Page 8 of Forgotten Vows

"Arrives Thursday," Cormac says. His voice is rougher than his brother's, scarred from a knife to the throat a long time ago. "We've got the warehouse secured and the distribution routes mapped. Should be smooth."

Should be.In this business, nothing's ever guaranteed. But I've built what I have now by calculating every step, and keeping as many of those steps as I can ahead of everyone else.

It's kept me alive this long.

I pour myself another whiskey, then gesture to the bar. "Help yourselves."

They do, the tension in the room easing slightly. I try to be firm but fair when it comes to my men, ruthless when I need to be, but I take care of my people. They're loyal because I've earned it, not just because they're afraid of me.

Though they should be afraid of me. I've killed men for less than betrayal.

"There's something else," Tommy says after a moment. He's watching me carefully, like he's not sure how I'll react—like this isdifferent from the usual business. "You asked me to look into something personal."

Everything in me goes still. My hand tightens around the glass, and I have to consciously relax my grip before it shatters. "And?"

"It took some digging. The Santoros keep their business tight, especially family business. But I've got a contact in New York, a guy who used to run with one of their crews. He was willing to talk for the right price."

I take a drink, keeping my expression neutral even though my heart is hammering against my ribs. "What did he say?"

"Giovanni Santoro is dead. Heart attack, three years ago."

The glass stops halfway to my lips.Dead.

Giovanni Santoro—the man who beat me within an inch of my life, who would have killed me slowly and painfully if Adriana hadn't freed me that night… the man whoruinedmy life—is dead.

I feel a sharp sensation of satisfaction. There's a vindictive pleasure in knowing that the bastard who tried to destroy me is rotting in the ground. But just as quickly, I feel emptiness, right behind it.

His death doesn't change anything. It doesn't bring back the ten years I've lost. Doesn't undo what he did to Adriana and me, what he took from us. And it doesn't erase the scars on my body or the ones carved deeper in places no one can see.

"What about his daughter?" The words scrape against my throat like broken glass. "Adriana."

Tommy exchanges a glance with Jack. It's quick, barely a flicker, but I catch it.

"That's the interesting part," Tommy says carefully. "We figured she'd be married off by now, right? Daughter of a mafia boss, that's how it works. Seal an alliance, strengthen the family position. But according to my contact, she's still at the estate."

Except she was damaged goods, according to her family. Not a virgin any longer.Even with the story I told her to stick to, that I raped her rather than her willingly giving me her innocence, Giovanni would have been hard-pressed to find a man who wanted her. The thoughtsets my teeth on edge, that old banked fury flaring all over again, but it's true.

Still, I'd always thought he would have found someone, rather than keep the shame of a ruined daughter in his house. I hoped otherwise, but I couldn't let myself believe it. And I couldn't go back for her until I had the strength to go up against the Santoros.

I have it now, but I never let myself hope she'd still be unattached.

Even now, I can feel myself fighting against anything remotely like hope. But there's a flicker of it, all the same.

I set my glass down carefully. "Still there."

"Yeah. Never left. Never married."

"Why?" I ask. "Why would he keep her there?"

"My contact didn't know. Said the family keeps her locked down tight. She doesn't go out, doesn't socialize. It's like she's—" Tommy hesitates.

"Like she's what?"

"Like she's a prisoner in her own house."

I feel my lungs tighten, every part of me suddenly awake, alive, wanting to go to her. She's been there this whole time. While I've been building my empire, fighting my way to the top, killing and scheming and clawing for every scrap of power, she's been trapped in that house with the ghosts of what we did and the memory of that night.

With her father, until he died. And then with?—