Love A Hollow Promise Novel Novels & Stories

We all knew that despite the love and unions within our individual couples, we’d need to unite as one to take on the future. Thank you for reading BOUND BY A PROMISE. If you haven't read NOW AND FOREVER, Dario and Catalina's story, or TILL DEATH DO US PART, Alejandro and Mia's story, I hope you will. The next book in the Brutal Vows series is QUEENS AND MONSTERS, Rei and Jasmine's story.

Can’t protect or keep that vital promise I made. The promise I’d broken. The vow I sent to the fucking hollow when I got blind-sided. I don’t stop her retreat, just watch the past. The future and every variation of me without her unravel. What I would have been. Could have been without the only person in the world who dared to know me and love me regardless. I’m a freak.

She wants to tear the Hollow King apart, and I let her hunger burn my chest a little before I push it down. I glance back at the Hollow King. He does not flinch. He does not look angry. He looks like someone who has waited centuries for a moment like this, like he knows exactly how fragile hope is. “Your choice,” he whispers. Not a threat. Not a plea. A promise. The pack watches. Every pair of eyes on me is a question, a verdict, a prayer. I feel their lives weighing on me. I feel Collins’ heart steady and break all at once. I feel Amy coiling, trembling, waiting for permission I do not yet give.

She'd poured her entire life into one man, and in the end, it cost her everything. From that, I'd learned love was fleeting and unreliable. Even the deepest bonds could sour, twisting into resentment. Lovers could leave, but friends stuck around forever. If Nora and I got together, she might get bored and fall for someone else, so while aware of her feelings, I had feigned ignorance, hiding behind the safety of friendship to fool myself and keep her close without the risk. I understood too late the toll it had taken: her exhaustion, her pain, and finally her decision to leave me.

“This is my promise. Written. Witnessed. Real. I’m giving you this so you can hold onto it. On hard days. On days when everything feels impossible. On days when running seems easier than staying.” I can’t speak. Can’t breathe. Can only cry. “You saved me too,” he continues. “From emptiness. From loneliness. From a life that looked successful but felt hollow. You made me want more. Want family. Want love. Want to be better. You made me human again.” “Lucian—” “So this promise goes both ways. We keep each other here. We remind each other why we stay. We build reasons. Every day. Every moment. Every choice.”

He was trying to tell the truth well enough that I could stand inside it safely. I stared at my own blank page. I thought of writing something simple. I promise to love you. I promise to stay. I promise to be your wife. None of it felt complete. I thought about the contract, the family meeting, the shared room, the aisle, the harder promise he’d just made to me. Then I wrote the first line that felt true. I promise I will never stay by disappearing. My hand froze above the page. Damien noticed. He didn’t ask to read it.

Just endless continuation, every joy multiplied and shared by everyone lucky enough to feel it at the same time. "It's beautiful," I admitted, because lying about it would have been its own kind of dishonesty. "I understand why you'd want it back." "Then you understand why I do not think of what I offer as destruction," the Hollow said. "From where I exist, your world's insistence on singular, separate consciousness looks considerably more like suffering than freedom. Each of you experiencing joy and grief entirely alone, unable to fully share either with anyone standing beside you, no matter how deeply you claim to love them. I have watched you, Ivy Hart, ache for connection your entire lif

The forest fell silent once more. “The First Covenant was never forged to win wars.” He looked directly at me. “It was forged to preserve hope after defeat.” I took a cautious step forward. “What is the Hollow?” “A memory.” His answer only deepened my confusion. “A city remembers those who build it.” “A forest remembers those who protect it.” “The Hollow remembers promises.” The silver patterns beneath my skin suddenly burned. Not painfully. Like recognition. The same warmth spread through Leo. Ace. Maya. The ground beneath our feet answered.

As it turned out, the whole thing was a lie from the very beginning. Clara stiffened, still putting up a final struggle. "I stayed by your side and encouraged you throughout your four years of college. Doesn't that count as emotional support?" She shifted tactics, attempting to play on my emotions to get what she wanted. "Regardless of the money, we've been husband and wife for ten years. Isn't that bond enough for you to help me just this once? "Have you forgotten how much you used to love me? I promise not to hold your past infidelity against you anymore if you'll just forgive me this time. Let's just put it all behind us and go back to the way things were, okay?"

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get any words out. Eyes red, I kept checking over and over. When I finally saw the words on the screen with my own eyes, I collapsed. Five years ago, when we went to get married, I'd just arrived at the courthouse when Jody walked out holding two marriage certificates. I was so blinded by love I never thought for a second it was all fake. A sharp, stabbing pain spread through my chest. After a long moment, I pulled out my phone and called my contact. "Move the plan up. Tell Jody I'll be at the welcome home party tonight."