Page 1 of Vow of Hate

Chapter One

Sienna

The men start showing up on my doorstep a month after my father dies. They’re like wild dogs, crawling and snarling up the front porch steps, foaming at the mouth, trying to get to me.

If it weren’t for my mother, I would have already been taken.

“You need to leave,” I overhear my mother say as I stand at the top of the steps, hiding from view. “My husband has been dead for only a month. We’re still in mourning.”

“But Sienna is at a ripe age to marry now. You need to consider it.” The man’s voice is one I faintly recognize. Some mafia man who used to work with my father. I can’t remember this man’s name or face but what I do know is that he has to be in his fifties, at least. “I could be a good husband to her.”

My mother scoffs. “To my twenty year old daughter? You didn’t even consider asking for my hand.”

“Well… Henrietta… you’re no longer young. You can’t have children anymore.”

“And you’re fifty-nine,” she responds flatly. “You don’t need to have any children any longer. If you did, those kids would grow up without a father.”

“You’re denying myself the chance to have children?”

“No. But I am denying you the chance to have children with my daughter. Now leave.”

“You can’t hold us back forever, you know. Someone will marry Sienna eventually. It has to happen. She’s a mafia woman. Her father is dead and as her mother, you can only do so much now.”

I press myself against the wall even harder and squeeze my eyes shut. Why did my father have to be a mafia man and die so suddenly? It has left me without any sort of protection. I am aimless. No end in sight from all these suitors. They have been showing up for the past few days now and every time I hear the doorbell ring, I feel my spine tense, because I know it’s another one of them, coming to ask for my hand. My mother has held them off but how much longer can she? At the end of the day, we’re both only mafia woman in a mafia man’s world.

“You need to leave,” my mother says in her hard voice. “I am not giving you my daughter’s hand in marriage, Nico. You’re old and I will not marry my daughter to someone who’s the same age as her father.”

“So you’ll marry her to someone younger? Someone without much prestige?”

“There are a ton of younger mafia men who are higher than you in rank. So I would consider your words and be careful with them. You are not getting my daughter. No man is. I will kill any man who comes for her.”

I can’t hear anything for a moment. The temptation to look is strong but I hold it back. If I step out from my hiding spot, Nico might see me.

“You think you’re so tough, Henrietta,” Nico says in a tone that makes the goosebumps break out on my skin. “But you’re just a woman. You can only do so much. If it’s not me, it will be someone else and you know it. I am offering a good life for Sienna. You should really consider it.”

“A good life how? Because all I see is a middle aged, overweight man who thinks he’s entitled to my beautiful, twenty year old daughter. And that’s just insane, don’t you think?”

The sound of a loud slap makes me gasp and step away from the hall. My mother has her hand clamped over her face and Nico is glaring at her. He raises his hand to slap her again when I finally open my mouth.

“Stop,” I say. “Don’t hurt her.”

Nico’s eyes flick up to mine. The only thing that gives me any sort of power is that I’m at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. But that could easily change. “Ah. There you are. Looking as beautiful as I remember.”

Nico does look familiar. I think the last time I saw him around, I was fifteen. A shudder runs through me.

“Don’t hurt her,” I repeat. “Please.” My voice is weak and quiet. I’ve always had a soft voice. For most of my life, I was told to speak up.

Nico smirks. “I won’t have to hurt her if you’ll marry me.”

“Sienna, go,” Mom says. “I can handle this.” She sets her hard eyes onto Nico. “Go. I will call Gabriel Romano to come over and handle you if you don’t.” That makes Nico’s dark eyes widen. As the head of the mafia, Gabriel is in control of everything. He ultimately gets the final say in who gets married or not. At only thirty-three, he’s young and powerful. A scary combination.

Nico leans in closer to my mom’s face but she holds herself still like a statue. With her wiry frame and long limbs, my mother looks like an elf come to life. Her blonde hair, which I got, makes her even more ethereal looking. I used to be told I was just as ethereal… until my father died. Then my pale skin and blonde hair worked against me, making me look more like a ghost than a pretty fairy.

“Be careful, Henrietta,” Nico warns. “You’re asking for trouble.”

“And I’m just saving my daughter. So go. Or I will shoot you.”

“With what gun?”