Deadly Vows - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

I sit in front of the mirror for what feels like the hundredth time this week. I keep running my fingers through my hair. My now-short hair. My long, waist-length tresses are now gone. I have never cut my hair my whole life. It is something I take care of, and the only time scissors are put to it is when my ends need to be cut. But Luca has taken that away from me in the span of sixty seconds.

We have had to go to a salon to get it styled because he has cut it so unevenly. So now my hair barely falls past my chin. I have to stifle a sob as I move my hand through the now-empty air that my hair used to be in.

“No matter how many times you pull on it, it won’t grow back.” Luca’s voice pulls me from my brooding, and I look in the corner of the mirror to see him standing with his arms crossed, watching me. He always has that unreadable expression on his face. But now I know it is because he is watching me, calculating my moves, my likes and dislikes. Anything he can possibly use against me.

We have barely been married a month, and he has already gone overboard with me. I guess I just wish I could have been lucky like Ari. But fairy tales are for fools. This is the real world.

Luca is still watching me in the mirror, and I shove from the mirror, walking past him without a word. I haven’t spoken to him since he has chopped my hair off. He has never even apologized. Not like I will accept it, but still, I want some kind of indication that he has some form of emotions.

“You can’t keep ignoring me forever, Elise.” Luca’s voice carries behind me, and I still ignore him. At least now he can’t jerk me by the hair.

“Elise!” His voice comes out from behind me, and I stop in my tracks.

I know that tone. That tone means he is fed up. And when he is fed up, it is time for me to swallow my pride. He’s proven to me that he is capable of anything.

I turn slowly around, facing him.

“You’re acting like a child, Elise. It’s just hair, it will grow back. You’re still beautiful without it.” He pouts in annoyance. So the great and powerful Luca Pasquino doesn’t like to be ignored, huh?

“I’m a child?” My voice comes out before I think about what I am going to say, my rage from the moment he has done this to me bubbling to the surface after I have worked so hard to lock it away. “You … you cut my hair! My hair! You cut it off! Because I was saving a woman’s life that you destroyed!”

I am beginning to grow hysterical, but Luca doesn’t get angry like I’ve expected him to; he only raises an eyebrow at me.

“She loved you! She was heartbroken, and you wanted to kill her for that, and because I stepped in to save her life, you took my hair from me? But I’m the child?” The tears are coming on hot now, and Luca is still looking at me with a curious expression plastered across his face.

He pushes himself off the door and walks closer to me. “You are making me so hot right now with all your yelling. I’ve never seen you feisty before.” He smirks at me.

I can’t help myself. I bring my hand up, ready to slap him right across his smug face, but he catches my hand before I can, the grin falling off his face. If I haven’t witnessed it earlier, I’ll say it has never even been there.

“You wanna play rough, baby? I can play rough.” He squeezes my wrist in warning, and I cringe from the pain. I try to jerk my hand from his grasp, but he holds on tightly. “Don’t try that ever again. I don’t want to have to break your wrist because you can’t control your temper.” He speaks it so calmly and relaxed I actually feel my stomach churn in fear. I can’t believe to this day my father has given me this man to marry, of all people.

“Get dressed. We have some business to attend to.” He walks out of the room, leaving me there to my thoughts.

* * * * *

I am sitting in the passenger seat of Luca’s sleek white Zenvo ST1. I have never been much of a car person. My father has never allowed me to drive or get my permit, anyways. But this car is nice. And Luca drives it like a bat out of hell.

The ride is silent, and I look out the window, watching the scenery go by. I feel a hand on my thigh and look over to see Luca’s hand.

“You know, when my father told me I had to marry, I was pissed off.” His eyes are still focused on the road as he speaks to me. “I actually told him to go fuck himself.” He laughs aloud to himself. “But eventually, I had to accept it. If we were to be stronger and be able to protect ourselves in a wider range, a union needed to be existent. And who better to marry than the son and daughter of capos of the North and South?” He smiles, more to himself than to anyone else.

“When I saw you in that practice room, I thought, damn, this is going to be my wife. I never had this feeling about a woman. This possession. This need. This constant want. But you are just walking perfection to me. Pure and innocent when I met you. Never been anyone’s but mine. And that makes me a thousand times happier when I wake up each morning.”

I swear the temperature in the car drops as soon as Luca begins his next sentence.

“If anyone or anything ever jeopardizes this marriage, I will end them. Without a question or a second thought. You are mine. And no one else’s. I will kill anyone who gets in the way of that. Of me and you.” He doesn’t say anything more. I don’t know if he expects me to say anything; I don’t even know if that is his version of a love ballad. But I do know that Luca is serious about this whole marriage thing.

The rest of the drive takes about twenty minutes, and we end up in some kind of warehouse. Luca pulls up and shuts the car off. There are men standing outside. I assume they are Luca’s men. Why will he bring me here if he is taking care of business? I am assuming, from the location chosen, this isn’t a deal of any sort, but a get-ridof-someone type of thing.

Luca steps out of the car, but I stay in, hoping he doesn’t expect me to come along.

Luca walks around to my side of the car and opens the door.

“Come on, Elise. Be a good girl and remember what I said.”

I nod slowly. My hands are already shaking, and I don’t even know what is about to happen next. He leads me into the warehouse, and his men are following behind us silently. The door to the warehouse is opened, and a loud groan sounds from the door being opened. It is dark in here; the only light is the garage door that is opened for our entrance. Once it is shut, the whole place is enveloped by darkness again.

“Luca.” My frightened voice quickly comes out, and I reach for his arm in the dark, clinging to him for dear life. I can hear his deep chuckle as his hand closes over mine, and he begins to rub mine comfortingly back and forth. Even though I have no idea where I am or what is about to happen, Luca’s warm body and small gesture make me feel slightly safer. But I don’t know the hell he is about to drag me through.

The lights to the warehouse come on suddenly, and we are standing in a massive room with cemented floors and walls, a fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling. Luca slides my hand off his arm and clasps my hand in his, the warmth from his body seeping into mine. He walks me over to a chair and sits me down in it, kneeling in front of me so that we are eye level. He doesn’t speak, only stares at me with those intense gray irises. He puts both his hands on either sides of my shoulders and smooths them down until he has my hands by my side.

Click.

My heart stops. He cuffs me. He cuffs me to the chair. A ghost of a smile plays across his lips as he watches my distress. I yank on the cuffs, but they won’t break.

“Luca, what is th—”

I am cut off. “Shhhhhh, baby.” He leans in and kisses me lightly on the cheek. He stands and walks away from me. One of his men walks over to him and hands him a large gun.

“Bring him in,” he says in an authoritative voice.

Another door sounds, and in walks my father. He looks beaten up and bloodied. There are handcuffs around his wrists.

A gasp escapes from me. “Papa?” My tiny voice carries across the chamber, and my father looks up at me, no emotion entering his eyes. But when his eyes land on Luca, all the rage he can muster appears. The men are rough with him as they shove him to his knees. They take a massive metal rod and push it into the ground so that his handcuffs are straddling the pole. He can’t move on his knees, and Luca is standing over him like a judge about to pass judgment.

“Luca, what’s going on?” My voice comes out in a frantic whimper. Luca only ignores me and continues to stand over my father. Hate fills within his deep-gray depths. He finally turns to me. No emotion plays out on his face, and I feel like I am about to piss my pants.

“Why did your father tell you we were to be married, Elise?”

I look at my father, but he refuses to make eye contact with me.

“H-he said to make relations stronger.” I am barely able to muster the words out.

Luca bursts out in laughter, shaking me to the core. “That was what he told us too. That he wanted to have good relations with the strongest of the bunch. So imagine our surprise …”

Luca makes his way toward me slowly and pulls a knife out of his back holster. I am shaking in fear as he gets closer, and I begin to squirm in my seat, trying to break free, the clang of the metal making a loud sound that echoes off the walls.

“Imagine our surprise when we found out that you are a ploy in his plan to take us down and be the head himself of both the North and the South Mob.”

Luca is sitting directly in front of me now. I can’t speak. I can’t breathe. A ploy? That is what I am?

Luca’s hand shoots out and holds firmly against my shoulder, keeping me still. He makes eye contact with me.

“One … two … three …”

I scream in agony as his sharp knife collides with the soft skin of the underside of my forearm. I try to wriggle away but can’t from his firm grip. He twists the blade deeper in my skin. All the while this is going on, I am screaming and crying and begging for him to stop, and that is when I realize something. I am the only one begging for him to stop. My father hasn’t spoken a word.

Finally, Luca pulls his knife from my skin, and with it comes a small green chip. Luca holds it between his fingers.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” He tosses it on the ground and smashes it with his foot.

“Your father planned to use that tracker to find the location of that tracker on you. He was going to have my father killed and use it to find me and kill me so there would be no successor. And I’m willing to bet he was going to use you also to die with me. Wouldn’t want a widow standing in the way of power, would we?” Luca is looking at my father as he speaks.

I look at him through my tear-streaked vision.

“That’s not true,” I whimper.

Luca turns to look at me. Actually, look. And for a split second, I see pity flash behind his eyes. But then it is gone. Just like that. If I weren’t watching, I would have missed it.

“Tell her,” Luca says to my father.

My father looks up, making eye contact with Luca, and spits at him. That is the perfect opening for Luca, because he kicks my father repeatedly in the face.

“Luca! Luca! Stop! Please!” I am shouting at him like my father should have been shouting for me when Luca was digging a blade into my arm.

Luca finally stops and holds a gun to his head.

“Fucking tell her the truth.”

My father laughs lowly. “You kill me then what? I won’t be able to tell her anything.”

A shot goes off, and my father cries out in pain. I am screaming from my spot across the room. Luca has shot him in the arm. Luca motions in my direction, and I feel the cool press of steel against my arm. I start to hyperventilate, and fresh tears spring forth. Not because the man is aiming a gun at my arm, but because my father makes no move to beg or ask or stop him from doing so. Not even a flinch.

Luca nods, and a shot goes off. I shut my eyes and scream, waiting for the pain. But nothing comes. I open my eyes, and my father still hasn’t moved. The man that has aimed the gun at my arm has shot it millimeters away from my skin. I guess it is to get some kind of reaction out of my dad. But he gets none.

“You are a fool to give away something so precious for your own gain. And to give her to me, of all people. Just a damn fool. You are a careless bastard, and you deserve to die.” Luca pauses. “But I must wait on my father’s orders before I do anything.”

Luca walks over to my trembling form and squats down in front of me. “Get me a medical kit,” he says to someone, but I don’t know who.

The pain in my arm is nothing compared to the pain I am feeling in my chest right now. My father. I’ve always known he doesn’t like me, but I haven’t thought for a second he doesn’t love me. His own flesh and blood. Even when he has given me away to someone as heartless as Luca. But now I know. All those years, I have just been a blind and naive fool. Wanting to believe in something that isn’t real.

“You can patch her up all you want to, but as soon as you kill me, they’ll be coming for her. She was a failed attempt at a master plan. She’s nothing to us now. Just a waste of space. A pathetic woman, good for nothing but keeping your bed warm at night.” Time stops as my father’s words echo across the room. Luca’s body immediately stiffens. Rage pools deep beneath his depths, and I can see the muscle twitch in his jaw. He stands up quickly and makes his way over to my father.

“Luca, wait! Luca, no, please no. Luca, Luca!” I shout and scream and kick, but the restraints on the chair are holding me back.

My father is looking at Luca with a malicious glint in his eye.

“Luca!” I scream, but he still ignores me.

Even though my father hates me, I don’t want him dead. He is my father. And I especially don’t want to see him killed in front of me.

“Luca! Please!” I scream so hard my throat is burning raw.

As soon as Luca reaches my father, he goes to town. He kicks him, punches him, beats him within an inch of his life. All the while I am screaming for him to stop. But he ignores me. It is as if a switch has been flipped.

Luca finally stops, and there is silence. The only sounds being made are my loud sobs and my father’s heavy breathing. He breathes in and spits out blood, looking Luca directly in the eye.

“See if she’ll love you now.” That last sentence is enough to push Luca over the edge. He pulls out his gun and empties it into my father’s body.

I sit there and watch as my husband murders my father.

Suddenly, without warning, vomit comes pouring out of my mouth from the gruesome violence I have just witnessed.

“Look what you fucking made her do.” Luca is in front of my father’s lifeless body, holding his chin. He lets go, and my father’s head hangs.

I look around the room and see the shock in some men’s eyes. The fear in others. And the rush of pleasure in some. But when Luca turns to look at me, the glint in his eyes shoots me to the core. Excitement is in his eyes. Happiness. Joy. Like he gets a high from murdering my father in front of me. Right in front of me.

A jingle sounds and Luca pulls out his phone, looking at the screen and smiling sadistically as he reads the message aloud to his fellow comrades.

“Father said, ‘Kill him.’” He laughs. “Way ahead of you, Pops.” He laughs, and the men around him join in the laughter. But I can only stare at the lifeless body of the man who has never loved me. But even though he hasn’t loved me, I have loved him. And his death is shaking me to my very center. I then look at the man that now has blood dripping from his face, his hands, his jeans. My father’s blood.

He is laughing. Pure joy, even though my father’s blood is soaking him. His smile is painfully beautiful. It is just another reminder of how beauty is such a master of disguise. I look back at my father’s body and scream. I scream and yank against the cuffs holding my wrists. I scream and scream and scream. Even when Luca is standing in front of me, trying to make me stop, I am still screaming. Even when my throat is beginning to grow raw from the grating, I still scream. I can’t stop. So I continue to scream. Even when I feel the sharp prick in my neck, I scream until it dies to a groan.

And then there is nothing.