Vow to Protect (Vow To Protect 1)

Kai takes a risk and speaks up again. “What I don’t get is why make the effort? He never cared about her. We saw what she looked like when we got her out of that house…and he’s never shown any kind of affection at parties or events. Hell, we’d only seen her at one, and before then, he never once mentioned her existence. Like he wanted to erase her from his life completely. Maybe Sal was his attempt at doing that, and it failed, so now he’s trying to clean up the mess he made before he’s implicated.”

I stare down my former second. “You think her father knew where things would go with Sal and hoped he’d solve the problem of his daughter’s existence for him?”

Kai shrugs. “Why not? He’s not known to be the most ruthless of us for nothing. Just because things have been calm in his territory for some time doesn’t mean he’s stopped enforcing the law there. I think he’s just gotten so good at it, he doesn’t leave a trace of evidence behind.”

I consider what he’s saying, and it makes me sick. With this new idea, I have to turn away so they don’t see how much I want to fucking rip out his guts. But it makes the most sense out of any other theories I’ve created on my own. Why else allow a man like Sal into Val’s life? When there was evidence easily seen on her skin of how he treated her, yet the man never made a move to protect her.

“I have other news,” Kai says, drawing me from the edges of a fugue that would likely result in bloodshed.

I turn. “What?” I grit out. “What else could have possibly gone wrong this morning?”

He looks almost apologetic when he answers. “Sal resurfaced but then disappeared again. His family is hiding him, for sure.”

“That’s better news than that fucking email. At least you have a location, right? We storm it and drag his fucking ass out.”

Kai and Vincent wince, and I realize why. The season fucking ended over a month ago, or more…I haven’t been keeping track with my focus on making Valentina comfortable in our bed.

If I make a move on them when the season is closed, it’s an act of war against them and the council as a whole. One or the other, I might be able to deal with some damage, but not both, not at the same time, and not if the council calls the other families as allies to protect them.

Yet don’t they deserve to be annihilated if they align themselves with Val’s father against me? Isn’t that the very definition of corrupt? Not considering other sides, only the ones who pay the most. Not that it mattered, but I could out-pay her father ten times over if I wanted to.

I think back to the night of the party and the few precious minutes which almost cost me so dearly. The few minutes I let her out of my sight when I’d met up with Nic Diavolo. Now, I wondered if his information stayed updated or if he would no longer be able to provide what I wanted.

I pace the room again, considering. Diavolo is a titan in his own territory, his own city, and he doesn’t play games. If he knows where Sal is, he won’t lie about it. But he’ll also ask a steep price for the information. He is a businessman after all, and his second, Soo, is the same.

“We might have another option to find Sal and keep him this time.” I stop and look between Kai and Vincent. “Diavolo.”

“What about him?” Vincent asks, not having been there when I met with him that night.

Kai fills him in. “He might have Sal’s exact location or know how to get it. He met with the boss the night of the season end party.”

Realization dawns, and Vincent looks uncomfortable, realizing Diavolo was who I had been with when Val got attacked. No one wants to mention the incident, or anything related to it, for fear I might fly off the handle and pummel something. They aren’t wrong. The closer I get to Val, the more frayed my patience has become, especially when the possibility of losing her is brought up.

I need to see her, touch her, reassure myself she is real, and here, and mine. Instead of making plans, I turn to the door and stop. No. I need to see her, but her safety always comes first.

With a groan, I turn back to them and grip a chair to calm myself. “Set up a meeting with Diavolo. Somewhere discreet where we can sit and have a meal, really chat. I’ll see if I can get him to open up about what he knows or find out more about his connections to Sal’s family. It’s unlikely, but I’ll try. He’ll also have a few people with him, so make sure we have enough place settings. Cook can coordinate the meal and cook on-site. She won’t mind the extra pay for the additional meal prep that day.”