"The Vow He Denied"

Chapter 2

"The Edge of Betrayal"

Isabella's POV

"Who sent you?" Alessandro sneered and spoke with poison. Rising to his feet in one smooth motion, he pulled me up behind his wide form. Now his gun was out, the barrel shining under the crystal chandelier light.

The man mocked us and gestured for his troops to disperse around us. "You know who," he said. DeLuca, you have created far too many enemies. And today you will be paying.

"This is between you and me," Alessandro said, his voice icy. "She has nothing to do with this.”

"Funny," the man snipped, tilting his head toward me. “From where I’m standing, she has everything to do with it. Your first error was dragging her back into your life.

I could not hold still any more. Take him if you want him! I blurted, desperation wriggling at my throat. "I am not involved in this—“

"Enough!" Alessandro cut me off with a bark. His palm tightened around my wrist, his grip strong but defensive. You dare try to sacrifice yourself?

The leader laughed softly in the darkness. "How poignant. Suddenly playing the hero in shining armor was the notorious DeLuca. Tell me, Isabella, does he appear like a man worth dying for?

My lips opened to answer, but Alessandro's palm tightened mine, a nonverbal admonition to keep quiet. His eyes stayed on the man in the mask. His voice dangerously low, he assured me, "You'll regret coming here."

The man inclined his head, laughter shining in his eyes. Well, I'm not sure about that.

Another masked man raised his gun and fired once more—not toward Alessandro but rather toward the chandelier above us before I could blink. The ballroom descended into anarchy as glass fragments poured down. As the room burst in shouts and gunfire, Alessandro grabbed me and pulled me toward the exit.

His voice slicing through the chaos, he yelled, "Run, Isabella!"

My instincts screaming at me to go, I hesitated for half a second, but I couldn't leave him behind. "I'm not leaving you!”

His gray eyes scorched into mine, sharp and uncompromising. "I am qualified to manage this. Go!’s

But before I could decide, a rifle pushed to the rear of my head sprang out from the darkness.

Not so quickly, the man growled, his voice sending shivers down my spine. "Game over, Mrs. DeLuca."

And everything went dark once more, this time for actual darkness.

Awake, I gasped to feel chilly metal brushing across my wrists. My body ached as if someone had tugged me across shattered glass, and my vision became blurry. When my eyes fixed on Alessandro, his gray eyes keen with wrath and—was that fear?

"You're awake," he murmured, sounding both relieved and frustrated. "Do you know how irresponsible you were back then?"

I blinked, absorbing our surroundings—a poorly lit room with broken cement walls and one hanging lamp above. My arms were shackled, the straps chewing at my skin. Beside me, Alessandro was crouched, working to untie the ropes, his hands bloodied but firm.

"Reckless? I crooned with a parched throat. "Excuse me for not being bulletproof."

His lips became tight, a sharp line of annoyance. Isabella, you ran straight into the gunfire. What on earth were you contemplating?

"Maybe I was thinking I wouldn't get kidn*pped," I said, the words sharp even if my voice lacked strength. Perhaps I assumed you would have a strategy.

He trembled at the charge, yet as he worked the knot, his hands did not waver. "You ought not to have been there at all."

Wincing at the sting, I pulled my wrists free from the knot, and the ropes let go. "Oh, this is my fault now??"

His fingers grabbed my arm, and I turned to face him. "Perhaps you would be interested in hearing that I just saved your life if you are still ranting. Still.

The room felt stifling, the air heavy with unspoken words and physical tension. Although Alessandro had always been shockingly cool under duress, tonight his armor cracked. Alessandro flicked his eyes to the door, seemingly anticipating an ambush, and his jaw set so firmly I felt it might break.

I detested the way his proximity still impacted me. Even now, tied off and enraged, my pulse betrayed me, thumping anytime he came too near.

I would not let him see it, though. Not following all around.

"For what reason am I here?" I insisted, twisting my arm out of his hold. "What do they want from me?”

Rising to his full height, he added, "They don't want you." "They are interested in me." You are simply leveraging.

Though I knew he was accurate, his remarks hurt more than I had anticipated. Then why should I bother shielding you? Why not let me pass over and spare yourself the work?

He turned to face me, his demeanor cooler than the concrete walls all around. "Because I do not turn over what is mine."

"Yours??" I laughed bitterly and got up gingerly. "I stopped being yours the moment you threw me away."

His eyes hardened, the gray whirling in a maelstrom I too well recognized. "Isabella, you don't grasp—”

"Don't!" I broke off, my voice sharp enough to cut. "Do not offer me your justifications. To you, I amounted to nothing. In your warped small empire, a pawn.

"You think it was easy for me?" he shot back, stepping forward and raising his voice. "You think I wanted you away?"

"You did not just push me away, Alessandro," I snarled, tears stinging my eyes. "You broke me."

The quiet that followed was intolerable. He didn't turn away or flinch, but his jaw tightened like he was stifling a thousand words he couldn't speak. The force of his stare shivered my spine.

At last, his voice low and gravel, "I broke you," he murmured, "because I thought it would keep you safe."

I shook my head, incredulity raging in response to the flutter of vulnerability in his voice. From what? Safe? From you?

From this, he hissed and pointed to the room around us. From a life where people like them, he pointed a finger toward the door and said, "would use you against me. I reasoned that they would leave you alone if I drove you away.

Well, congrats, I spat with a shaky voice. "Your plan came back up short."

Between us, the space seemed packed with wrath, hurt, and something far more frightening. For a fleeting instant, his gaze met mine, causing my heartbeat to twitch. I detested that even now, years later, he could still make me feel this way.

His voice hardly audible above a whisper, he added, "You should hate me." Still, if it meant keeping you alive, I would do it all again.

I battled the lump in my throat by swallowing hard. "You have no say on what's best for Alessandro."

"I know that now," he continued, his voice softening. But changing the past is too late. Right now all I can do is shield you.