Page 8 of Fierce Vows

The old ways always make him laugh.

A thought crosses my mind, and I speak before thinking any further.

“How many wives?”

“Wives?”Rafe asks, but my focus is solely locked on the woman before me.

“We are nine.Seven still have husbands.”

“Bring them to me.”

She nods before leaving.She doesn’t look at Rafe or Luca before she leaves, neither does she greet them.This woman came here for me.She sees me as a pseudo savior, the one who help her out of a life of beatings.If I am right, and I will bet everything Rafe and I own, she has been planning this meeting since the moment she heard I slit her husband’s throat in front of the entire family at Armand’s funeral.

“Care to explain, wife?”Rafe asks with a frown.

“Do you know why the old school Italian mafioso has mistresses?”

“Because they could,” Luca replies.

“No.They did it because you left your wife at home when meetings were held.Wives were kept separate.But you can’t show up without anything pretty, so they had mistresses.Women they took to meetings, waited on them hand and foot, and serviced them and their friends.And the moment they knew too much, they disappeared,” I say with a snap of my fingers.“If your wife doesn’t know anything she can’t betray you or be used against you.Mistresses are disposable.”

“What is your point, Willow?”my very impatient husband asks.

“My point is, men got complacent through the years.With the laws changing to ensure that a wife cannot testify against her husband, they no longer worried about what they heard.They were kept in line with violence and threats against the children they probably didn’t want to begin with.”

It’s like watching a lightbulb moment happen right in front of my eyes.

“She knows everything,” Rafe announces with a smirk.

“They do,” I correct.“Nine wives in Cyprus that know the secrets of their husbands.All on their way to see me.”

Chapter Three

Win-Win

Rafe

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