Page 65 of Brutal Vows

“Any of the above.”

She blows out a hard breath, puffing out her bottom lip, then closes her eyes. “Not really.”

“Okay. But there’s something I have to tell you.”

Her eyelids fly open. She stares at me in panic. “Oh God. What now?”

I’m about to tell her about the wedding being moved up when the ringing of a phone interrupts me.

The sound is coming from somewhere under the blankets.

This wouldn’t be strange, but Lili doesn’t own a cell phone because she’s overprotected and her father thinks all teenage girls do on their phones is take pictures of themselves in their underwear to post on the internet.

As the ringing continues, Lili slowly pulls the covers back up over her face until only her wide, horrified eyes are showing.

I say firmly, “Give it to me. Where is it, Lili? Hand it over.”

When she doesn’t respond, I stand and whip the covers offher. She immediately starts scrambling around, searching for the phone that’s tangled somewhere in the sheets.

I find it first and snatch it up. It’s a cheap, old-school Nokia with a small screen and a pixelated readout.

A burner.

She didn’t get this on her own.

As Lili whines and grapples with me, trying to grab it back, I hit the Answer button but don’t say anything.

“Hello? Lili?Corazon,are you there?”

The voice is young, male, and has a slight Spanish accent, and of course I know who it is.

“Hello, Juan Pablo,” I say, walking away from the bed so I can hear over Lili’s pleas. “This is Lili’s aunt, Reyna. We need to talk.”

“Zia,please! Give me the phone! Let me talk to him!”

I go into her bathroom and lock the door behind me, ignoring her muffled pleading.

On the other end of the line, Juan Pablo is silent. I sit on the closed toilet seat, lean over and prop my forehead in my hand, and sigh.

“Look. I have nothing against you—”

“You fired my father,” he interrupts, sounding indignant.

“You deflowered my niece,” I shoot back.

“We’re in love!”

“I know you think that means you should be together, but it’s not going to happen. Her father won’t allow it. I need you to promise me you’ll leave her alone.”

He says flatly, “No. You can’t keep us apart.”

Surprised, I huff out a breath.The balls on this kid.

I’m inclined to like him, but considering he’ll be a corpse if Gianni discovers any of this, I’ll save my affection for the living.

“Maybe I can’t, but her father and the rest of the Mafia can. Do you have any idea what will happen if they find out about you?”

His voice rises. “You think I care what a bunch of racist goomba fucks think about me?”