All Chapters of A Vow Written in Blood : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“My answer is no.” Alessia Romano placed her untouched wine on her father’s desk. Luca remained seated, hands clasped across his stomach. Age had silvered his temples without softening him. His dark eyes still carried the authority that terrified grown men. It no longer terrified her. “You haven’t heard the full proposal,” he said. “I heard Dante Moretti’s name. That was enough.” Her father’s study smelled of cigars, leather and the white roses her mother once arranged near the window. The flowers had disappeared after Sofia’s death, but Alessia sometimes imagined their fragrance beneath everything Luca had used to erase her. “Our position has become difficult,” he said. “Three warehouses have been raided, the Russians have taken half the docks, and someone gave the police enough information to freeze twelve million dollars. I’d call that catastrophic.” Luca’s expression tightened. Men became careless around women they considered decorative. They discussed shipments while Al

Dante stood in Alessia’s ruined bedroom with another man’s blood drying across his hands. One attacker had escaped. Two were dead. A fourth lay downstairs with a bullet in his thigh and Moretti soldiers surrounding him. The prisoner had lasted seven minutes. Longer than most. “Russian weapons,” Enzo said. “Unregistered vehicles. The survivor claims Sokolov hired them.” “He’s lying.” “Why?” Dante crouched beside the shattered balcony door and lifted a security card from beneath the glass. Romano clearance. “Someone let them inside.” Enzo accepted the card. “Luca?” “He needs the marriage too badly.” “Then one of his men.” Dante remembered Matteo’s hand around Alessia’s wrist and the unfinished warning about Gabriel’s death. “DeLuca.” Enzo nodded. “He disappeared during the attack.” Dante rose. Blood soaked the shirt beneath his jacket where a bullet had grazed his ribs. The wound meant nothing compared with the absence of Alessia’s body beneath his. He had held her. So

Matteo sat chained to a chair in the centre of Dante’s wine cellar. He had not been tortured. That surprised Alessia more than it should have. His lip was split, and bruises marked his throat where Dante had struck him during the rescue, but he was otherwise unharmed. Dante remained beside the door. Alessia approached alone. Matteo looked up, and relief flooded his face. “You’re alive.” “No thanks to you.” “I never meant for them to hurt you.” “You handed me to Viktor Sokolov.” “I was trying to stop the marriage.” “By putting a knife against my throat?” “That wasn’t part of the plan.” “Tell me about Gabriel.” Matteo became still. Alessia placed a copy of Gabriel’s note in front of him. If anything happens to me, Luca knows. Matteo read it before looking towards Dante. “This came from Moretti?” “It came from my brother. Dante kept it.” “And you believe him?” “I believe evidence.” “Evidence can be manufactured.” Alessia drew the knife Dante had returned to her and

Three days before the wedding, Alessia returned to her father’s estate. Dante had opposed the visit using logic, threats and finally an order Alessia ignored before he finished delivering it. She arrived with twelve Romano soldiers whose loyalty Enzo had verified. Several unmarked Moretti vehicles waited beyond the estate’s boundaries. Luca greeted her inside the drawing room. “My darling.” Alessia allowed him to embrace her. For a moment, she remembered sitting on his shoulders during summer festivals and falling asleep in his lap while he read business reports. Then she remembered Gabriel’s handwriting. If anything happens to me, Luca knows. She stepped away. “You look tired,” Luca said. “I was kidnapped.” “And Moretti rescued you.” There was something unpleasant in his voice. “Yes.” “What did Sokolov want?” “Dante’s territory.” “Did Viktor hurt you?” Concern filled Luca’s expression. It appeared genuine, which made everything worse. “No.” Her father examined the

Sofia Romano’s ledger was hidden inside Gabriel’s coffin. Alessia stood beneath the cemetery mausoleum as Dante opened a concealed compartment behind her brother’s memorial plaque. He removed a leather book wrapped in plastic. “You knew it was here?” “Gabriel left instructions before our final meeting.” “You allowed my family to bury him with evidence that could destroy us?” Dante looked towards the grave. “Your father refused to permit anyone to view Gabriel’s body.” The ledger almost slipped from her hands. “What are you saying?” “I never saw his body. Gabriel may be alive.” “No.” “I met with him that night. Matteo shot him afterwards and delivered him to Luca’s men. Your father announced the death hours later.” “Matteo confessed.” “He admitted to pulling the trigger. He didn’t say Gabriel died.” Hope was dangerous. Alessia had learned that during her mother’s illness. Every promising result made the eventual loss more painful. “Why would Luca pretend G