A Vow of Love and Vengeance

I was coping, though, surviving. And that was all I could manage right now.

Gio came home an hour ago and told me to come downstairs to a meeting in his office. I didn’t want to leave this room, but I couldn’t deny that I wanted to be near him. Needed him. Maybe he knew that because he didn’t touch me; he simply showered, changed, and left the room.

This felt like a test of some kind, and one I didn’t want to fail because I didn’t want to be this person. Broken. Weak. Hiding.

When the dizziness had passed, I pushed to my feet and went back into the bedroom. My gaze passed over the bed longingly, and I was so tempted to crawl into it but walked into the closet instead.

One side was stocked with Gio’s uniformed black suits, the other with the clothes Tommy had bought me. My heart clenched at the thought of Tommy.

I’d barely thought about him since I’d killed my father, too consumed with myself. I knew he was alive and wanted to see me—I just hadn’t cared. I was a horrible person.

I tugged on leggings and a sweatshirt, then made my way out of the bedroom and into a massive house. I’d been here for over a week, and I hadn’t seen anything beyond that bedroom door.

The hallway stretched on forever, chandeliers throwing little specks of light over the thick carpet. It reminded me of something out of The Great Gatsby, an almost antique glamor to the place. It was nothing like the modern penthouse we’d occupied in the city, and though I knew the house belonged to Gio, it didn’t seem very “him.”

I descended the grand staircase, where the carpet gave way to hardwoods. My bare feet padded over the polished surface as I followed the sound of voices. I paused in the doorway of a huge kitchen filled with several men and a single older woman standing at the stove.

Silence fell as several stares shifted my way. My cheeks heated, and I knotted the sleeve of my sweatshirt in my fingers as I looked for Gio or Renzo. I found only strangers staring at me.

A big guy stepped forward, flashing a smile that pulled at a feint scar on his cheek. I recognized him from the hospital. He’d been covered in Tommy’s blood—Jackson.

“Come on, little sparrow. I’ve been told to feed you, then take you to Gio.”

I dropped my gaze to the floor. “I’m not hungry.” I didn’t want to go in there with all those men. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to be out of my room.

“I’m Jackson, Gio’s enforcer. Kinda.” Behind him, the low hum of conversation resumed. “And I know you know that if you don’t eat, Gio will bitch.”

“No, he’ll just hover and stare at me until I do what he wants just to get rid of him,” I mumbled.

“Exactly.” Grinning, he backed away to the breakfast bar.

The woman placed a coffee mug in front of Jackson as he tossed a croissant onto a plate.

Both were pushed into my hands before he led me down a hallway, passing rooms that screamed of opulence before he knocked on a door. Without waiting for a response, he opened it and stepped inside an office.

The entire room smelled of wood, smoke, and old books, and I inhaled deeply, a crippling sense of nostalgia washing over me. It reminded me of my father. The good version, recalled through the rose-tinted vision of a child.

My gaze instantly found Renzo sitting on a couch in front of the open fire. His eyes met mine before he offered a soft smile. He knew what I was thinking. He always knew.

I shifted my attention to the massive desk at the rear of the room, backed by the light of the window. And in front of it was Gio, his broad frame silhouetted in that light like some kind of dark god.

“Found your little bird wandering the halls,” Jackson said, flopping down onto the couch beside my brother.

“Did you now?” That sensuous rumble dragged over nerves that always felt too exposed these days. Gio looked like a conquering king behind that colossal desk, running his empire.

I swayed on the spot, a junkie in need of their fix. His lips twitched, and he pushed away from his desk a little.

“Come, piccola.”

I didn’t even care that my brother was there. Maybe I should have been ashamed of how much I wanted the man, needed him. But I was too fraught to focus on anything aside from getting through one day and then the next. Gio did that for me, as unhealthy as it might be.

I approached, and he plucked the coffee and plate from my hand, placing them on the desk before pulling me onto his lap. The solid planes of his warm chest pressed against my side, and I melted into him, taking my first full breath in what felt like hours.