Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Promise
I’m dreaming again. But this time, I’m not running through a maze, not sitting having a polite conversation.
This time…I’m lying in a pool of blood.
I try to move, but I can’t get my limbs to work. Is that because I’m asleep? Or is this the end?
“Sweetheart,” my mother whispers close to my ear. “Promise. Don’t give up yet.”
“I’m not giving up,” I answer. “I’m just tired.”
“You’ve got Angel now. You just have to have a little faith.” She touches my head, her touch soothing me.
“I’m not sure, Mama. Sometimes I think I do and then other times I think he might not be mine at all.”
“I disagree,” she whispers back. “He’s redeeming himself nicely. You have to trust him.”
I shake my head. “But what if the problem is me? What if I’m not enough? What if I never have been?”
“Put it out of your head. Now this is very important, it’s time for you to wake up.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I answer, watching the stain of blood spread, feeling like all the strength is slipping from my very soul.
“You have to.”
“I don’t think I can.” Even my voice is growing weaker.
“Promise,” she gasps, her hands coming down hard on my chest. “Wake. Up.”
My eyes pop open as I draw a gasping breath of air into my lungs.
Above me is a deep red ceiling and I can’t place it. Where am I?
“Finally decided to join us?” my father asks. I don’t need to see his face to know his voice. I turn my head, meeting his cold stare where he’s crouched above me.
I don’t answer, slow blinking my eyes. My head is pounding, my body hurts everywhere.
Slowly, memories filter back in. Angel being hit by masked men. One of them dragging me from the car.
And when I tried to fight…the sharp pain of being knocked out.
My shaking hand raises to my head where I find a giant lump behind my left ear. I wince as pain shoots through me.
“You know, your silence pisses me off. But in moments like this…” He gives me that evil smile that he reserves for his most unguarded moments. This is my real father. “I’m so glad I don’t need to listen to you bitch and moan.”
Part of me wants to ask the questions. Where am I? What are you planning? But he’s not likely to answer, only gloat that he finally got me to speak, so I won’t give him the satisfaction. Which maybe means there is a bit of fight left in me after all.
I lower my left hand onto my stomach where Angel’s ring sparkles on my finger. My father roughly grabs my hand. “That’s quite the fucking ring from a guy who agreed to murder you the moment it was convenient for me.”
My eyes go wide as my stomach drops out.
Everything in me revolts at the words.
It’s possible my father is lying. Just vitriol to seed ill will and turn plans to his favor.
But I’ve always wondered about the details of the bargain Angel and my father struck. I look away, needing a moment to push my worries aside, stay strong, and believe in what Angel and I have started.
Wherever this started, he chose me.
“Don’t believe me, Promise? I’ve got it in writing.” My father’s cackle fills the room. “Not only am I finally going to be rid of you. Your man is going to be the one to do it.”
I shake my head. It’s not true. My father and Angel never finalized their agreement and Angel, he promised…promised to keep me safe.
But my chest grows so tight, I can barely take in air. I close my eyes, feeling the weight of his words. Did Angel really agree to kill me?
The Devil of New York.
The soulless killing machine… That is who you marry your daughter to if you want her dead.
“Jesus Christ.” I hear an unfamiliar voice from across the room and then the flick of a lighter. It’s a sound I know well. “And I thought my family was fucked up.”
“Shut up, Vinnie,” an older male voice snarks.
Muddled as my thoughts are, it only takes me a moment to realize I’m with the Morellis. Did they knock Angel out? Is Gunner here?
I try to sit up, but my father pushes me back down. “I don’t know where you think you’re going, but this party is just about to get started.”
My place at this party is on the floor?
I look down and realize I’m covered in a blanket. I shift, the fibers of the blanket scratching my skin… I’m barely wearing anything underneath.
What the actual…
I grip the blanket, bringing it higher up around my neck. My father’s lip curls into a sneer. “Don’t worry. Angel will be here soon. And then…” He leans closer, grabbing my hair. “You’re both going to pay for your impertinence.”
I try to sit up again, but he roughly pushes me down. The thump of my head on the rug only registers as dim pain as I hear the door open. I gasp, worried it’s Angel, but my gaze meets Gunner’s.
He’s gagged, his hands tied behind his back, and his eyes burn with an absolute fury.
On either side of him are two men, each holding one of his arms. I see his body twitch, revolting against their hands. I wince as they push him roughly to the ground next to me.
He lands on his knees, his teeth digging into the gag.
“Your new family suits you, Promise,” my father laughs.
I hear a deep rumble in Gunner’s throat. I have no idea if my father does or doesn’t hear it, the sound of his own cackle overpowering the room.
I look up at Gunner but he’s not looking at me, he’s staring at my father, his muscles twitching, his arms working in small movements.
But watching Gunner is a mistake, because I’ve taken my eyes off my father. He grabs the edge of the blanket and tugs, exposing the lacy bra I have underneath.
I grab for the blanket but I’m slow. He pulls the cover over my stomach, his lip curling. “Do you want to know what I’m going to do—”
But he doesn’t get to finish.
Gunner thrusts himself forward, his head hitting my father’s face with such force, I hear the bones in his nose crack.
He falls back in a scream of pain, blood spraying from his nostrils as his head hits the floor, his bandaged hand flying to his bloody face.
Gunner makes a noise that has me turning my gaze to him again. I watch as he shrugs the gag, which looked super tight, out of his mouth. How did he do that? “Cover yourself, Promise.”
“Gag him again,” Vincent snarls.
Gunner’s hands appear, and he holds them up. I don’t know if it’s a concession on his part, or if he’s just showing the other men he’s no longer bound.
But I don’t ask as I pull the blanket back up my body.
He isn’t looking at me, he’s staring at Vincent.
“Rock and The Shadow are circling this house as we speak.” He stands slowly, his eyes full of hate.
“If you want to bind me again, you’ll have to kill me.
And then, you bet your fucking ass they are killing you.
You know what Killian Smith is capable of. And Rock? He loves to be unleashed.”
“You’re lying,” Vincent spits, but he’s visibly shaken and starting to sweat. And no one makes a move toward us.
“He isn’t.”
My head jerks toward the door, to the sound of Angel’s voice, as I barely hold in a cry of relief.
But Vinnie holds up a gun, pointing it at Angel’s chest. “Don’t fucking move.”
Angel’s gaze sweeps over me before he looks back at Vinnie. “And here I thought I was invited.”
“Put the gun down,” Vincent says to his son. Then to Angel, “You were invited.”
“Next time,” Angel’s lip pulls into a sneer, “just call.”
Vincent rolls his shoulders. “Apologies for all the dramatics. Don likes to make a show of everything.”
Angel looks down at my father, who has managed to get on his knees, his hands over his face. “Too true.”
“Fuck.” My father drops his hands, his face a mess like I’ve never seen. For a man who regularly inflicts pain, I don’t think he experiences it much. Not like this.
I start to sit up, wanting to watch, but Gunner’s hand comes to my shoulder as he drops back to his knees. He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t draw any attention to us, as he gently but firmly holds me in place on the floor. His message is received. I’m to stay down here.
And I have no desire to defy his silent command. I settle back on the floor.
“So why am I here?” Angel asks, his shoulders broad, his eyes sharp. “What conversation is so important that my brother and my wife were taken?”
“Wife?” Vincent asks. “I thought the wedding yesterday was cancelled.”
Angel growls low and deep. “Get to the fucking point.”
Vincent taps a pile of papers on his desk. “Don?”
“He broke my nose,” Don cries. “I’ve got a press junket tomorrow. I can’t have a broken nose. The hand was bad enough.”
Gunner smiles, showing a lot of teeth.
“I’m going to break far more than your nose if you don’t start talking,” Angel spits. “Closing your hand in the car door was my opening move. And I know you know what I am capable of.”
My father starts to stand but falls back to his knees.
“Call Killian and Rock in,” Gunner grunts. “Let’s get this over with.”
“You think we’re just letting them walk in here?” Vinnie sneers. “Let them try.”
“Shut up,” Vincent says to his son.
“He’s right, Vinnie,” Angel sneers. “Your guards don’t have what it takes to stop either of them. And Knox…he’s here too. I’m about to let him show you how an MMA fighter breaks a femur.”
Vinnie twitches, his slicked-back hair falling across his forehead. “You can’t threaten us in our own place.”
“Shut up!” Vincent yells.
Angel takes two steps into the room toward my father, just as Vinnie raises the gun.
“Angel,” I gasp.
My father’s eyes laser focus on me at the sound of my voice, but Angel is looking at Vinnie. He raises his own pistol, the one I didn’t even realize he was holding, and I’m guessing neither did Vinnie, and both guns fire.
I hear Vinnie’s scream, his pistol dropping to the ground as blood pours from his hand.
“That was a gift, Vinnie,” Angel snarls. “And a payment for knocking me in the back of the head.” He swings his pistol toward Vincent. “Now I’m going to ask one more time. What the fuck am I doing here?”
Vincent’s got both of his hands up as Knox enters the room, holding two guns of his own.
But it’s my father who answers. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m ready to sign the contract that exchanges the votes for the land.”
“You can’t be fucking serious,” Angel spits. “You stole my brother, hit me in the head and kidnapped my wife to continue a partnership? Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I knew you wouldn’t take my call,” my father answers, but his eyes are on me, blazing with a maniacal fire that has me frozen in place.
It’s a trap. I know it. From stripping me near naked to luring Angel here, there is nothing good coming out of this.
I shake my head, silently begging him not to listen. But he doesn’t look at me. “Angel,” I plead again, but he glances at everyone except me.
It’s that day all over again, when we visited the country club. He’s not looking at me. Not seeing me at all.
And I think I might have lost him.
A sob breaks from my lips.
“When did my daughter start talking again?”
“I’ve got the touch,” Angel answers. “Did you bring the contract?”
My chest gets so tight I can’t breathe, but Gunner still has his hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve got it.” My father finally pushes to standing. He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket with his uninjured hand and slowly places it on his nose. It’s instantly soaked red.
He wipes his blood-soaked hand on his pants.
“Vincent. He needs a towel.”
I nearly choke. We’re taking care of my father now?
In the wall is a wet bar. Vincent crosses to it and grabs a towel, tossing it to my father. He wipes his hand and then his face around his nose.
“If I recall, I already signed,” Angel drawls as he bends down and picks up Vinnie’s gun. I don’t think Vinnie’s firing it anytime soon. He’s lying on the floor, holding his mangled hand.
“You did, but…” my father starts.
“Any addendums I should know about? Failure to share will nullify the contract.” Angel’s back is to me now. It’s only when Gunner wipes my cheek with the back of a gentle finger that I realize I’m crying. His hand goes back to my shoulder.
“Only one.” My father slumps by the desk. The pain must be really getting to him. “Vincent would like ten percent of any revenue from any construction you do on that land.”
Angel is silent for a minute, then he turns to Vincent. “And I take my uncle’s seat as head of the five families?”
“Why would you want it?” Vincent asks with a shrug. “You’ve got the Smiths and the Kincaids helping you go legit.”
“You let me worry about that,” Angel grits back. “Answer the question.”
“Yes. It’s yours,” Vincent answers. “I just want a cut and some of the contracts for my guys.”
“Done,” Angel agrees. “Sign.”
The blood rushes in my ears as I try to understand what is happening. Why is Angel still making deals with my father, and why hasn’t he even looked at me?
He told me that I was his future. That he made me vows. And now…
My father bends over, holding the towel to his nose so he doesn’t bleed on the paper, and then scrolls his signature.
Then he slowly sets down the pen, his eyes turning toward me, his look so crazy that I shrink closer to Gunner. “You remember section 18c?"
My breath stops in my chest. Gunner’s hand tightens on my shoulder.
“I remember.”
“You agreed. You agreed that you’d get rid of Promise when it was convenient for me. I’d say now is the perfect time.”
A feral cry rips from my lips. But Angel still doesn’t look at me.
I have this feeling like I’m falling even though I’m on the floor. I close my eyes, picturing my mother’s face.
“I did agree…” Angel starts.
The swell of grief that slams into me makes me shudder so violently, I come partially off the floor. I so wanted to believe that Angel could be mine…