Page 53 of Dangerous Vows

There’s a pregnant pause, and then she asks, “Will you be okay?”

I don’t answer because I can’t. Instead, I force a small smile into my voice. “Don’t worry about me. I just wanted to check in.”

“I have to go,” I murmur.

“Just promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“Don’t fall for him.”

I let out a quiet laugh, but it was humorless. “Too late.”

The call ends, leaving me staring at my reflection in the mirror. The only sound is Pietro’s voice from the other room, talking on the phone.

The city stretches out behind me. I don’t know how this ends.

But I do know one thing.

If I stay here too long, I won’t ever want to leave.

I return to breakfast and sit across from Pietro with a heavy heart.

“Ciao,” he says, hanging up on his call before turning to me. “You were on the phone?”

“Yeah, my roommate, Sarah, is just checking in, seeing as I never show up there. I miss her.”

“When things settle down, you can have her over.”

“Great,” I try to think positively, as if I’ll ever get out of my nightmare.

“Who were you talking to?” I ask, point blank.

“My brother, Matteo, you remember him.”

“Yeah, from the club.”

“We’re having a family day tomorrow. We’ll drive out to the Island. It will be fun. You’ll meet my family.” Pietro was walking through the penthouse, but now he stands near the kitchen.

“Sure.”

“You don’t sound happy,” he says, his eyes sliding over me, taking stock, like he’s expecting to find something broken beneath the surface.

“I’m just distracted, that’s all.”

But the truth gnaws at me—I have a date with the devil, and if I don’t show, Pietro dies.

How am I supposed to hidethatfrom him?

I don’t want to leave him. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. But I have to figure out how to make him mad at me so he’ll let me go, because if he follows me, he’ll be killed. I have no doubt my father or Miloš will resort to violence.

I pick up my coffee and take a slow sip, meeting his gaze over the cup’s rim. But my eyes can’t help looking at his, and I allow them to wander over his body.

He’s dressed in jeans and a pullover, which only makes him hotter. His arms bulge in all the right places, and the ink peeking out from his collar is sinfully sexy.

“What about your family?” he inquires.

“Not the type to have a family day,” I mutter, dropping my eyes and sipping more coffee.

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