Cruel Vows

“Surely I don’t count as immediate family.”

His brow furrows. “You are my wife, which makes you an immediate family member. I’m not leaving you here, princess.”

I swallow hard as he takes my hand and leads me out of the restaurant. His grip is firm and possessive. Mia and Camilla are both crying when we get outside, hugging each other.

Leo rolls his eyes. “He ain’t dead yet, girls. Pull yourselves together.”

They both glare at him, wiping their eyes. “He’s got cancer, Leo. Have some fucking compassion,” Mia says.

He mutters something under his breath as he gets into the back of one of the SUVS out front. Massimo leads me to another and shuts the door, pulling at the tie around his neck. “I can’t believe this,” he murmurs, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. He looks vacant and so at odds with the man I just witnessed announce the truth to his family.

“Are you okay?” I ask, setting my hand on his.

He looks at me, shaking his head. “I’m not ready for this.”

It’s an odd feeling seeing a man who seemed so unshakable like this. Especially after all the shit he’s put me through. And yet when I see him like this, I feel sympathy for the devil. Sympathy that he doesn’t deserve and yet it’s still there. “You are. If the way you handled that is anything to go on.” I clench my jaw. “It couldn’t have been easy to deliver that news.”

Why the hell am I even trying to make him feel better?

It irritates me how much I’ve grown to care about him, despite everything he has done to me since we met.

“No, it wasn’t.” A muscle flexes in his jaw as he tears his gaze from mine. “I just don’t know if I can lead as well as my father always has.”

I stare at him, wondering how a man so powerful and confident can harbor such uncertainty of his abilities beneath that tough exterior.

It’s clear his father has been teaching him to take this role for years, and he slips into it naturally from what I’ve seen.

I set my hand on his on the seat between us and squeeze gently, not sure what to say.

He looks at me then, those dark eyes full of heartfelt emotion. “The honest truth is, Paisley. I’m scared.”

“Scared?” I ask.

He nods. “Scared to lose him. Scared to take on the responsibility of leading my famiglia.” His eyes shut. “What if I’m not good enough? What if I destroy everything he’s built?”

I shake my head in astonishment. “I didn’t think you’d be scared of anything, Massimo.”

His eyes open again and meet mine, searching them for something. “I am human, you know?”

“Could have fooled me.”

There’s a flash of hurt in his eyes as he turns his head away. But I won’t apologize for that comment. Only a monster sees a woman he likes and takes her just because, making her his. It’s not normal, and it’s certainly not right.

Even if I’ve come to care for him, I can’t excuse his actions.

“I apologize for the way I went about wooing you.”

“Wooing?” I scoff. “You definitely can’t call it that. Kidnapping, yes, wooing, no.”

He chuckles, then a soft, rumbling sound as he glances back at me. “Fine, I apologize for kidnapping you and forcing you to marry me. Better?”

I nod. “Far more accurate.”

He sighs. “What I’m not sorry for is the fact you are here, with me, by my side.” His hand tightens around mine and he brings it up to his lips, kissing the back of it. “You make every single day worth it, Paisley. And I’m going to try hard to make you realize we were made for each other, even if I should have gone about it differently.”

I raise a brow. “And what way would that have been?”

“Asked you on a date, to start.”

A date. It still shocks me that this adonis of a man who could clearly have anyone he wants is interested in a girl like me. A girl with no prospects, a bad upbringing and not exactly a beauty by today’s standards.

I don’t wear tons of makeup, or take hours over my hair, like some women. Jeans have always been my go to choice over dresses that Massimo seems to like me in. I don’t fit in his world, not properly.

“I don’t get it,” I mutter.

“Don’t get what, princess?”