Page 77 of Blood Vows

Elena backed away from him, and Dante reached for her. She held up a hand. “Don’t.” He stepped back from her, giving her some space. “What does that mean?” she asked.

Luca answered carefully. “It means Crimson Holdings may have been built around you because you were the first heir born after the agreement.”

Her voice broke. “So I was collateral.” No one answered, and that seemed to be answer enough. Elena laughed, and it was a terrible sound. Dante hated it, and he ended the call without warning because she had heard enough.

He crossed the room and stood in front of her. “Elena.”

“No.” She paced away from him. “My father knew.”

“Yes, he did,” Dante agreed.

“He knew before I was born,” she said.

“Probably,” Dante breathed.

“My whole family knew,” she said.

“We don't know that,” Dante insisted.

“Stop saying that!” She turned on him. “Everyone knew about this except me!” Her eyes filled with unshed tears.

“My father, Hale, Vale, and the Camorras. Everyone gets to have secrets, and I get to be the fucking collateral.” Dante’s chest tightened. He stepped closer to her, and she backed away from him.

He stopped, not wanting to push her. “You are not collateral.”

“The ledger says I am,” she reminded.

“I don’t give a fuck what the ledger says,” Dante shouted

“It existed before I could walk,” she said.

“And you’re grown now.” Her brow furrowed, but Dante kept going. “You can choose what happens now.”

“That doesn’t erase anything that’s happened,” she insisted.

“No, it doesn’t.” He softened his voice. “But it means they don’t own you anymore.”

“What if they think they do?” she questioned.

Dante’s expression hardened. “Then they learn the hard way that it’s not true.”

“How?” she asked.

He looked at her. “Painfully.” Despite everything, a small laugh escaped her.

Elena’s damn phone buzzed with another unknown number, and Dante’s entire body tightened. Elena looked at him, and he shook his head. “Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she insisted.

“You were about to.”

“Yes, I was.” The phone buzzed again with a text this time. Elena opened it, and her face changed.

Dante stepped closer. “What’s wrong?” She handed him the phone. A photograph filled the screen. It was old and grainy, of Antonio Romano. He was standing beside Vincenzo Hale. The date stamped at the bottom of the photo was two weeks before Antonio died. Underneath was one message.

ASK DANTE WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER.

He went completely still as Elena looked at him. “Dante?” He couldn't speak because suddenly he remembered a job, two years ago. Luca had sent him to clean up a Romano problem. He hadn't been given a name, only a location and an order to take out one target at a warehouse. He made sure that there were no witnesses, and Dante had fired once, hitting the man’s center mass. The man had fallen before Dante ever saw his face clearly. His stomach turned. There was no fucking way that any of this was a coincidence.