Page 29 of Cruel Vows

“Nothing.”

“Aiden told me about the times you used to sneak out of the house when he put you on lockdown.” His hand tightens around my wrist, fingers pressing against my pulse. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No. I’m not up to anything, though. You’re just paranoid because you’ve spent your entire life screwing people over and now you’re just waiting for life to punish you.”

He scoffs, dropping my wrist like he’s been burned. “You better stop whatever the fuck it is you think you’re doing before you get everyone you love killed.”

8

SEAN

“Dealingwith your sister is like dragging myself naked against a bed of glass shards and then going back a second time and doing it just for fun.” I take a long drag of the cigarette burning between my fingers, letting the smoke curl toward the sky. “If I could get rid of her, I would.”

Aiden rolls his eyes. “It’s been a week and half. You need to suck it up and just deal with it.”

“Oh no. I’m not the one causing the problems.” I toss the butt of the cigarette on the driveway, crushing it beneath my boot. “Ellie is the most infuriating person I’ve ever met and she always has been. I don’t know how the hell you raised that little brat.”

Aiden leads the way around the corner of his house and to the weathered doors that lead to a wine cellar. “I know you think she’s horrible, but maybe it’s time the two of you try to be friendly with each other. Ellie is a good ally to have when she trusts you.”

“I’d rather take my chances with a rabid tiger.” I follow him down the creaking steps and into the dimly lit cellar, allowing the doors to fall shut behind me.

“To be fair, you were the one who killed Dad.”

“I was only twenty-two back then. You knew I didn’t have a choice.”

“And she was ten.” Aiden’s voice is sharp as he looks at me over his shoulder. “You killed her father in front of her and now that she’s an adult, she’s got to put up with you. If there’s one person in this world I think you should cut a little slack right now, it’s her.”

I scoff, following him to the massive steel door at the back of the cellar. “If I have to go home and deal with her and her attitude for one more night, one of us is probably going to end up dead.”

Aiden whirls around fast, his hand wrapping around my throat as he shoves me back into a wall. “You might be my best friend, and she might be your wife, but she is my sister above all else, and if you so much as raise a fucking finger to her, I’ll kill you where you stand. Understood?”

“I wouldn’t hurt her.”

His grip on my throat releases, but he still looks at me like he doesn’t quite trust me.

It’s the way he’s been looking at me for sixteen years and I can’t blame him for it.

“Put your hand around my throat again and we’re going to have a big problem.” I stand to the side as Aiden unlocks the steel door. “That was the first and last time you threaten me.”

Aiden says nothing as he hauls the heavy door open and turns on the lights that line the steps descending into the darkness below. “This marriage is for the good of both families, whether you see that or not.”

“I can see that there are benefits, but I don’t understand why I have to be tortured in the first place.”

Our footsteps echo as we descend deeper beneath the house, walking down a short hall at the bottom of the stairs and coming to another door.

When we step inside, bright-white light illuminates the sterile white room. Plastic sheets cover the walls and floor. There’s a man naked and tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

A counter laid out with various weapons is to one side of the room, a big metal tub beside that, though it hasn’t been filled with any water.

I guess we’re not drowning people today.

“Who’s the man in the chair?” I jerk my chin in his direction.

Aiden nods to the man in the middle of the room. “This is Fred Rinaldo, one of the men who attacked Ellie and threatened to slaughter my entire family.”

I see red as I stand in front of the man. His eyes are bloodshot and his cheeks hollow. His gaze darts around the room as if he’s looking for an escape.

He’s not going to find one.

---