Page 2 of Possessive Vows

I am safe. I am alive. I am loved. I am healing.

“Did I tell you he was one of them?” I ask before I lose my nerve.

“You did. I’m sorry, Camilla,” Loretta says.

I stop in my tracks as fury sweeps through me.

“Don’t apologize unless you did something wrong. You had my consent to show me the video, so there’s no reason for you to be sorry.”

The envelope crinkles in my fist.

“I meant for the sour candy. It usually shocks people out of a spiral, but you didn’t even notice it until you bumped into Valentina,” she says.

“That wasn’t your fault either. Thank you for helping,” I reply.

Her green eyes shimmer with concern.

I lift the envelope.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Serenity asked me to give it to you.”

I tuck my purse under my arm and smooth the wrinkled paper as best as I can before holding it with both hands and reading Serenity’s artsy handwriting.

For when you’re ready. Love, Serenity and Nico.

A lead ball drops into my stomach, and I know what it is before I open the flap. My entire body shakes as I stick my fingers into the envelope.

I’ll never be ready, but it’s been almost a year since my father failed to protect me.

A year. I wasted a year drowning in a sea of self-pity and mourning, and while I have a long road of recovery still ahead of me, I can’t let them win for another second.

My attackers have stolen enough from me.

I am safe. I am alive. I am loved. I am healing.

Loretta killed one of the men who hurt me. They aren’t immortal monsters. I’ll never be able to go back to the person I was before they broke me, but I can stop them from hurting others.

I can protect my family.

My fingers tremble as I pull the photo out of the envelope.

Dated two weeks ago, the picture of my niece blurs before me. A tear drips onto her face.

“She’s perfect,” I whisper.

Serenity has had to do so much alone. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me. Our parents forced her to marry Nico Russo, the man I was supposed to wed, but I was so riddled with guilt and misery I couldn’t help her.

“Perla truly is perfect. I met her yesterday. I still can’t believe Serenity made me her godmother,” Loretta says.

The awe in her tone softens the ball of emotions in my stomach.

Serenity isn’t alone. She built a family of trustworthy people around herself.

Loretta’s straightforwardness may put some people off, but I no longer have the capacity for social niceties for the sake of someone’s ego, so her honesty is refreshing. This is only my second time meeting her, but the sour taste still lingering on my tongue from the candy proves she’s worthy of my sister’s trust.

It may take me longer to accept her, but I know my younger sister is an excellent judge of character, so no jealousy rises when I realize Loretta met my niece before me.

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