Deadly Vows

by Haley Stuart

  I look at my father, but he refuses to make eye contact with me.

  “H-he said to make relations stronger.” I am barely able to muster the words out.

  Luca bursts out in laughter, shaking me to the core. “That was what he told us too. That he wanted to have good relations with the strongest of the bunch. So imagine our surprise …”

  Luca makes his way toward me slowly and pulls a knife out of his back holster. I am shaking in fear as he gets closer, and I begin to squirm in my seat, trying to break free, the clang of the metal making a loud sound that echoes off the walls.

  “Imagine our surprise when we found out that you are a ploy in his plan to take us down and be the head himself of both the North and the South Mob.”

  Luca is sitting directly in front of me now. I can’t speak. I can’t breathe. A ploy? That is what I am?

  Luca’s hand shoots out and holds firmly against my shoulder, keeping me still. He makes eye contact with me.

  “One … two … three …”

  I scream in agony as his sharp knife collides with the soft skin of the underside of my forearm. I try to wriggle away but can’t from his firm grip. He twists the blade deeper in my skin. All the while this is going on, I am screaming and crying and begging for him to stop, and that is when I realize something. I am the only one begging for him to stop. My father hasn’t spoken a word.

  Finally, Luca pulls his knife from my skin, and with it comes a small green chip. Luca holds it between his fingers.

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” He tosses it on the ground and smashes it with his foot.

  “Your father planned to use that tracker to find the location of that tracker on you. He was going to have my father killed and use it to find me and kill me so there would be no successor. And I’m willing to bet he was going to use you also to die with me. Wouldn’t want a widow standing in the way of power, would we?” Luca is looking at my father as he speaks.

  I look at him through my tear-streaked vision.

  “That’s not true,” I whimper.

  Luca turns to look at me. Actually look. And for a split second, I see pity flash behind his eyes. But then it is gone. Just like that. If I weren’t watching, I would have missed it.

  “Tell her,” Luca says to my father.

  My father looks up, making eye contact with Luca, and spits at him. That is the perfect opening for Luca, because he kicks my father repeatedly in the face.

  “Luca! Luca! Stop! Please!” I am shouting at him like my father should have been shouting for me when Luca was digging a blade into my arm.

  Luca finally stops and holds a gun to his head.

  “Fucking tell her the truth.”

  My father laughs lowly. “You kill me then what? I won’t be able to tell her anything.”

  A shot goes off, and my father cries out in pain. I am screaming from my spot across the room. Luca has shot him in the arm. Luca motions in my direction, and I feel the cool press of steel against my arm. I start to hyperventilate, and fresh tears spring forth. Not because the man is aiming a gun at my arm, but because my father makes no move to beg or ask or stop him from doing so. Not even a flinch.

  Luca nods, and a shot goes off. I shut my eyes and scream, waiting for the pain. But nothing comes. I open my eyes, and my father still hasn’t moved. The man that has aimed the gun at my arm has shot it millimeters away from my skin. I guess it is to get some kind of reaction out of my dad. But he gets none.

  “You are a fool to give away something so precious for your own gain. And to give her to me, of all people. Just a damn fool. You are a careless bastard, and you deserve to die.” Luca pauses. “But I must wait on my father’s orders before I do anything.”

  Luca walks over to my trembling form and squats down in front of me. “Get me a medical kit,” he says to someone, but I don’t know who.

  The pain in my arm is nothing compared to the pain I am feeling in my chest right now. My father. I’ve always known he doesn’t like me, but I haven’t thought for a second he doesn’t love me. His own flesh and blood. Even when he has given me away to someone as heartless as Luca. But now I know. All those years, I have just been a blind and naive fool. Wanting to believe in something that isn’t real.

  “You can patch her up all you want to, but as soon as you kill me, they’ll be coming for her. She was a failed attempt at a master plan. She’s nothing to us now. Just a waste of space. A pathetic woman, good for nothing but keeping your bed warm at night.”

  Time stops as my father’s words echo across the room.

  Luca’s body immediately stiffens. Rage pools deep beneath his depths, and I can see the muscle twitch in his jaw. He stands up quickly and makes his way over to my father.

  “Luca, wait! Luca, no, please no. Luca, Luca!” I shout and scream and kick, but the restraints on the chair are holding me back.

  My father is looking at Luca with a malicious glint in his eye.

  “Luca!” I scream, but he still ignores me.

  Even though my father hates me, I don’t want him dead. He is my father. And I especially don’t want to see him killed in front of me.

  “Luca! Please!” I scream so hard my throat is burning raw.

  As soon as Luca reaches my father, he goes to town. He kicks him, punches him, beats him within an inch of his life. All the while I am screaming for him to stop. But he ignores me. It is as if a switch has been flipped.

  Luca finally stops, and there is silence. The only sounds being made are my loud sobs and my father’s heavy breathing. He breathes in and spits out blood, looking Luca directly in the eye.

  “See if she’ll love you now.” That last sentence is enough to push Luca over the edge. He pulls out his gun and empties it into my father’s body.

  I sit there and watch as my husband murders my father.

  Suddenly, without warning, vomit comes pouring out of my mouth from the gruesome violence I have just witnessed.

  “Look what you fucking made her do.” Luca is in front of my father’s lifeless body, holding his chin. He lets go, and my father’s head hangs.

  I look around the room and see the shock in some men’s eyes. The fear in others. And the rush of pleasure in some. But when Luca turns to look at me, the glint in his eyes shoots me to the core. Excitement is in his eyes. Happiness. Joy. Like he gets a high from murdering my father in front of me. Right in front of me.

  A jingle sounds, and Luca pulls out his phone, looking at the screen and smiling sadistically as he reads the message aloud to his fellow comrades.

  “Father said, ‘Kill him.’” He laughs. “Way ahead of you, Pops.” He laughs, and the men around him join in the laughter. But I can only stare at the lifeless body of the man who has never loved me. But even though he hasn’t loved me, I have loved him. And his death is shaking me to my very center. I then look at the man that now has blood dripping from his face, his hands, his jeans. My father’s blood.

  He is laughing. Pure joy, even though my father’s blood is soaking him. His smile is painfully beautiful. It is just another reminder of how beauty is such a master of disguise. I look back at my father’s body and scream. I scream and yank against the cuffs holding my wrists. I scream and scream and scream. Even when Luca is standing in front of me, trying to make me stop, I am still screaming. Even when my throat is beginning to grow raw from the grating, I still scream. I can’t stop. So I continue to scream. Even when I feel the sharp prick in my neck, I scream until it dies to a groan.

  And then there is nothing.

  Chapter 7

  Elise

  We arrive at the restaurant, and of course, the valet takes the car to park it. The hostess leads us to a dimly lit table toward the back of the restaurant. I have settled for a black lace dress since I am still in mourning. I mean, I have only buried my father earlier in the week, and Luca’s father doesn’t care to give me time to get over it. According to Luca, he insists that I show up with Luca to the dinner.

  Luca has b
een cranky around the house, and I know it is because of me. I haven’t smiled or spoken in two days. I don’t want to. I don’t have anything to say. Even when Luca has come home with flowers for me, I’ve completely ignored him and the flowers. But instead of taking it out on me, Luca takes it out on a member of the kitchen staff.

  “Luca! My son and his lovely wife.”

  Luca’s boisterous father greets us as soon as he lays eyes on us across the room. Luca steps up and greets his father, giving him a hug before pulling my chair out for me to be seated. It is obvious Luca and his father get along swell. Who wouldn’t when you have Luca Pasquino for a son in this line of living?

  Luca’s face lights up as he speaks to his father. They speak of trivial things, like games, and they speak of the business. But not once does Luca’s face fall to that hard exterior I am so used to seeing. For a moment, I feel my heart break. I just want Luca to love me and show that he does. I want love like Ari and her husband’s. It is obvious I am not going to get that, though.

  I feel a nudge on my arm and look up to see Luca and his father watching me, Luca’s face back to the one that I am used to.

  “I’m sorry, I seem to have been wrapped up in my own little world over here,” I say quietly, not liking the scrutiny I am getting from them.

  Luca’s father clears his throat. “I said I’m sorry about your father.”

  I nod to him and express my gratitude, but inside I want to take the fork in front of me and gouge his eyes out.

  “It’s a shame, really. I thought the plan he proposed was a good plan. To join us together, we would have more strength than the Russians and the Chinese combined. But he just had to be greedy for power.”

  I look up immediately. Have I heard that right? He is admitting to killing him?

  Luca’s father is watching me with the same gaze Luca watches me with, calculating my every move. He is waiting for me to show a sign of weakness.

  “I really would have preferred if Luca killed you too in that warehouse. Would have been fewer strings to tie up.”

  My heart slams against my chest at his words.

  “Father,” Luca starts warningly, but his father continues.

  “All I’m saying is, I told Luca to kill you too in that warehouse. But for the first time in his life, he defied me. Told me straight up no and to shove it.” He chuckles, as if remembering the moment. “I’m guessing he has a good reason.” He laughs to himself.

  But I am shaking. He has told Luca to kill me? I’ve had no idea.

  I feel a warm hand on my thigh underneath the table. I look up to see Luca watching me with an unreadable expression on his face. I turn back to the table and watch the white linen, not knowing what else I can do right now.

  After a while, I get up from the table and tell Luca I am going to the bathroom. Once I reach the bathroom, I lock the door and let my tears out. My tears of anger and frustration and sadness. I don’t know how long I stay in the bathroom, but once my tears stop, I wipe my eyes and exit.

  I walk right into someone and stumble backward, caught off guard and balance.

  “Whoa, there, miss. Are you okay?”

  I nod and look to thank my savior. He is a tall waiter. His hair is a light brown, and his eyes are a piercing blue color. He is very handsome. Not as handsome as Luca, but he is good-looking.

  “I’m fine,” I lie. I try to walk around him before Luca comes looking for me, but he stops me.

  “You don’t look fine to me, ma’am.” He gives me a small smile. “Looks like you’ve been crying.” He holds out a tissue to me, and I take it gratefully.

  “You know, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I know it must have you pretty upset for you to be in such a rush to not be watching where you’re going.” He is still smiling at me.

  “I’m sorry. I just got caught up in my emotions and wasn’t paying attention.” I look away frantically.

  He chuckles lightly. “You shouldn’t let things get to you, miss. You are too beautiful to let your light dull in this cruel world.” He smiles widely at me. His smile is so contagious that for once in almost two weeks, I smile back.

  Everything else happens in a blur.

  I don’t even see it coming. The waiter is slammed against the wall, hard. He cries out in shock, and I see Luca’s hand around his throat. He lifts his hands up out of reaction in surrender, and out of nowhere, Luca plunges a knife into his right hand, nailing it to the wall. The waiter grunts in pain, ready to cry out.

  Luca pulls another blade from somewhere, and his voice seeps out like venom when he speaks. Luca looks terrifying, to say the least. His lean body has this man pinned indefinitely to the wall.

  “Make a sound, and I will cut your tongue out,” he hisses with hate at the waiter.

  The poor guy looks shocked and terrified. His eyes are as wide as saucers. I am standing right next to them in shock, with my hands over my mouth. I barely have time to register anything. Luca turns his gaze on me.

  “You go to the bathroom and this?”

  I open my mouth to say something, but he cuts me off.

  “Don’t fucking speak. I’ve been trying to get you to smile for two fucking weeks, and this guy comes along and manages to do it in three seconds?” he hisses.

  Wait, he is mad because the waiter has made me smile?

  He turns his attention back to the waiter. “I suggest you go find a job somewhere else before I kill you.” Luca doesn’t even take the knife out of the guy’s hand; he walks away from him and snatches me by the arm. He doesn’t even stop at his father’s table. He walks by and speaks as he passes.

  “We’re leaving.”

  He doesn’t wait for his father’s reaction. I look back and see his father leaning back in his seat, a wicked grin on his face and an evil glint in his eye.

  Once our car is pulled around, Luca quickly gets in and we take off out of the parking lot. Luca is driving like a crazy person. I look at the speedometer and see we are going over ninety.

  “Luca, please slow down.” My voice comes out in frantic desperation.

  “You don’t fucking talk to me! I have tried to be patient with you, and you go and smile at that guy?” He is shouting, and the speed of the car accelerates.

  I decide not to speak again, because it will only make him angrier and drive faster.

  We reach the house in record time without any police officers stopping us. He gets out of the car, slamming the door, but I stay in, afraid of what awaits me if I get out. Luca stops midstep and looks at me in the passenger seat.

  “Get out of the fucking car!” he shouts, but I shake my head no to him.

  I am terrified.

  He walks over to my side of the car, and I lock the door quickly. If I’ve thought he is mad before, he is angry now. He punches the window, and I scream. He hits it again with his fist, and I scream again.

  “Elise, open the fucking door now!”

  I don’t respond to him, and he pulls out a gun, aiming it at the window. He fires off shots, and I scream, expecting the glass to be broken. But it is not. That explains it. This car has bulletproof windows. He is shooting at them to make it weak enough to break. He pulls out another gun and fires away at the windshield.

  “Elise! I swear to God, open the fucking door now!” he shouts, but I ignore him, only delaying the inevitable.

  He begins beating the window, and I can hear the cracks. I close my eyes and put my hands over my ears. Next thing I know, glass is sprinkled all over me and I am being jerked out of the car and dragged into the house. I kick and scream, the cement driveway digging into my skin. But Luca doesn’t care.

  He drags me through the house, not making a sound. We reach a bedroom I haven’t been in before, and he throws me in, locking the door behind him. I can almost vomit from the look in his eyes. Pure, unfiltered rage is reflected back at me.

  “You want someone else, is that it? You want to belong to someone else? Would you rather go and fuck that waiter than
me?” he shouts at me.

  I can only whimper in response. He falls to the ground next to me, and I can feel the cool tip of his blade press against my collarbone.

  “Would you rather have someone else touch you the way I do, Elise?” His blade presses into my dress, and the tear of the fabric echoes throughout the room as he cuts the front of my dress open.

  “Tell me whom you’re married to, Elise.” He looks up and meets my eyes with his gray ones.

  “You.” My voice comes out in a shaky whisper.

  “That’s right. Me. No one else. Only I can make you feel like you do.” He traces the blade lightly over my stomach. I whimper aloud, biting my lip. My heart is thundering against my chest.

  “Luca, please, I’m sorry.”

  He ignores my pleas and slips a hand in my underwear. My body betrays me, as I begin to feel pleasure from his touch.

  “Only I can make you feel this way, Elise.” He removes his hand and looks me in the eyes. I don’t know what sick thing he has planned for me, but from the glint in his eyes, I know it can’t be good.

  “Whom are you married to?” he asks lazily.

  “You,” I answer almost immediately.

  “No, sweetheart. What’s my name?”

  “Luca,” I answer him again.

  “Say it again.”

  “Luca.” I can feel his blade trace my stomach, going toward my ribs.

  “Again.”

  “Luc—ahhh!” I am cut off as agonizing pain rips through my side. Luca is dragging his blade down the side of my body. I can feel the blood trickling down my side. I try to move, but Luca is holding me down.

  He finally picks up the blade.

  “Whom do you belong to?” he asks so calmly. I am breathing hard, unable to catch my breath.

  “L-lu—”

  No sooner have the words left my mouth than Luca begins to drag the blade down my skin once again. I writhe and scream in agony. This time, he doesn’t stop; he just keeps going.

  The blade leaves my skin, and I am sobbing and crying. I hear Luca’s zipper to his pants, and immediately I try to roll over and crawl away. I can feel the blood oozing all over my side, spilling into the carpet.