Page 11 of Cruel Vows

Royce whistles to himself, hands stuffed deep in his pockets as he strides into the kitchen before coming to an abrupt stop. “Oh no, what are the two of you arguing about this time?”

Aiden sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re not going to take her side in this and try to talk me down, Royce. It’s not happening this time.”

I glare at Aiden, grabbing a fork and stabbing it into a piece of steak. “What are you even trying to force me to do now?”

“I spoke to Sean and Malcolm.” Aiden stands taller, shooting a sharp look at Royce when he opens his mouth to say something.

I shove the steak into my mouth, chewing longer than necessary to avoid having to speak. It unnerves Aiden when I don’t answer him.

Right on command, he shifts his weight to one side. “Ellie, I don’t want to argue with you about this.”

In a quick flash, Royce’s hand darts out and snags some of the steak from my plate. “Are you sure you want to talk to her while she’s holding a pointy object? She’s likely to stab you with it.”

I brandish the fork at Royce. “That happened once and you’ve never let me forget it.”

“You stabbed me!” He tosses the last stolen piece of steak into his mouth before snatching another.

“And now look! You still haven’t learned not to eat food off my damn plate.” I snatch the plate and turn from him, picking at the avocado.

Even though I don’t want the food right now, I need it if I want my stomach to settle even a little bit.

Aiden speaking with Malcolm Andino is never a good thing. He’s remained friends with Sean over the years, but dealing with Malcolm is dealing with another beast entirely.

Malcolm has always been just as likely to kill you where you stand as he is to talk to you.

Royce’s eyebrows climb higher. “Why the hell would you talk to Malcolm? He has no interest in doing anything for anyone other than himself.”

Aiden stares at Royce like the answer should be obvious. “Our families have both existed in New York for a long time—relatively peacefully—and he has as much reason to hate the Rinaldos as we do.”

I put my plate to the side, giving up on eating. “Are you saying that Malcolm is going to work with you?”

“Withus.” Aiden gestures to me and Royce. “We all have to be in this together. I’ll talk to Skyla, Summer, and Jade later, but I’m sure they’ll be on the same page.”

Alarm bells go off in my head. “The same page about what? You said that you were going to need me to do something. If that something overlaps with whatever you promised Malcolm, you can count me out. I’m not having anything to do with the Andinos.”

Royce runs a hand over his jaw. “What did you promise Malcolm?”

“He only agreed to work with us if there was something binding in place that would keep us from killing each other.”

My stomach twists into a tight knot. “What did you promise him, Aiden?”

Aiden sighs. “A marriage.”

I bite my cheek, bile rising in my throat. “Well, I hope you and Rebecca have a nice life together. Honestly, the two of you will make a great couple.”

“Ellie.” Aiden’s tone stops me dead in my tracks the second I spin to leave the room.

My heart plummets to my feet as I face him. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“I did what I had to do to protect the family and that’s what you’re going to do as well.”

The color drains from Royce’s face. “What did you do, Aiden?”

Aiden presses his fingers to his temple. “I’m going to need some bourbon to deal with this.”

My throat closes, heart hammering against my ribs. “You’re not the one getting married, are you?”

“Ellie, you have to understand that I wasn’t in a position to choose the terms. I was the one coming to him with my tail between my legs. We need his help.”

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