Promise to Keep (Vow To Protect 2)

The woman sighs, and I scramble for her name because she is my first target when I get out of here, after Andrea.

Everything in my body aches, but alongside it, the betrayal is so much worse. How could she do this to us, help them when they hurt her so badly. I lock eyes with her again, ignoring the woman waiting for me to say something. “Why? Why would you do this?”

Andrea smiles, and it’s slightly unhinged. “They gave me exactly what I wanted. Sal’s brothers in exchange for Valentina and Kai. An easy trade…”

I shake my head. “We were going to get them together.”

“No,” she spits at me. “You were going to get them, and I guarantee what you had planned is nothing compared to what I’m going to do to them both. What you have planned for me right now is nothing compared to how they will end up when I get my hands on them.”

I flap my uselessly bound hands toward the council. “These assholes aren’t exactly reliable. Who says they don’t take us, kill you, and be done with it all.”

Another smile. “Don’t worry, I have leverage.”

Now I’m curious…did she capture another of the five? I can’t believe any of them would go along with this insane plan of hers. To betray me. To betray all of us.

“Leverage?”

She shifts her gaze to the table. “Didn’t you notice? You don’t have a full tribunal today. One of their numbers is missing.”

29

VALENTINA

Oh, this plan is such a bad idea. When Andrea and Kai walked into my bedroom, Adrian was already gone, so I didn’t think to argue. Why would I when it gave me what I want? But…standing here, watching them hurt him, I can’t take much more of it before I lose my shit completely.

The council, as usual, doesn’t care about anyone but themselves. Hell, the only reason Andrea could get this to work was because she spotted a lone council member doing some dirty things on her spy mission. The blackmail after that, to get him to comply, was easy enough for her as well.

I’m shaking, and I can’t stop the tears pouring down my cheeks. He’s bruised and battered all over. It hits me like an out-of-control car on a freeway…he lied to me. The man stood in front of me and told me they wouldn’t try to take him out. From what I can tell, they are just doing it slowly and painfully to draw out his misery. Next, they will use me, but I’m not going to allow it if I can help it.

I jerk my arm, pretending to try to cut loose from Andrea’s hold. It shocked me how easy the indifferent betrayal act came to her and how real she made it seem with Kai hunched over beside us. To be fair, that had been the hardest part. Watching her and the council guards beat up on him to subdue him.

Now that we are here, however, I’m not seeing a way for us all to get back out. Andrea maybe, if she keeps playing the part of the betrayer…at least until word eventually got back to the rest of the five. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they have us all killed right here, right now? They obviously have the ruthlessness for it.

The question is if someone else confesses to these crimes, will it mean they let Adrian off the hook, or will they still just murder us all? It’s hard to think with all the guns in the room and the head councilwoman’s cold eyes boring into me. Despite my fear and the trembling I’m sure they all see, I push my shoulders back and raise my chin. Adrian would want me to be strong, act like I belong here, that these people are beneath me

In this one tiny act of defiance, the council settles, the chairwoman waving at me. “You, Novak girl, do you have something to confess? After all, it is your father who is missing and presumed dead. And it wasn’t a secret how little he cared for you.”

Ouch. That kind of stings. The fact that strangers knew so much about my abuse, all the things my father put me through, and did nothing makes me hate these people even more. “I don’t know if I have something to say yet. Are you willing to listen, or are you just going to pass judgment as you see fit and kill everyone anyway?”

“Valentina,” Adrian snaps. “Be quiet.”

I throw him a glare just as a guard comes up behind him with a gag and threads it across his mouth to secure behind his head. Despite his inability to talk, he’s saying everything he needs to with his eyes.

He’s telling me to let him handle this. To let him die to protect me and our child. If he really knew me, he’d know how impossible it is for me to let him die this way. Not for me. But I’ll keep my promise to him and ensure our baby lives, no matter what.