Page 76 of Devil’s Promise

“Whatever they told you, Vinnie, Promise is mine.” My gaze narrows as I look at the younger Morrelli. His slicked-back hair and hook nose only accentuate his beady eyes.

Don’s lip curls. “I appreciate your new position, Angel. But Promise is still mine.”

Finally, we’re getting to what really matters. “How do you figure that?”

“We don’t have a signed contract. You know it.”

“Promise is a twenty-two-year-old woman. If she wants to stay with me, she stays,” I say with a plastic fucking smile of my own. “She’s not bound in any way to whatever shitty fucking contract you signed with the Morrellis.”

Don snarls. “Give me my daughter back.”

“Careful, Don,” I rumble back. “Someone might hear you.”

He lets out a growl deep in his throat. “You piece of shit upstart—” Vincent’s hand stops him. I’ve got to give Vincent credit. While he’s known for his shit temper, he’s holding it today.

“Don would like to see his daughter,” Vincent adds, smiling apologetically at Rush. “Just to know that she’s safe and well cared for.”

“He saw her yesterday,” I rumble back.

“Today,” Don steps up, his nose almost touching mine. “Promise is all I have left. It’s important for me to hear from my daughter’s own lips that she’d be happier staying with you.”

Fucker thinks he’s trapped me. Like everyone doesn’t know the truth—that he would kill her in a second just for the press.

And I am well aware that this is a trap. His chance to try to snatch her, and with the crowds watching, he thinks I won’t react.

But one, I don’t have a public image to protect, and two, he’s not laying a finger on Promise ever again.

The window of the Escalade cracks open, Promise’s hands appearing as she signals by pretending to write on one palm.

I pass her my phone.

I already know she knows my phone unlock code, but it’s a tell to everyone else when she unlocks the phone and types in a note.

It only takes her a second, the message…

I’m staying.

I hold it out to Don, who looks like he might spit nails. “It’s been well documented that Promise does not have all her mental faculties.”

“Bullshit,” I answer.

Don’s hands clench into fists. “As we speak, I have a conservatorship being drafted, and a court hearing where Promise’s many mental health struggles will be brought to light.”

Neither Mason nor Rush react. But Killian steps in front of Rock, so close to Don that the politician steps back. “Do you know who I am?”

“Kill,” Rush warns, but Killian is moving closer, pushing Don back.

Vincent takes a giant step away from Killian, Killian’s reputation clearly preceding him.

From my right, I catch a movement.

I see an older woman walking toward him, her blonde hair streaked with gray, her blue eyes the exact color and shape of Promise’s. I know exactly who she is, and though we’ve never met, I am clear on what to do. “Aunt Patti.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Don growls, before Killian uses his chest to push the man back another few feet.

But I reach for Patti, taking her hand, as I open the car door. Don darts forward, attempting to reach his hand into the car.

I don’t hesitate and close the door on his hand.