Page 54 of Forgotten Vows

I look at Detective Addams, and I can see the resignation in her face, the way her shoulders slump. She's not going to help me. She can't. "I'm sorry," she says quietly, and then she gathers up the documents, the evidence I brought, and hands them to Lachlan. He takes them without looking at them, his gaze still fixed on me.

"Let's go," he says calmly. "We're going home."

"No." I shake my head, pushing myself up from the chair as I start to back away. "No, I'm not going with you. You can't make me?—"

"Yes, I can." He moves closer, and I can see the effort it's taking for him to remain calm, to not release the anger and hurt I can see building in him. "You're my wife, Adriana. You belong to me. And you just tried to destroy me. You just tried to take everything I've built and burn it to the ground. What thefuckwere you thinking? How is this going to help you?"

"I was trying to protect my son!" My voice rises, and Matteo starts to cry, his face buried in my shoulder. "I was trying to get us away from you, from this life, from all of this violence and death and?—"

"By going to the cops?" His voice is incredulous, disbelieving. "By turning me in? By trying to put me in prison?"

"Yes!" Tears burn in my eyes. "Yes, because I don't know what else to do! I don't know how to keep him safe when you're the one putting him in danger!"

"I'm trying to protect you." He's right in front of me now, his hands reaching for me, and I flinch back. "I'm trying to keep you safe, and you?—"

"You're not keeping us safe! You're keeping us prisoner! You're dragging us into your war with Gio, and my son got hurt today because of you! Because you couldn't just let us go! Because you had to have us, no matter what it cost!"

"I love you." His voice breaks on the words, and I can see the pain in his face, the desperation. "I've loved you for ten years. I came back for you. I saved you from Gio. And this is how you repay me? By trying to destroy me? You keep talking about how I'm not what you remember, Adriana, but this isn't who I remember, either? The girl I love would never have betrayed me!"

"I don't want your love!" The words are a scream, and I see the way he flinches back, like I've struck him. "I want my son to be safe! I want him to grow up away from men like you! Away from this world! And you won't let me have that! You won't let me go!"

"Because I can't." He reaches for me, gripping tight, and I can feelhim shaking. "Because if I let you go, Gio will find you. He'll take you back. He'll hurt you. He'll hurt Matteo. And I can't—I can't let that happen. I can't lose you again."

"Then what do you want from me?" I can feel myself trembling all over. "What do you want, Lachlan? Because I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to trust you when you're just like him. When you're just another man who thinks he owns me."

"I'm not like him. I'm nothing like him. I would never hurt you. I would never?—"

"You already have," I whisper. "You've already hurt me. You've hurt my son. And I don't know if I can forgive you for that."

The silence that follows is deafening.

Lachlan stares at me, and I can see the devastation in his face that my words have shattered something inside him. His hands fall away from my shoulders, and he takes a step back, his jaw tight.

"Why won't you trust me?" His voice is raw. "What do I have to do to make you trust me?"

I stare at him, and I don't have an answer. I don't know if trust is even possible anymore. Not after everything that's happened.

Not after everything we've become.

15

ADRIANA

The ride back to the penthouse is silent.

Lachlan sits next to me in the back of the SUV, his jaw tight. He hasn't looked at me since we left the police station or said a word. He just walked me out past the officers who wouldn't meet my eyes, past Detective Addams who looked like she wanted to apologize but didn't dare, and into the waiting car. His grip on my arm was firm, harder than it's ever been before, and I can tell how angry he is, even if he's making every effort to keep that anger and pain locked down.

Matteo is asleep against my shoulder, exhausted from the pain medication and the trauma of the day. I keep my arms wrapped around him, holding him close, and I can feel Lachlan's gaze on us.

The city blurs past the windows, lights streaking through the darkness, and I can't stop replaying the moment in the police station. The moment I realized there was nowhere to run. No system to protect me, no escape from this world of violence and blood and men who think they can own people. Even here, far away from New York, I have no one to turn to except the man who claims to love me and won't listen to what I'm trying to tell him I need.

When we reach the penthouse, Lachlan gets out first and opensmy door. He doesn't touch me or try to help me out of the car, just stands there, waiting, his expression unreadable.

I carry Matteo inside, and Rian takes him from me gently, murmuring something about putting him to bed. I watch them disappear down the hallway, and then it's just me and Lachlan in the vast, empty living room.

"Adriana." His voice is quiet, controlled, but I can hear the fury underneath it. "We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you." I go to walk toward the hallway to go up to my room, but he steps in front of me, blocking my path.