Silent Vows

26

He chuckled and eased from my death grip. “I couldn’t let my only sister get married without giving her a gift of my own, and I figured this was as good a time as any.” Did Dad know he was here? Had Sante come on his own? I suddenly sobered, wondering if this could be my chance to tell him the truth about our mom. Or maybe even to run away with him. My hands trembled as I accepted the small, wrapped package. “It’s not that exciting. No reason to get all shaky,” he teased, not knowing my tremor had nothing to do with his gift. I peeled back the wrapping to unveil a white gold bracelet. It had a delicate chain on either side of a flat plaque engraved with Mancini. “So you don’t forget us,” he said quietly. His gift was incredibly thoughtful. I hugged him again, this time with tears in my eyes, then signaled to the door in question. “Yeah, we’re here to get you.” We? An entire bucket of frigid water drenched me from head to toe. He must have seen the question written across my face. “Yeah, Dad is waiting outside. You ready?” I tried to swallow past the sudden lump in my throat. Nodding, I held up my finger for him to wait, then went to tell Pip and Aunt Etta goodbye and thank you. They assured me the gifts would be delivered to my house. I couldn’t have cared less but nodded politely. Once I got to the car, I slid into the back seat like a criminal being remanded back into custody. Hopelessness was yet another cratering dip in the roller coaster ride of emotions I’d endured that day. By the time I got home, all I wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep for a week, but I should have known better. My life wasn’t my own, and my day was long from over. www.ajpdf.com “I’LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE. BERTO NEEDS MY HELP IN THE GARAGE.” SANTE stood from the couch. We’d been watching the most recent James Bond release together. I pointed at the TV with raised brows. “Don’t worry about pausing it. No clue how long I’ll be.” He rolled his eyes, then left the room. I decided I wasn’t in a hurry, so I paused the movie anyway. I was more interested in hanging out with my brother than watching the show. The house seemed extra quiet after the explosion-filled action movie was silenced. So www.ajpdf.com quiet that I almost jumped out of my skin when a knock sounded on the front door. Defaulting to a time when I wasn’t under constant surveillance, I jumped from the couch and hurried to the front door but stilled before opening it. My father was out for the evening, but I knew he’d probably have a fit if he found out I’d opened the door with no one around. But then again, the guys were in the garage. Was I just supposed to ignore whoever had come by? I couldn’t exactly yell through the door for them to wait. I would have pulled up the security camera footage on my app, but I’d been stripped of my access months ago. I decided to take a chance and peek through the curtain covering the window beside the door. I couldn’t see much off to the side, but it was enough when I spotted a familiar ring brandishing a Celtic knot on a masculine hand inked with a black rose. Conner was here. Without overthinking it, I slipped outside and grabbed his wrist, tugging him away from the entrance and around the corner to a spot where I remembered the cameras didn’t quite reach. “What are you doing here?” I hissed at him in the dark, suddenly realizing he could have stopped by for my father and not me. After his surprise appearance at the restaurant the day before, I’d worried he had only one thing on his mind, and it wasn’t business. “I wasn’t aware I had to explain myself to you.” He leaned forward menacingly. Not in the mood to be intimidated, I crossed my arms over my chest and realized I wasn’t wearing a bra under my thin nightshirt. I tried not to let my fluster show. “I suppose not, so long as that little rule works both ways,” I shot back haughtily. His lips twisted in a wickedly vicious grin. He reached a hand slowly to the hem of my pajama shirt, twirling his finger until the fabric twisted around the digit, then tugged me toward him. “Nice try, but no. That’s not at all how this works. In fact, you already owe me one explanation, at least. I don’t care if you never speak to another living soul, but my mother tells me you were still silent at the shower today, and I want to know why.” Had he told his mom I could speak? Would word get around if he had? s**t. I needed more time. “I just need to figure out how to explain things to my father. Once he knows I can talk, he’ll want to know why I didn’t before. I don’t want him making any assumptions.” More accurately, he’d want to know why I’d www.ajpdf.com chosen to speak now. If I could manage to stay silent until the wedding, maybe I could sneak away and tell Uncle Donati everything I knew. Yeah, and then what happens to Sante? Ugh! I needed to come up with a plan. Dad needed to pay for what he did, but I couldn’t risk losing my brother in the process. I was faced with the same damn problem every time. What if I couldn’t protect Sante? What if the only way to stop my dad meant risking losing my brother forever? I could hardly stomach the possibility. “What is there to explain?” Conner asked, cutting into my internal argument. “You were processing your mother’s death … unless it’s more complicated than that?” God, he needs to stop! I felt frustrated and trapped. Adding to my mounting need to lash out, the words from the catty bathroom queen floated back to me. Demure mute. Never satisfy him. I stepped an inch closer and lifted my chin defiantly. “Sometimes people are complicated. Like a man who chose a mute bride, presumably so he didn’t have to acknowledge her existence, yet for some reason, he keeps showing up everywhere she’s at.” I took another small step. The heat of his chest pulled at my pebbled n*****s, the fabric of my T-shirt just grazing him enough to shoot tiny bolts of lightning to my core. The sensation of standing up to him made me breathless and dizzy in the best way. I never could have stood up to my father like this, but with Conner, I felt bold. Empowered. If I dissected my behavior, I might have discovered the root of my confidence anchored in a sense of safety, but I didn’t care to go there. Treating Conner as the enemy was the only way to guard my heart against him. Every ounce of blue drained from his eyes as he forced my back against the wall, his hard body pressed into mine. “For someone who didn’t want to speak, you sure have a lot of opinions.” The rough edges of his voice scraped across my skin. “For a man, you’re awfully observant.” A low blow, but I was running out of retorts. “And for someone who wants to be left alone, you sure have on tiny shorts.”