Page 108 of Bloody Vows
"I came to tell you exactly what I think of you," I reply, my voice steady and calm.
He snorts. "By all means, princess. Enlighten me."
“Don’t call me that. I’m not a princess. I’m Tristan’s wife. I’m the other half of the head of this family. And you crossed a line yesterday."
Sal looks at me through his good eye. "Did I? Which line was that?"
My jaw clenches. "You tried to hurt my child. You chained me to a bed and tried to take my baby away from me..." I can feel my anger building, but I keep my voice controlled. "That's not business, Sal. That's not strategy. That's just evil."
"Evil?" He laughs, but it comes out as more of a wheeze. "You want to talk about evil? Let's talk about what your father did to me. Let's talk about how he used me, betrayed me, left me to rot while he tried to run and hide from Konstantin."
"My father made mistakes. But he didn't try to murder children."
Sal shakes his head, though I can see it pains him.Good. “You have no idea everything your father did.”
“You’re probably right about that,” I agree. “But I don’t need to. I know whatyou’vedone. And that’s enough for me to decide what your punishment should be. You know what the funny thing is, Sal? I never liked you. Even when I was a child, even when you were my father's right-hand man, I never liked you. I always thought there was something wrong with you, something cold and calculating and cruel. I always thought my father was wrong to trust you. As it turns out, I was right."
"Your father trusted me because he needed me. I did his dirty work, I cleaned up his messes, I?—"
"You were the help," I interrupt. "You were useful, but you were never family. You were never an heir. And if my father had wanted you to inherit, he would have made you the heir. But he didn't, did he?"
Sal's face darkens, all that rage bubbling up. "He should have. I earned it."
"You earned nothing. You were given opportunities, and you wasted them. You could have been content with your position,with the respect and power that came with it. Instead, you got greedy. You tried to rise too high."
"I tried to take what was mine."
"Nothing was yours. Nothing ever was. You were always just a tool, Sal. A weapon to be used when necessary and put away when you weren't needed."
"You little bitch?—"
"And when you tried to hurt me and my child, you sealed your fate. You chose to become a monster."
"I chose to win."
"You chose to lose. Because now you're going to die, and I'm going to be the one to kill you."
For the first time since we entered the room, Sal looks genuinely surprised. "You?"
"Me." I turn to Tristan. "I need a gun."
Tristan looks equally shocked. "Simone?—"
"I need a gun," I repeat, holding out my hand.
Tristan looks at me for a long moment. I can see him thinking, assessing what this means to me. If he should fight me on it, try to convince me otherwise.
And then he slowly reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pistol. He checks the safety, then places it in my palm.
That’s the moment that I’m sure—absolutely sure—that he loves me. That everything he said last night was the truth.
"Are you sure?" he asks quietly.
"I'm sure."
I turn back to Sal, whose face has gone pale. “You’re not a mastermind or a criminal genius. You’re just a man who lost and couldn’t handle it. A man who hurts women and children because he thinks they’re beneath him.”
A cold smile spreads across my face, one I’ve never felt before, as I raise the gun and step forward, pressing it to his forehead. “And now, a woman is going to be the one to kill you.”
