Page 1 of Wicked Vows
Chapter One
“Tomorrowisthebeginningof everything, Odd one,” Lynette tells me, using her nickname for me.
I take a sip of the wine she stole before the servants cleared the bottle from the dinner table.
“Aren’t you scared?”Everyone has heard the stories about the man my sister is promised to in a marriage of contract.Nico Moretti.As devilishly handsome as he is cruel.They say he murdered his first wife for her inheritance, and my beloved sister is engaged to him as part of some business deal our father brokered.Like she’s merely chattel.
“Nervous.”She runs her brush through my dark hair as she used to do when she wanted to play beauty salon when we were kids.“You should wear your hair down.”
I twist away from the mirror of my vanity.“No one will pay attention to me.It’s your big day.”
“I’m going to miss sharing a room with you.”She playfully tugs on my hair.
“I’ll come visit as soon as you’re back from your honeymoon.”
My beautiful sister, who is like daylight compared to dark when standing next to me with her pale blonde hair and fair skin, gets this wistful, almost dopey expression on her face.
“What?”
“Nothing.I was merely thinking about how strange my life will be after tonight.”
I scrunch my nose.“Strange?What do you mean?”I take another sip of the wine, making a sour face.I stare into the cup wondering if it’s gone bad or something.This last drink tasted oddly bitter.
“Different.I meant different.”She sighs and hands me the brush, abandoning my hair to pilfer through our closet once more.She tosses a swimsuit on the top of her suitcase before zipping it up.“I love you, Odd one.”
“You say it like you’re never going to see me again.Do you really think the rumors about him are true?Surely Father wouldn’t have agreed for you to marry a monster?”I let out a heavy yawn, struggling to keep my eyes open.I’m so tired all the sudden.I put my palm to my mouth, stifling another yawn.
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.Get some sleep.”She places her suitcase by our balcony doors.“We have an early day.”
“Night.”I flip off my bedside light and slip under my covers.
I go to sleep thinking about the first time either of us ever laid eyes on the man my sister will call husband.
Nico.His face was plastered all over the news.His wife, an heiress of an ungodly fortune, had been murdered.He was the number one suspect but was never charged.
I remember thinking he was beautiful and not fully understanding just how dangerous he was or how he’d later become gravely important to our survival.
I awaken to my mother shaking my shoulders.“Wake up, Odette,” her frantic tone echoes in my ear.
I blink slowly and wipe the creases of my eyes.I’m so groggy.I glance at the clock on my nightstand and blink again.How is it two in the evening?Why didn’t my alarm wake me?I set it, didn’t I?
“I’m awake,” I mutter as I let out a heavy yawn.
“Where’s your sister?”she hisses as I scoot up, resting my back against the headboard.
“Which one?”
Slap.Her palm connects with my cheek.
Tears sting my vision.“Focus.Where’s Lynette?”
“She’s not here?”I glance around the room, noticing her suitcase is no longer sitting by the balcony doors.
“She’s run off with Frankie,” my mother cries.“Your father wants to see you right away.If you know where they are, you mustn’t tell him.He’ll kill them.Oh, my poor Lynn.”She flops down on my bed and cries hysterically.
The shock freezes my blood in my veins like shards of ice.
“I don’t know where they are.What do you mean she ran off with Frankie?”Frankie is one of my father’s men.One of his most trusted.Or was.It’s why Father had him working as our bodyguard.
