Page 5 of Vows of Blood

Someone hurries past me, heading for the rear exit, and bumps my shoulder hard.

I stumble, eyes flying open, and grab onto his arm to steady myself. But even as he catches me and pauses to apologize, I can’t seem to focus as pale blue eyes swim in front of me when I fail to release his arm immediately.

“You okay?” I think he asks, but I can’t seem to hear the words he’s saying.

“I’m fine,” I mumble, waving him off, blinking once, twice, three times, trying to clear my head before anyone notices the state I’m in.

Get it together, Sienna.

Then, through the haze of repressed memories, a deep voice, one that haunts my dreams, reaches my ear like a smooth caress.

A voice I would recognize anywhere.

Slowly, barely able to believe this could be happening, I raise my head and stare at the crowd of well-wishers near the entrance until they finally part, revealing who I knew I would see as my world tilts.

Luca Calvano.

Taller and broader than I remember, he stands there, those model perfect features having morphed from classically handsome to dark, smoldering and even more alluring.

His strong jaw is sharper now, muscular shoulders even wider, and his presence fills the doorway, sucking the air out of the room and making everyone else fade to nothing.

Rich brown hair still curls slightly at the ends, a little longer now than I recall, as it sits against his collar. It’s shiny and thick, and my fingers twitch, remembering how it felt between them, but that’s the only soft thing about him now.

Luca scans the room, looking unperturbed by the fussing crowd around him and the men jostling to get close and shake his hand. He’s nodding in greeting at someone across the room when his gaze sweeps past me.

Then stops dead.

I gasp as those mesmerizing, chocolate brown eyes lock onto mine, and his entire body goes rigid. The polite smile on his chiseled features freezes, then falls away entirely, full lips pressing into a harsh line.

It’s really him. The guy who vanished and left me picking up the pieces of my life for years afterward.

A man I’m still technically engaged to.

Standing arm in arm with the woman he’s about to marry.

2

SIENNA

Move, Sienna. Do anything except stand there like an idiot.

My brain screams the command, but my numb body refuses to cooperate.

I’m frozen in the middle of the restaurant floor, wearing my awful polyester uniform, tray dangling from my fingertips by my side, staring at a man I thought I’d never see again.

A ghost, who’s staring right back with an expression I can’t read, but even from all the way over here, I can tell it’s not one of joy at seeing me again.

Someone calls his name, and the spell breaks.

Luca turns away first and impatiently accepts the handshake of an older man in a pinstripe suit. His smile is brief, forced, and doesn’t reach his eyes.

When he glances back at me, there’s no warmth there. No recognition of what we once were, just a hard disdain that makes my stomach clench.

I’m not sure how I thought he’d react if we ever came face-to-face again, but this cold detachment stings more than anything else I’d imagined.

Reeling from the shock of seeing him, the realization of who I’m surrounded by, and the gut-punch of the man I adored looking at me like I’m a stranger, I take one step back, then another. Chest constricting, I suck in a lungful of air, a definite urge to flee taking over. Suddenly light-headed and off-balance, I reach out, clutching the arm of a man beside me who stares down at me in confusion.

“Sorry,” I mutter, retreating further, still unable to peel my eyes away from Luca.