vivaldi family, since it was in Russo territory. They weren’t married yet, and my father wouldn’t have approved.” I pull the blade from my arm and return to the sink. As I dip my knife under the still flowing faucet, I meet Fiero’s glare over my shoulder. “Serenity didn’t want Nico involved until he was back on his feet, but with his second and third also in the hospital, she needed help.”

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