Page 77 of Forgotten Vows

"And then what? The cycle continues?" She looks at me sharply. "You kill Gio, and then what? Someone else comes after you. Someone else tries to take what's yours. And you kill them too. And it never ends, Lachlan. It never fucking ends."

She rolls over, pulling the sheet over herself, and I can hear her softly crying.

"Adri…" I reach out, touching her arm, and I feel her go stiff.

"You're not going to change your mind," she whispers. "At the end of the day, you're going to do what you think is right. And there are things we haven't worked out, Lachlan. We don't know what our future looks like, and you're going to walk into this?—"

"We can't figure that out until he's gone."

"That's what you believe. I think there's another way."

"You're wrong." I drop my hand. "You'll see, Adri. When he's gone,when this is over, and we can finally breathe again, you'll see that this was the only way."

She sniffs back tears. "It'll never be over."

I let out a long breath. Silence falls over the room. "You're not going to lose me," I say quietly.

"You can't promise that." She looks at me one last time, and the pain in her eyes is almost unbearable. "And that's what scares me most. That you actually believe you can."

20

LACHLAN

The plane touches down at one in the morning with a jolt that runs through my entire body. I'm out of my seat before we've fully stopped, my gun already checked and loaded. Rian and Jack are right behind me, along with Cormac, Tommy, and three other men I'd trust with my life.

I left Adriana sleeping in our bed and Matteo safe in his room with guards posted throughout the penthouse. I kissed her forehead before I left, whispered that I'd be back soon, that everything would be fine.

It has to be the truth. If I don't come back from this, if I don't end Gio tonight, she'll be alone again. Vulnerable. So I have to come back. I have to end this.

The SUVs are waiting outside, engines running. We pile in and head toward the estate. The streets are empty at this hour, the ritzy neighborhood where the Santoro estate is located quiet and peaceful, everyone asleep behind their high fences and guarded walls.

"Two minutes out," Rian says from the driver's seat, his voice calm and steady. I check my gun again. I have two spare magazines in my jacket pocket and a knife strapped to my leg. Overkill, maybe, but I'mnot taking chances. Not with Adriana and Matteo waiting for me back home.

The estate comes into view, and we park behind a stand of trees and approach on foot. Rian signals for the men to spread out, covering the exits. Jack moves to the side door with me, his gun drawn, his face set in the same grim expression I'm wearing.

I test the handle. Locked. Jack pulls out his lock-pick kit and gets to work. The door swings open with a soft creak, and we slip inside.

The mansion is quiet. It's almost too quiet… and we weave through the halls, sticking close to the walls and in the shadows.

I see a light on under a door, and hear a low, broken cough. Slowly, I move forward, nudging the door open, and I see blood on the floor.

I signal for Jack to cover me, my heart pounding hard enough that I can feel it in my throat. I want Gio to be behind that door, maybe at the wrong end of Declan's gun, waiting for me so I can put a bullet in his skull, and finally—finally—Adriana and Matteo will be safe.

I kick the door open and step inside, my gun aimed at the center of the room.

And I stop.

There are men on the floor, four of them, all of them injured and looking at me with expressions that range from relief to something that might be shame. But it's the man sitting against the wall, blood soaking through his shirt, that makes everything else fade away.

Declan.

"Jesus Christ." I cross the room, dropping to my knees beside him. "What the fuck happened?"

"Lachlan." His voice is strained. "Took you long enough."

I haven't seen Declan in ten years, not since I disappeared into the Chicago underworld and clawed my way up from nothing to everything. We were just scrappy kids back then, and he was the only person who knew about Adriana and what she meant to me. The only person I trusted with the truth. The thought of something happening to him makes my chest feel tight.

"What happened?" I ask again, looking to assess the damage.There's a bullet wound in his shoulder, another in his thigh, both of them still bleeding.