Page 75 of Vow of Desire

“I had to see my husband.” And it’s a good thing too because my father was about to murder him.

The nurse sighs. “I get it. But you really need your rest.”

“Just let me stay with him. Just for a moment. Please.”

A soft smile crosses her face and reaches her eyes. In my world full of fakeness, it’s nice to see a person who’s smile is genuine. “All right. For a moment. But then you need to go rest.” She nods at my father. “Is there a problem?”

“No,” I answer for him. The last thing I need is my father arrested. “No problem.”

She hesitates for a moment longer before leaving.

“What are you doing?” I ask my father in a low voice. It’s a tone I don’t think I’ve ever used before.

“Luciana… I…”

“You were trying to kill my husband after I told you not to. How could you? Can you not see that I’m happy with him?”

“Are you happy? Or are you just happy he saved your life? That doesn’t mean you’ll be happy with him forever. There will be days you will be miserable.”

“How can you know that? You don’t know what’s on my mind unless I tell you.”

He picks the pillow back up. “I cannot let you remain married to him.”

“I am not your little girl anymore. I am a grown woman. I am married. Accept it, Dad. Please.”

“I cannot.” The sneer on his face says everything. “I cannot accept that you’re married to him. I never accepted it. And now with your life on the line, I know you’re only safe with me. I raised you for nineteen years and you were never put in this kind of danger. But you’re married to Matteo for only a handfulof weeks and some madman kidnaps you. Tortures you. You are safer with me and I am making sure that happens.”

“By killing my husband? By terminating peace? You’re only going to plunge us into a war by doing this. You know that. Dad, you have to let me go. You have to let me go.”

“I can’t!” he screams, making me jerk back. “I can’t let you go, Luciana. You are my daughter. I’m the one who raised you. No one else. You can’t expect me to just let you go like it’s nothing.”

“I know it’s not nothing, Dad. I know it’s not easy for you. But killing my husband is not the answer.”

“You never wanted to be married to him.”

“You’re right,” I answer as calmly as I can. “I never did. But things have changed. My feelings for him have changed. I want him in my life now. Don’t take him from me. Don’t put yourself at risk. Gabriel might kill you if you kill him. Or one of Matteo’s men might come for you. You know it. I don’t want you to die either. So please, for both of our sakes, don’t kill my husband. Let the pillow go.”

He clings to the pillow like his life depends on it. A long tense moment.

Then he sighs and drops the pillow to the ground. “I’m sorry, Luciana. I won’t kill your husband. You make good points. But I am not going to let you be with him. We’re going back home.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re coming back home with me. You’re going to stay with me again. I will keep you safe from Dante if he tries anything. But you are not going to be with Matteo any longer.”

“You don’t get to make that decision for me. You already made the decision for my life when I was forced to marry Matteo and now that I have come to love him, you want to take me from him?”

He sucks in a breath. “You love him?”

I realize I have never said it out loud before. “Yes. I love him. Do not take me from him.”

The openness in my father’s eyes disappears in an instant. “I am doing what is best for you. You will see that in time. Now, let’s get you back to your room. You need to rest still.”

“Then stay with me. I don’t trust you to not kill my husband.”

My father walks me back to my room. The tension between us is so thick, you wouldn’t even be able to cut it with a knife. He settles down in the chair beside the bed while I lay back down.

I don’t remove my eyes from him at all. But I know eventually I’ll have to sleep and who knows what my father might do then?