Page 5 of Cruel Vows

All I’m seeing right now is what’s going to happen when I get up and wrap my hands around his neck.

He pulls my hair harder. “Now, you’re going to be a good girl and you’re going to listen very carefully to what I have to tell you.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I snap. “Nobody is going to find the body.”

“Cute, but we both know you’re not the one with the power here.” He notches the blade a little deeper, sending pain spiraling through my body. “If you want to walk out of here alive, you’re going to behave.”

I grit my teeth together. The pain is getting to me, but I’m not going to let him see that. I’ve spent too much of my life training to be able to fight against men like him.

“Good.” The man pulls the knife from my neck slightly. “Now, you’re going to go home and you’re going to tell your brother that this is only the start.”

A chill runs down my spine as sirens shriek somewhere else in the city. “The start of what?”

“War.” He takes my head and slams it into the ground. “Tell Aiden that I’m going to enjoy slaughtering your family.”

2

SEAN

It’s about damn time.

Bright headlights flash across the parking lot, the car slowing alongside one of the rusting shipping containers filled with cocaine.

I take a long drag of the cigarette, the cherry glowing bright red against the night. “What are you doing here? All you said was that you needed to meet.”

Aiden steps out of the car, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. He keeps his head up, though he doesn’t look at the workers lining the dock.

“It’s time to end the shit that’s been going on between our families.” Aiden leans against the shipping container, watching as another is lifted with a crane and put onto the dock.

Smoke curls toward the clouds drifting across the sky as I exhale. “You know I’m not the person you need to talk to about that.”

“So, you can be the one who kills my father, but you can’t be the one who negotiates terms?”

I flick the ash off the end of the cigarette. “You know I’m not. Until Dad dies, I’m nothing but his lackey.”

“You have more power with your people than you pretend you have.” Aiden’s tone is dark as he glares at me. “You act like you aren’t the heir because you prefer not to get your hands dirty.”

“Stop.” I flick the cigarette to the ground and crush it beneath the toe of my boot. “What did you really come here for tonight? You know peace is never going to happen.”

Aiden rolls his shoulders. “Ellie was attacked tonight by one of the Rinaldos.”

My mouth goes dry as I push off the side of the container and head toward the warehouse the cocaine is stored in. “I have to check the shipment. I don’t have time to deal with this.”

“You’re going to deal with this. Our families need to unite to deal with the Rinaldos. I don’t know how you’re going to get Malcolm to cooperate, but you’re going to.”

I spin around, stopping Aiden in his tracks as I glower down at him. “We’ve been friends for a long time, but don’t think that you can come here and threaten me.”

The rusty steel doors creak open as two of the workers leave the warehouse, heading to empty the container that just came off the boat. I grab the door, opening it wider and heading inside while Aiden follows behind me.

White bricks of cocaine are stacked high on pallets, plastic wrap holding them together.

Aiden sighs. “I have to protect my family. Whoever attacked her told her that they weren’t going to stop until my family was slaughtered. Ellie was attacked, Sean.”

I grab the clipboard hanging beside the first pallet, glancing at the number of bricks recorded there. “And why is that my problem? It’s not the first time she’s been attacked. Maybe if she was more likeable, people would stop trying to kill her.”

He looks like he’s seconds away from lunging at me. “Sean, this would be beneficial to you and your family too. You know that the Rinaldos are going to come for you once I’m dead.”

“You have a point.” Crouching, I run my fingers over the cracked blue wood of the pallet before looking at the others. “Something isn’t right with the shipment. The pallets have been tampered with.”

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