Bound in Promise (Bound #2)

1. Victoria

1

VICTORIA

Wednesday, September 25, 10:30 PM

I’m trapped in a random, rundown hotel with my psychotic ex and a broken phone. All because he’s desperate for my trust fund.

A trust fund I still don’t have access to, even though I got married specifically to get the money and get the hell away from the mob looking to collect on my ex’s dead father’s debt.

Yeah, it’s a crazy mess and one I never wanted to be involved with.

All I’ve ever wanted is to graduate from my parent-approved private university, finish the community college culinary program that my parents definitely did not approve, and move to Paris with my bestie to open a bakery and enjoy life far, far away from my controlling parents.

Is that really too much to ask?

Well, apparently it is, considering I’ve been kidnapped by Liam, my off-the-charts crazy ex for a road trip to who knows where. Liam’s refusing to tell me anything about his plans, but I know enough to be terrified.

With every exit sign we passed, putting more miles between us and Graham Community’s culinary arts building parking lot—you know, the lot he kidnapped me from—increased my fear.

It was almost a relief when Liam instructed me to finally turn off the interstate and pull up to this budget hotel. Until he pressed his gun into my rib cage and forced me to cooperate as he booked us a room.

He spent the entire check in process gloating to the elderly clerk about how we’d just gotten married and were on our way to our honeymoon.

Meanwhile, Dante, my actual husband, kept calling, clearly trying to get a hold of me. Once we got into the room and the door closed, Liam stopped masking his rage, confiscated my phone, and smashed it against the bathroom tile floor until it broke in pieces.

All I could think about was if Liam meant what he said back at Graham. Is he truly planning to hurt Dante?

I can’t imagine it.

Honestly, I don’t want to. We’re in this together, and Dante is doing everything in his power to protect me. But now I’ve failed him . I have no way to warn him that he needs to be careful, that his nephew is planning to make me a widow—not with a broken phone and zero chance to escape.

No, for once Liam is paying attention to every detail. He’s kept a deadly weapon locked on me for the last several hours.

I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that the mob is nothing new to Dante, that he was part of this kind of organization before, that he had a reputation. Hopefully he has a sixth sense for when people are trying to kill him.

“Eat, Vee,” Liam growls, shoving a styrofoam container of Chinese food at me. “You’re no good to me dead.”

Oh, well, at least there’s that.

I don’t bother to touch it. My stomach is twisted into knots, making it impossible to imagine eating anything. My mind won’t stop trying to think my way out of this awful situation. “I’m not hungry.”

He glowers at me, stabbing his plastic fork into his spicy noodles. The combination of the smell and my fear for Dante’s life is making me nauseous. “Is this how you’re gonna be? A straight pain in my ass?”

Fear slithers through my veins, but I keep it off my face. I won’t give him the satisfaction. He’s never been this aggressive, this crazy, in the past. And while I never allowed Liam to push me around before, there’s something to be said for the minimum level of cooperation to stay alive. But he doesn’t get to have my fear too.

“What did you expect? You carjacked me!”

His expression softens a tad before he rests his elbow on the small table, picking his fork back up again. “You wouldn’t have listened otherwise. You wouldn’t even let me in your dorm?—”

“You were trying to break the door down, Liam. You scared me.”

He shrugs as if it doesn’t matter. “You were dodging me.”

I’m relieved when anger starts to heat my chest. I’d rather feed off that than give in to the absolute terror hovering at the edges of my mind. “I can do whatever I want?—”

“You were my fiancée, Vee. Not his. How the fuck did you think I was going to take it?”

“You were going to steal my money and leave me here,” I argue, tears burning the back of my eyes. “So, yeah, I?—”

Liam shoves his chair back, causing me to yelp in surprise when it crashes to the floor. His palms grip underneath the table, flipping the whole damn thing over and sending the food and everything else on it flying.

In the next second, he’s leaning over me, his face an inch away from mine as he cages me in. His fingers are wrapped around the arms of the chair, and for a moment I’m grateful they aren’t wrapped around my neck. My blood runs cold, every bit of righteous anger fleeing. Liam has lost his whole freaking mind.

I don’t know this boy anymore. I don’t recognize the monster in front of me.

“You’ve got me fucked up ,” he roars. His features are twisted and cold as he continues screaming, “Did he fuck you yet? Does he do all the things I used to do to you?”

Dante does way more than Liam ever did, and it’s confusing as hell. The way my husband owns my body when he fucks me sets my whole libido aflame… He touches me with need, possessiveness, and raw power. I’ve never been the focus of the kind of fervent desire that lives in Dante’s eyes. I can’t function properly when I’m with him. In the moment, it’s impossible to remember that what we have is temporary. Just a marriage for money so we can both build a new life.

He’s not mine.

And I’m stupid for admitting all the above—even just to myself.

But this isn’t the time to have that conversation, with myself or with Liam.

“We don’t?—”

“Don’t lie to me, Vee,” Liam spits out, and I feel a spray of saliva wet my cheek. “A little birdy told me you were fucking in his office.”

What the hell?

Clamping my hands together in my lap, I don’t dare admit a thing to Liam. He still has a gun somewhere. “I don’t like him like that. He’s just trying to keep Lombardi off our asses.”

“He hasn’t kept him off mine,” Liam retorts with a sneer. “I keep getting text messages and phone calls from that motherfucker every?—”

“Why haven’t you said anything?”

“When? When you were running away from me? Or maybe when you up and moved to some secret apartment off campus? When?”

Fair point.

However, if Liam had stopped acting like my crazy stalker and approached me without threatening to do violence, maybe I would have been more inclined to talk.

“You could’ve told your uncle.” Maybe he still can. Liam is scared, there’s no doubt about that. And, at the end of the day, he and Dante are family. Dante might be able to include him in our plan to escape Lombardi.

Liam scoffs at that, straightening his spine a bit. He keeps his arms bracketed around me, though. “I’m not telling him shit. He can die in a ditch for all I care. I’m his only fucking nephew and he played me to get to you. I’m not stupid.”

“If Angelo gets paid?—”

“He’s going to keep finding reasons we owe him more, Vee. Don’t you fucking get it?” He throws his hands up in exasperation. “We’re never going to be free of this guy. He’s a fuckin’ mobster. They treat this all like a game, manipulating the debt and going ‘oh gee, I forgot this fee’ and on and on. It never ends.”

That may be so. But I trust Dante to figure a way out. He’s told me we’re leaving the States, leaving this all behind. He doesn’t seem to care about his nephew, not really. But as shitty as Liam has been to me, I can’t help thinking that leaving him behind is the same as killing him ourselves. Liam’s definitely not handling any of this the right way, but he’s terrified. He and I are freaking college students! He is completely out of his depth, and I can’t say I blame him for freaking out. Just for manipulating the hell out of me to save himself.

“I won’t let him leave you behind,” I tell him. “If you have a passport, you can go anywhere in the world?—”

“I will go anywhere in the world,” Liam counters confidently. “And you’re my meal ticket. With your trust fund, I’m out of here.”

“You can’t just fucking leave me behind,” I protest. “It’s my money. Not yours.”

“It was supposed to be mine.”

“You’re not getting a fucking dime of it, Liam. Not if you don’t turn us around right now and take me back home.”

He scoffs haughtily. “I don’t trust you. And I sure as hell don’t trust my uncle. Whatever messed up plan he’s patching together, I’m not part of it. My mother isn’t part of it. He’s most likely going to leave you behind, too. Don’t be fuckin’ stupid.”

“He won’t do that.”

“Why? Did he make pretty little promises that he wouldn’t ditch you? The dude’s just as bad as Angelo and even more fucked up. He went to prison for beating a few guys half to death. You don’t think he’s killed before? He was part of Italy’s most powerful mob. The guy didn’t do charity work for them.”

And yet he’s not the one acting like a psychopath right now.

I know Dante has a past, a violent one, but I’ve seen sides of him that Liam never will. He fought to protect as many of my dreams as he could, paying my tuition at Thronewood and giving me the time and space to study. I’ve laid next to him in bed and listened to him sleep as he held me close. He’s been vulnerable with me even while the outside world has labeled him as broody and withdrawn.

I trust him.

“You’re missing the point, Liam. We can work together.”

He shakes his head back and forth in denial. “I’m not working with anyone. I’m taking your money and, if you’re a good girl and promise to suck my dick every night, I’ll take you with me.”

I lean away from him in disgust, turning my head to the side. “You’re a pig, Liam.”

“And you’re a tease, Vee. But if you wanna act like you’re too good for me, fine. Honestly, if I sell you to Angelo, I’ll make so much fucking money to go with that damn trust that it won’t fucking matter?—”

I snap my eyes back to his, unable to stop the next words out of my mouth. “Then why aren’t you taking me to him? You’re going the wrong way if you want to deal with Angelo.” Liam rolls his eyes, and that little maneuver tells me the real reason I’m not in Lombardi’s hands. “You’re scared of him.”

“I’m not scared of him.”

“You are,” I taunt, tired of Liam’s threats. “And you said it first, he’ll always want something from you. Maybe he’d just take me and not pay you a dime. Maybe he’ll say I cover part of the debt. But you’re not willing to risk it. You need to get out of here because you’re so damn stubborn?—”

“I’ll fucking kill you if you don’t shut up,” Liam barks out. “You entitled bitch. You’re not better than me, and I know what I’m doing.”

“You don’t. You’re just some scared piece of shit that—” Liam’s fist crashes into the side of my face, and my cheek immediately throbs with pain.

My hair is in my face, but I don’t dare push it out of my eyes. I’m too shocked that he hit me to do anything about it.

“Listen to me, bitch,” Liam warns, his head lowering as his voice drips venom. “When that money drops in your account, you’re going to withdraw it. And we’re gonna check every single day to make sure you don’t try any stupid shit.”

“You broke my phone.”

“I’ve got one, dumbass. You’ll check it on mine so I can see what you’re doing.”

“And once you get the money? Then what?” I challenge.

“Then I’ll figure it out.”

I could say he’s not going to get away with this.

But I have a funny feeling he just might.