Page 2 of Wicked Vows
How could she?This marriage saved us.An alliance that would take the target off our backs.If Lynette ran off, what does that mean for the rest of us?
“You expect me to believe you didn’t help them?”
The claim hurls into me, leaving me boneless and panicked.My mind races, trying to understand how my sister, of all people, could do something like this.How could she leave me here to face our parents with no warning?
“I didn’t know,” I insist, my plea flimsy and full of desperation.“I swear I didn’t.Honest.”My head is swimmy, and my thoughts seem jumbled.Like I’ve woken up from a coma.
“Go see your father, and not a word about anything your sister may have told you,” she warns.
I can’t tell him what I don’t know.
Grabbing my robe, I throw it on quickly, but I hesitate when I reach the top of the stairs.I picture him behind his desk.Cold eyes.A grim frown.A man used to the world yielding to his will.I know that harsh look he gets, the one that means disappointment or worse.A punishment.The bite of the last lashing I received flares in me like an old bruise that won’t heal.I listen as I descend the stairs, but the house is eerily quiet.Too quiet.
I know better than to keep Father waiting.Carlo Vega isn’t a patient man.My footsteps are soft against the thick carpet as I make my way down the long hallway toward the closed study door.I remember the last time he called me to his den.The room feels more like a prison than a cozy office.
With each step, the shadows seem to grow longer, reaching for me with darkened fingers.Warning me that if I don’t turn back now, I’ll soon regret it.
I don’t have a choice.If I ignore my father’s request, I’ll pay dearly.
The door is just ahead, but I pause, breathless with the fear of what’s waiting on the other side.The impulse to run in the other direction grips me.I’ve often dreamed of running away from my life.But I can’t.I won’t.
I wouldn’t make it far.
Unlike Lynette.
I give the two soldiers standing outside the door a weak smile.Do they know where Frankie and my sister ran off to?Did they know what they were planning?They wouldn’t be standing here breathing if they had.
I raise my hand and knock lightly.There’s a muffled sound from behind the door, the deep rumble of his voice, low and impossible to make out.He’s not alone.I desperately hope he’s called Gissette, my younger sister, in here too.Or maybe it’s another one of his men.
“Get in here, Odette,” his voice booms from the other side.
I gulp and twist the knob.
My father sits behind his desk.One of his men stands to his right, looking out the window that overlooks our driveway, pretending to ignore us.But I know better.His men are his ears and eyes.They know everything.Every secret.Every word I speak or move I make.They are never far.
The leather of father’s new chair creaks as he sits up straighter, taking on that serious fatherly face.The one he wears when I’m in trouble.Papers are strewn before him, with a glass half-full of something tawny at his elbow.The sight sends a quiver through me.Father never drinks this early.Never.
He only drinks after dinner.Usually right before bed.His one vice besides women.Over the years he’s had plenty of mistresses.Mother plays dumb, but she’s not without sin either.
I’ll never forget walking in on her and the pool boy.I shudder at the memory.
My father clears his throat but doesn’t yell at me for dissociating.
The chair opposite him looms, expectant and waiting.High-backed, rich mahogany leather.I used to love watching him work when I was younger.Before I knew the kind of brutal man he was or is.Still, he’s my father.My heart beats wildly.My pulse pounds in my ears.I lower myself into the chair, wondering what fate awaits not only me, but my sister.
What was Lynette thinking?And will I bear her punishment since she’s not here to receive it?
“Do you know why I’ve called you here?”His voice comes out controlled, filled with authority.His weathered hands clasped atop his desk.
He stares at me, tired and pissed off.The lines etched around his eyes appear harder, more prominent than they were yesterday.His gaze holds steady, and I know he’s waiting for me to say something.To confess my part in all of this.Only I’m in the dark more than anyone besides maybe my little sister.Lynette was always secretive, but I never imagined she’d go and do something like this.
Something so reckless and selfish.
Foolish.
Ignorant.
“Mother told me that Lynette is missing.”
