Vow of Hate (Vow #4)

1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Sienna

The men start showing up on my doorstep a month after my father dies. They’re like wild dogs, crawling and snarling up the front porch steps, foaming at the mouth, trying to get to me.

If it weren’t for my mother, I would have already been taken.

“You need to leave,” I overhear my mother say as I stand at the top of the steps, hiding from view. “My husband has been dead for only a month. We’re still in mourning.”

“But Sienna is at a ripe age to marry now. You need to consider it.” The man’s voice is one I faintly recognize.

Some mafia man who used to work with my father.

I can’t remember this man’s name or face but what I do know is that he has to be in his fifties, at least. “I could be a good husband to her.”

My mother scoffs. “To my twenty year old daughter? You didn’t even consider asking for my hand.”

“Well… Henrietta… you’re no longer young. You can’t have children anymore.”

“And you’re fifty-nine,” she responds flatly. “You don’t need to have any children any longer. If you did, those kids would grow up without a father.”

“You’re denying myself the chance to have children?”

“No. But I am denying you the chance to have children with my daughter. Now leave.”

“You can’t hold us back forever, you know. Someone will marry Sienna eventually. It has to happen. She’s a mafia woman. Her father is dead and as her mother, you can only do so much now.”

I press myself against the wall even harder and squeeze my eyes shut.

Why did my father have to be a mafia man and die so suddenly?

It has left me without any sort of protection.

I am aimless. No end in sight from all these suitors.

They have been showing up for the past few days now and every time I hear the doorbell ring, I feel my spine tense, because I know it’s another one of them, coming to ask for my hand.

My mother has held them off but how much longer can she?

At the end of the day, we’re both only mafia woman in a mafia man’s world.

“You need to leave,” my mother says in her hard voice. “I am not giving you my daughter’s hand in marriage, Nico. You’re old and I will not marry my daughter to someone who’s the same age as her father.”

“So you’ll marry her to someone younger? Someone without much prestige?”

“There are a ton of younger mafia men who are higher than you in rank. So I would consider your words and be careful with them. You are not getting my daughter. No man is. I will kill any man who comes for her.”

I can’t hear anything for a moment. The temptation to look is strong but I hold it back. If I step out from my hiding spot, Nico might see me.

“You think you’re so tough, Henrietta,” Nico says in a tone that makes the goosebumps break out on my skin. “But you’re just a woman. You can only do so much. If it’s not me, it will be someone else and you know it. I am offering a good life for Sienna. You should really consider it.”

“A good life how? Because all I see is a middle aged, overweight man who thinks he’s entitled to my beautiful, twenty year old daughter. And that’s just insane, don’t you think?”

The sound of a loud slap makes me gasp and step away from the hall. My mother has her hand clamped over her face and Nico is glaring at her. He raises his hand to slap her again when I finally open my mouth.

“Stop,” I say. “Don’t hurt her.”

Nico’s eyes flick up to mine. The only thing that gives me any sort of power is that I’m at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. But that could easily change. “Ah. There you are. Looking as beautiful as I remember.”

Nico does look familiar. I think the last time I saw him around, I was fifteen. A shudder runs through me.

“Don’t hurt her,” I repeat. “Please.” My voice is weak and quiet. I’ve always had a soft voice. For most of my life, I was told to speak up.

Nico smirks. “I won’t have to hurt her if you’ll marry me.”

“Sienna, go,” Mom says. “I can handle this.” She sets her hard eyes onto Nico.

“Go. I will call Gabriel Romano to come over and handle you if you don’t.

” That makes Nico’s dark eyes widen. As the head of the mafia, Gabriel is in control of everything.

He ultimately gets the final say in who gets married or not.

At only thirty-three, he’s young and powerful. A scary combination.

Nico leans in closer to my mom’s face but she holds herself still like a statue.

With her wiry frame and long limbs, my mother looks like an elf come to life.

Her blonde hair, which I got, makes her even more ethereal looking.

I used to be told I was just as ethereal…

until my father died. Then my pale skin and blonde hair worked against me, making me look more like a ghost than a pretty fairy.

“Be careful, Henrietta,” Nico warns. “You’re asking for trouble.”

“And I’m just saving my daughter. So go. Or I will shoot you.”

“With what gun?”

She points to the gun on the table near the front door. After my father died, she put guns around the whole house in clear visible view, ready to grab at any moment. “I would be careful if I were you. Or you might just leave this place without your penis intact. Go.”

Nico sneers and gives me one last look before leaving the house. The moment my mother shuts the door, she slumps against it, breathing heavy. I run down the stairs to her.

“Mom?” I whisper.

“I’m ok.”

“But he hit you.”

She waves a hand, silently telling me not to worry. “I’m ok, Sienna. Nico is all bark and no bite.”

“But he hit you,” I repeat. “That doesn’t seem like no bite.”

She tries to smile but I can tell it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Everything will be fine, Sienna. I’m going to make sure you’re always protected. I promise. No man is going to steal you away in the night. I will keep you safe.”

“But Nico has a point. We’re just two mafia women in a world of mafia men. They will come for me. They’ve already been coming for me.”

She cups my face and I lean into her touch, just like I did when I was a child. “I will protect you, Sienna. That I promise. Now, just stay inside. Keep every door locked. Practice turning the safety on and off your gun just in case.”

A shiver runs down my spine. The day after my father died, my mother took me to the shooting range to practice using a gun. I didn’t understand at first why that mattered. Now I do. I’m still not the best shot but I’m getting better at it. Slowly.

But not fast enough.

My best friend, Luciana, comes over. Her kind face is a welcome relief from the mafia men who have been snooping around.

“How have you been?” she asks, giving me a warm hug.

“Not good. Some men have been coming around. One of my father’s men, Nico… something, came by. He slapped my mother in the face.”

“Oh my god. Sienna, I’m so sorry.” Luciana’s eyes dark eyes sweep over my face. With her brown hair and doe features, she always resembled Audrey Hepburn in a way. “I wish I could help. Trust me. I wish it so much. I just want you to be safe.” A darkness crosses her features.

“What is it?” I whisper as she pulls away from me.

“It’s…” She sighs and slumps onto the couch. After a beat, I sit down beside her. “There’s something I want to tell you but Gabriel doesn’t want you knowing. Not right now and it’s killing me to not tell you. You deserve to know.”

“Know what?” I ask, my heart rate spiking.

She grips my hands, squeezing them tightly. “I just want you to be happy, Sienna. That’s all I want. Happy and safe. But Gabriel has a plan for you. One that isn’t going to keep you safe. I just know it. I want you to know now because then you can plan for this. Maybe even try to escape.”

“What’s going on?”

“Gabriel wants to marry you off. An arranged marriage. For peace.”

I knew there was a day something like this might happen.

Luciana herself had to marry her husband, Matteo, for peace in an arranged marriage.

Matteo was a dangerous man who had done bad things and yet, she managed to make it work for him.

Especially after they were kidnapped by a horrible mafia man, Dante Zaneli.

He tortured them but they survived and grew closer. Now they’re more in love than ever.

“Ok,” I say slowly. “Did he say anything? How do you know this?”

“Because he spoke about it with my husband and I happened to be there. He wants to marry you to… Dante Zaneli.”

I sit up straighter even as my body feels like it’s becoming cement. “What? The man who kidnapped you and Matteo? Who almost killed you two?”

“Yes. He’s hoping that a peace deal will keep Dante on a leash.

But I have no idea if he’s proposed this plan to Dante yet.

I know nothing. But I had to warn you. You and your mother should get out of town.

You have a lot of money that your father left you.

Leave. Dante is insane. A mad man. You cannot be married to him. ”

“But this is the house I grew up in,” I whisper, realizing how pathetic I sound.

Luciana offers me a sympathetic smile. “I know. But you and your mother need to go. It’s not safe.”

“What will happen to you if Gabriel finds out you warned me?”

“I’ll be fine. I think. He doesn’t need to know. I’ll tell him that you and your mother left of your own accord. Time for a change. But do not tell him where you’re going. Just leave and don’t look back.”

“But then I’ll never see you again. We’ve been friends since we were kids. I… I can’t imagine my life without you.”

Tears well up in Luciana’s eyes but she holds them back.

Trying to be strong… for me. “I know. I can’t imagine my life without you either.

But you have to do this, Sienna. You have to go.

Tell your mother what I told you. I would go sooner rather than later.

I don’t know when Gabriel plans on making this marriage happen. ”

A sob hits me as suddenly as a thunderstorm can happen. “Luci, I’ll miss you. I can’t imagine living my life somewhere else. I’m so scared.”