Novel & Cerita Deadly Vows Book

He read it aloud, because some words were too important to be heard only once. > “Let this be our final silence. If this box is opened, then the vow is broken. Blood has outlived its promise. The Vitale and Moretti lines were bound by betrayal, not loyalty. If one family survives the other, the seal will break. When the seal breaks, memory will return. And when memory returns, no empire shall stand. The only way forward is to choose the end. Not vengeance. Not justice. An end. One life, freely given, to close the door again.

I thundered, trying to keep my voice steady. "Better to die than to live in defeat! Ivan taught me that, though he never understood the lesson himself.” He bellowed. The sirens were getting louder, and I could see flashing lights through the broken windows. The FBI was here, but they were too late. "This is your last chance," Vlad said, pulling out a lighter. "Join me in death, or die alone knowing you failed everyone you've ever loved." I looked at this man who shared my grandfather's blood, the Volkov's blood. Thirty years of hatred had turned him into something monstrous.

“Looks like she doesn’t need prayers after all.” I didn’t answer. Because something inside me had shifted. Something cracked. And something woke up. ~~~~~~~~~~ By the time the gunfire ceased, five of Lorenzo’s men were dead. Three of the attackers escaped into the woods. One was captured—barely alive, coughing blood. He smiled through cracked teeth. “You killed Giovanni,” he wheezed. “But you’ll never stop it. Crimson Vow doesn’t die with a man. It’s a doctrine.” Lorenzo leaned down, calm as ice. “Then you’ll die a believer.”

"Lauren, you’re a woman too. How can you be so vicious, spreading obscene rumors about a young girl?! Will you only be satisfied if you drive her to her death?" Mrs. Grant echoed, "Exactly. No wonder my son doesn’t want you. A woman like you deserves to be abandoned!" "I’m the one who doesn’t want Michael!" I turned my phone volume all the way up and played Nora’s recording. "While you were locked in the warehouse, he took me again and again in the office. He said he wished you’d die of a heart attack in there! We did it in hotels, in the passenger seat of his car, and in your own bed. Michael never had this many tricks with you, did he?"

“You cannot disrupt the ritual simply based on whims—” “Before the Moon Goddess who bears witness,” I said, my voice booming across the hall, “I, Viktor Volvov, swear this vow. That I will take no mate, accept no bond, and bear no mark,” I continued, steady and unflinching, “except one woman. Deliliah Carmichael, Head Priestess of the Vyrclaw Pack.” Gasps erupted around us. I didn’t look away from her. Her face drained of color. “Should I fail to mate her before my thirtieth birthday,” I said, “I forfeit my life to the Moon Goddess’ judgment without resistance, without appeal.”

“What? Are you afraid?” The host looked at Matthew. Matthew gave the faintest nod. “We’ll reverify, then.” The big screen switched to my account information. The people in the venue whispered. “Look at how confident she is. Could the Jackson Group actually have been revived?” “Impossible. In Astrid City, if the Fuller Group wants to destroy someone, they could do so at ease. With a plot of land so expensive rendered unusable, the Jackson Group is doomed.” “She must be completely unhinged after what her husband’s done to her. Anyone would go crazy.”

The platinum collar around Eli’s neck suddenly felt like a target. “Stay behind me,” Cove said, voice low and deadly calm. His good hand moved toward the gun hidden under his jacket. Marco stood at his table, pointing directly at Eli with a triumphant sneer. “You all see it now? My own brother sold his soul to Voss. He’s been hacking your systems. Feeding information. That’s why Voss always stays one step ahead!” Nikolai Volkov’s cold blue eyes narrowed. Several of his men had their guns trained on Cove and Eli. The tension was so thick it felt like the room could explode at any second.

I looked up. The priest stared at me for one sad second, before he cleared his throat and began the vows. “Do you accept Dimitri Volkov, as your lawful husband..” My nails dug into my palms, as I clenched my fist. No please, I wouldn't. I will never! “To have and to hold..” My throat constricted. “from this day forward, for better or for worse,” I reached out one hand to steady my pounding heart. “for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you part?”

Aleksei roared from behind me, his voice vibrating through the warehouse. Gerald stared directly at me, completely ignoring Aleksei “ Rowan Morretti, my boss wanted you, Violet Greco , the order was to cause chaos at the Carmene gate and kidnap you while the other boys burn down your father’s warehouse.” A cold dread pooled in my stomach, but before I could ask him what Rowan wanted with me, a deafening BANG echoed right next to my ears. I flinched as Gerald's head snapped back, a bullet pierced perfectly between his eyes and his body went limp on the pole.

The priest asks whether we have come freely and wholeheartedly to give ourselves to each other. "Yes," Dorian and I say, in the same flat tone, at exactly the same moment. The sham of it settles in the room alongside the incense and the orchestral music and the cameras, and I file the absurdity of that question, directed at two people whose presence here is the direct product of coercion and family politics, under things I will process later when I am alone. The vows arrive. I gather everything I have. I hold his gaze. I keep my voice firm and I say the two words that seal it. I do not stumble. I do not whisper. I say them as a statement of intention because it is the only version of this I