Page 176 of Vow to Claim You

I feel Eero’s hand tighten on my arm probably because he can feel me shaking.

“Since no one is coming to save you,” my father drawls, satisfaction curling through every word, “and you’ll never speak again, I might as well tell you. So you die knowing exactly how badly you failed.”

My fingernails dig into the stone ledge.

“Luca,” Aric says. “That was you.”

“Luca was a loose end.” My father waves the gun dismissively, so casual, so unconcerned, it makes my stomach lurch. “A sentimental boy who couldn’t accept that Ayanna belonged to someone else’s plan. He found out things he shouldn’t have found out. And then the stupid boy had the audacity to threaten me,” he almost spits, as though speaking it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. “So yes, I handled it.”

Handled it. The same words Naomi overheard.

“And the gala,” Aric continues. His voice hasn’t changed. Ice over iron. “The shooting.”

“That was supposed to be clean.” For the first time, something flickers across my father’s face. But it’s not the remorse or guilt I’d expect, but rather irritation. Annoyance. “You were the target. One shot, one death, one problem solved.” He shakes his head, and the spitting comes again. “But my stupid daughter got in the way.”

Eero’s arm presses harder against mine, and I swallow my disappointment and pain.

“Can you believe that?” Leandro—because I no longer call this man my father—continues, and there’s genuine incredulity in his voice, genuine bewilderment, as though my choice to shield my husband with my body is the most irrational thing he’s ever encountered. “She threw herself in front of a man she was supposed to despise. A man I gave her to. I designed every piece of that marriage to keep her dependent and resentful, and instead she…” His head angles as he scoffs, looking at Aric. “Instead she loves you. Pathetic.”

Aric’s fingers curl slowly into fists at his sides. The muscle in his jaw turns to stone. “It was you,” he hisses. “All along. Luca’s death. The shooting. The bullet that hit my wife.” He takes a single step forward and barely speaks through clenching teeth. “The baby we lost.”

Leandro remains as indifferent as when he walked in here, ready to kill my husband.

“The baby you killed, Leandro.” Aric’s tone hardens, darkens. “Your granddaughter.”

“She was eight weeks,” Leandro says dismissively.

I bite down on the inside of my cheek until I taste copper, trying to remain standing, trying not to break, not to run to the man below and scream in his face how much I despise him.

“You sold your daughter to me like livestock.” Aric’s voice does something to steady me. “Then you tried to kill me. Then you killed the boy she loved. Then you killed our child. And through all of it, through every betrayal, every murder, every moment of calculated destruction, you kept playing the concerned father. Kept pretending you gave a damn about anyone other than yourself.”

“Careful, Vold. I’m the one pointing a gun at you. Not the other way around.”

“You sat at her bedside.” Aric continues like he hasn’t heard him. “You held her hand while she grieved a baby you put in the ground.”

“Yes.” Leandro lifts his chin. “I did all of it. Every piece. Because that’s what men like us do. We take what we want, and we destroy anything that gets in the way.”

“Men like us,” Aric repeats with a scoff.

“Don’t pretend you’re any different.” Leandro’s lip curls as he scoffs. “You’re a killer. A monster. You burn people alive and call it justice. The only difference between us is that you inherited your empire, and I had to build mine from nothing.”

“The difference between us,” Aric says coldly, “is that I would die for the people I love. You would kill them.”

Leandro’s jaw tightens, fury writing itself all over his face. “Ayanna was never supposed to love you. She was supposed to be my leverage. My way into The Gods. My daughter, positioned at the right hand of a God, feeding me information, influence, access.” He paces around Aric, the gun still pointed. “My own blood. My own daughter. And instead she looks at you like you’re something special. Defending you against her own family. Throwing herself in front of bullets for you.” He stops. “It’s pathetic. She’s pathetic. Just like her mother. Weak, sentimental, unable to see the bigger picture.”

Weak. Sentimental. Pathetic.

Eero’s hand tightens on my arm again, holding me together the way his brother would if his brother weren’t standing in a room below with a gun aimed at his heart. I am shaking so hard my teeth are chattering, and the tears streaming down my face are silent, because I will not make a sound. I will not risk the whole confrontation burning down because I was too weak to hold my tears back.

“Help me understand,” Aric says. “Why? The seat at the Gods, that’s all you ever wanted. You had it. You were this close. Why risk it?”

“Because I was this close.” Leandro’s voice rises. “Because I couldn’t lose it. Not when I’d come so far, sacrificed so much. Luca was threatening me. The little bastard found out that I was seeing a woman. Vivienne. She made me lose my focus for a while.”

Vivienne?

My heart skips a beat. That’s the same name Farida told Aric. I’m sure Aric has caught it too, but he doesn’t give anything away and lets my father speak further.

“God knows how he discovered it, but he did, and he was going to expose it. Tell Ayanna. Tell you.” The man I refuse to call my father jabs the gun toward Aric’s head now. “And I couldn’t let that happen. Ayanna would’ve hated me. I would’ve lost her loyalty, and without her loyalty, I would’ve lost your support, because The Gods have that absurd rule that marriages are sacred.” He sneers the word.