Page 125 of Ruthless Oath

While everyone’s eyes were on me, Danny fled into the woods.

“Go after him!” Marchello ordered his men.

They all took off except for Milo, who ran his hand through his hair and shook his head, probably wondering how I could be so reckless. Impulse was my only explanation.

“Glad we found you,” he said to me before bringing his attention to his brother. “What do you want us to do if we find him?”

“Take him alive,” Marchello said. “We can’t eliminate him until I know where we stand with Argentina.”

“Okay.”

Milo turned to go, but Marchello touched his shoulder. “Be careful.”

“Always.” He took off running, yelling over his shoulder, “I’ll meet you back in the city.”

“You found me.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “I knew you would, but I was a little nervous when Danny brought me out here to the woods.”

Marchello gripped my arm harder and kept the barrel of the gun firmly planted in my side. When I tried to look at him, he held me still and kept me facing forward with my back to his chest.

“What you did was incredibly stupid and reckless.” His voice was so low I almost missed his words, even in the quiet of the woods. “You’ve wasted time, effort, and resources. I have enough shit to deal with. I can’t worry about you running off or stepping in the middle of nine loaded guns.”

I preferred when he yelled—at least then I could gauge his fury.

“I was trying to help.”

“I don’t need your fucking help!” He tightened his jaw. “I need your obedience.”

“I can’t give you that,” I said. “I’ll give you everything else.”

“If you want to stay alive, you better figure out how you’re going to listen to me because Collins isn’t going to disappear from our lives anytime soon.” He lowered his head and whispered into my ear, “And you, princess, are his number one target.”

Twenty-Nine

Marchello

Lissia was backwhere she belonged. One problem solved, ten more fires to put out. How had my life become so complicated?

I’m staring at the beautiful reason my world is in shambles.

I wanted to keep her with me, but I couldn’t do that if she couldn’t follow the rules. She wasn’t going to like her new life, so I would give her a choice. We had both set this path in motion, and now we had to face the consequences.

Once we got to the penthouse, I allowed myself a few minutes to make sure she was okay. I wanted more than anything to be normal with her, but we weren’t that couple. At least not until the threats could be eliminated. I didn’t see that happening anytime soon.

“Is this your penthouse?” She gazed around the two-story apartment with the killer view of the city. “It’s spectacular.”

Of course she would think so. It was worth millions.

“It’s mine and Milo’s,” I said. “Milo is going to stay at the main house while my father is gone to give us the time we need to figure this out.”

“Figure out what?”

“You’re hurt.” I held her chin so I could study her face. “He put his hands on you.”

The thought of her having to endure the last day filled me with rage. A rage that would only be sated when I took my revenge on Collins.

“It’s okay.” She looked at the floor. “That doesn’t hurt as much as my head.”

“What happened to your head?”

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