Twisted Vows

#3

Elena.

The house was bigger than the compound I grew up in. High ceilings, dark furniture, cameras in every corner.

No one spoke to me. They just walked until we reached a set of double doors at the end of the east wing hallway.

One of them opened the door and stepped aside. “This is your room, Mrs. Lorenzo.”

King bed, heavy curtains, bathroom bigger than some apartments, walk-in closet already half-filled with clothes that were probably mine. Someone had been shopping with my measurements.

The thought made my skin crawl.

“Where is his room?” I asked.

The older of the two men pointed left. “Master suite is through the connecting door.”

I walked straight to that door, turned the lock on my side, and heard the solid click. Then I turned back to them.

My bag had already been brought up. I opened it, pulled out the small leather roll I had packed myself, and laid it on the bed.

Inside were three knives, a compact pistol, and the thin blade I usually kept strapped to my thigh.

I checked each one, then slid the thin blade back into the sheath on my leg under the dress I still hadn’t changed out of. Habit.

I was halfway through pulling the pins out of my hair when someone knocked.

I walked over, unlocked the main door, and opened it just enough to see Damien standing there.

He had taken off the suit jacket. White shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows with his gun still holstered under his arm. He looked at the door, then at me.

“You locked it.”

“Yes.”

“Open it all the way.”

I didn’t move. “What do you want?”

He pushed the door open with one hand and walked in like the room already belonged to him.

I stepped back only because standing in the doorway would have put me too close. He glanced at the connecting door, saw the lock, and his mouth flattened.

“You think a lock is going to stop me in my own house?”

“I think if you break that lock I’ll put a knife in your hand before you finish the sentence.”

He turned his head slowly and looked at me “You’re serious.”

“Try me.”

He just turned around and leaned against the wall like he had all the time in the world.

“Ground rules,” he said. “You’re my wife on paper. That means you live here. You eat at my table when there are people watching. You don’t leave the property without my men. You don’t contact your little capo without me knowing. And you don’t lock doors in my house.”

I crossed my arms. “My rules. I sleep in this room. Alone. You don’t come in here unless I open the door. You don’t touch me unless I say so. And if you ever threaten Cole again the way you did in the car, I will make sure this treaty ends with your blood on the floor instead of mine.”

He pushed off the wall and closed the distance between us until I had to tip my head back to keep eye contact.

“Do not forget that I am the reason your family isn’t still burying men every week.”

“And I’m the reason yours isn’t.” His voice stayed even. “Don’t forget that. Your father signed the papers. Your brother stood there and watched. You’re here because both sides decided you were the price. Act like it.”

I didn’t step back. “I acted like it in the church. I said the words. I wore the ring. That is as far as it goes. Everything else you can take up with the Council.”

He stared at me for another long second, then glanced down at the slight bulge under the side of my dress where the knife sat.

“You’re armed.”

“Always.”

“In my house.”

“Especially in your house.”

Something that might have been respect or just irritation flickered across his face. He reached out and tapped the spot where the sheath rested.

“Keep it,” he said. “But if you ever pull it on one of my men, I will take it from you and use it myself.”

“Then tell your men to stay out of my room and away from my family.”

He dropped his hand. “You need to stop looking at the door every five seconds waiting for your boyfriend to appear. He is not coming inside these walls.”

“Cole is not my boyfriend anymore. You made sure of that.”

“Good. Then it should be easy for you to keep your eyes where they belong.”

I smiled without any humor. “My eyes will go wherever I want them to go. You don’t own those either.”

He leaned in just enough that his voice dropped lower. “I own the ring on your finger and the name that comes after Petrov now.”

He held my stare for another beat, then turned and walked out. He didn’t slam the door, Instead, he just left it open behind him like a reminder that locks only worked if the other person cared about them.

I closed it myself and locked it again.

For a while I just stood there in the middle of the room. The dress still felt heavy. The ring on my finger felt heavier.

I pulled it off, set it on the nightstand, and started unhooking the back of the dress. I needed out of it. I needed clothes that belonged to me.

There was a soft knock this time.

I opened the door to a young woman in a plain black dress holding a tablet. “Mrs. Lorenzo. I’m Anna. Mr. Lorenzo asked me to show you the house systems and make sure you have everything you need.”

“I don’t need a tour.”

“He was clear.”

Of course he was.

I stepped aside and let her in. She walked me through the security panels, the intercoms, the panic buttons that connected straight to his men.

She showed me the closet full of new clothes and the bathroom stocked with products I had never asked for. The whole time she kept her eyes down and her voice careful.

When she finished I asked, “Does he usually give orders about what his guests wear to dinner?”

Anna hesitated. “You’re not a guest, ma’am.”

“No. I’m not.”

She left quickly after that.

After dinner, Damien led me into a study I assume is his.

He walked to the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a small black box. Inside was a second ring, simpler, thinner. He held it out.

“This one stays on. The gold one is for public. This one is so my men know who you are if something happens and I’m not there.”

I didn’t take it. “I already have a name. I don’t need another piece of metal to prove it.”

“Put it on, Elena.”

The way he said my name was the first time it hadn’t sounded like an insult.

I took the ring and slid it onto my right hand instead of the left. “Compromise. That’s as far as I go tonight.”

He watched the movement, then nodded once like he had expected the fight.

“The connecting door stays unlocked from now on,” he said. “I won’t come in unless there’s a reason. But I will not have locked doors between us in this house.”

I studied him and rolled my eyes.

“Fine,” I said. “Door unlocked. Room still mine. You knock.”

“Agreed.”

He walked past me to the door and unlocked it. Before he opened it he looked back once.

“Cole doesn’t come near this property. If I find out you’ve been in contact with him without my knowledge, I will handle it myself. That is not a threat. That is a fact.”

I held his gaze. “And if you ever lay a hand on him, the treaty dies the same day. That is also a fact.”

He opened the door and waited for me to walk through first. I did. We didn’t speak again on the way back to the stairs. At the top he turned left toward the master suite. I turned right toward mine.

This was my life now. Four walls, a forced name, and a man who hated me as much as I hated him.

I could work with that.

I had survived worse.