Page 130 of Vow to Claim You

“Naomi—”

“I’m okay.” She cuts me off gently. “Or I will be. I just need… time. To process. To figure out what happens next.”

“What happens next is you stay here. For as long as you want.”

“And Father?”

“Father can choke.”

She almost chokes on her tea. I don’t blame her. I’ve never spoken about our father like this—not out loud, not where anyone could hear. Back in Monsera, we were careful. We had to be. Every wall had ears, every servant had a price, and our father had a talent for knowing exactly what his daughters said when they thought he wasn’t listening.

But I’m not in Monsera anymore.

“He promised me,” I say, the anger surfacing despite my best efforts to keep it buried. “When I signed that contract. When I agreed to marry a man I’d never met and move to a country I’d never seen. He looked me in the eye and promised you’d be free.”

Naomi’s gaze drops, a weary sigh escaping her.

“I knew he might not keep it,” I continue. “I’m not stupid. I know who he is, what he’s capable of. But I thought—I hoped—that maybe this one time, he’d actually…”

Actually what, Ayanna?

Be a father? Love his daughters more than his ambitions? Keep a single promise he’s ever made?

Naive thinking.

Naomi’s silent for a moment. Her fingers tighten around the cup with an expression on her face that tells me something is bugging her.

“What is it, Naomi?” I ask gently, studying her.

“I heard something Father said. After Luca’s funeral...”

My pulse stumbles, and a chill spreads through my chest.

“What do you mean?”

She hesitates. I can see her weighing it, deciding how much to reveal.

“It’s probably nothing.” Her forehead creases. “Just something I noticed. Something that felt wrong.”

“Tell me.” I nod for her to go on.

“The night after the funeral, I couldn’t sleep. I went downstairs for water, and I heard voices in Father’s study.” She swallows. “Father and someone else. A man. I didn’t recognize the voice.”

“What were they saying?”

“I couldn’t hear most of it. The door was closed, and I didn’t want to get caught. But I heard Luca’s name. And Father said something like… ‘The problem has been handled. He won’t be making any more threats.’”

Everything inside me seems to wither.

“You’re sure?” My own voice has gone strange and quiet. “You’re sure he said exactly that?”

“I think so. Maybe. I don’t know.” Naomi shakes her head.

But my mind is already spinning, running through possibilities that frighten me.

Luca’s death was ruled a suicide. Then he left a recorded message saying he didn’t choose to die. And my father, the night after the funeral, was talking about handling problems and silencing threats.

“Ayanna?” Naomi’s voice cuts through my spiraling thoughts. “You’ve got a weird look on your face.”