Page 86 of The Vow Thief
We looked for twenty minutes. Checked every corridor, every exit, every car that wasn’t supposed to be there.
Nothing.
Lily was gone.
And so was Sarah.
The two variables I never wanted in motion at the same time.
Chapter 36 - She Will Be Mine
Sean’s POV
I knew she was up to something. The late-night texts. The quiet phone calls that stretched until dawn. I had caught her pacing the hallway, whispering, her voice low but sure. It wasn’t nerves. It was planning.
I’d let it slide, pretending to be the patient man. The one who didn’t push. The one who waited. But I was done being that guy.
When the announcement came over the chapel speakers, Lily was gone, and it didn’t shock me. It just confirmed what I already knew. She’d slipped the leash.
Elliott Thompson was losing control, and frankly, it was about time. The man had been pulling strings like he was the god of all of us. Sending Julianne back into the mix was his biggest mistake.
Julianne.
The name alone made something dark stir in me. My ex. Five years together. Five years I’d wasted on a woman who never meant a word she said. I’d loved her, or thought I had. Enough to buy a ring. Enough to plan a trip.
I’d booked a flight to Amsterdam. Made dinner reservations overlooking the canals. Walked into her condo with a bottle of champagne and a ring box in my pocket to surprise her.
She didn’t even hear me come in, but I heard her.
I pushed the door to her bedroom open to find her trainer between her legs. Her body was twisted in the sheets, and her voice, God, that sound, was the kind of thing you can’t unhear. I left the ring on the kitchen counter and walked out. Didn’t say a word.
That was the end.
Seeing her here today, pretending to be someone new, standing beside Matt Taylor, of all people, it almost made me laugh. Maybe they deserved each other. Two people built on infidelity and delusion, each thinking they were the exception.
But Lily.
She was different. Wild. Reckless. Smart enough to be dangerous. I’d been watching her come undone all week, waiting to see how far she’d push it. She thought she was free now. She wasn’t.
I wasn’t done with her.
Elliott might want to keep things clean, keep up appearances. That’s his style. But I’m not playing fair anymore. Not with him. Not with her.
I’ll find her. And when I do, she’ll have to earn the freedom she just stole.
I slipped out through the back, past the murmuring guests and the press pretending to be discreet. The air outside was sharp enough to sober anyone, but it didn’t touch me.
The drive home was quiet. Just the low hum of the engine and the pulse in my jaw. The city passed in streaks of gray and gold, every light a reminder of how far she thought she could get.
When I pulled into the garage, the sensor light flickered to life. I parked, got out, and headed for the private corridor. My hand found the code pad without thinking. The door unlocked with a muted click, the same as it always had.
The air inside was cool, still, faintly scented with cedar. I flipped the switch, and the lights rose slowly, one by one, soft and gold.
The space was immaculate. Shelves lined with glassware, books, and fresh linens. A bed in the corner, untouched but ready.A record player. A velvet chair. Everything she could want, except a way out.
It wasn’t a cell. It was comfort with rules.
A gilded cage, quiet and waiting.
