Page 2 of Crushed Vow

If I was really mad... would I even know

The ward’s intercom crackles, Dr. Hargrove’s voice barking, “Exercise rotation, Group C, report to the courtyard.”

My group.

I stand, my legs weak, my smock hanging loose, and shuffle to the door. A nurse stops me, her eyes flat. “Not you, Charlotte. You’ve got a visitor.”

My heart stutters, hope and dread colliding.

I follow her down a fluorescent-lit corridor, the linoleum cold under my bare feet.

She leads me to the visitor’s room, a sterile box with a thick glass partition, two mics on either side.

I sit.

And then I saw him.

My father.

Seated on the other side, calm as sin, lips curled in that smug, signature sneer.

“Charlotte,” he said smoothly.

My chest caved in. “You... locked me in here?”

He exhaled slowly, like he was doing me a favor by breathing. “I needed to break you, Charlotte. Remind you who holds power in this family. You were beginning to forget.”

I grip the chair’s arms, my nails digging into cracked plastic, rage and heartbreak choking me. “How long have I been here?” I ask, my voice shaking. The ward’s endless light, no clocks, nophones, has stolen time. I can’t tell day from night, reality from nightmare.

He leaned back, smirk sharpening. “A year. Today.”

A year? My breath stops, my vision tunneling, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.

A whole fucking year? I want to scream, to tear at the glass, but not in front of him. Tears burn my eyes, but I blink them back. “Why?” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Why would you do this to your daughter?”

He slams his fist on the table, his mic crackling. “Your choice at that altar cost me everything!” he yells, his face red, eyes blazing. “You married Cassian, not Luca, and ruined my deal. And that man you said ‘I do’ to? He’s moved on, Charlotte. Married someone else, got her pregnant, forgot you like you were nothing.”

My heart splits, the pain raw, searing. I believe him. Cassian hated me, his obsession a lie. The kisses we shared, the sex—his rare gentleness, all dust now. I was a fool to think we could be more..

“I’ll give you one chance to get out,” my father said. “One offer. If you refuse, you can rot here for another year.”

He smiled like a devil promising salvation.

“Marry Luca.”

I rip the mic off my ear, slamming it onto the holder, the plastic cracking.

I storm out, my bare feet slapping the linoleum, my chest burning with rage and grief. Luca? Never.

I’d rather die here than be anyone’s pawn again.

Tears spill now, hot and unstoppable, as I stumble back to my ward.

Cassian’s moved on, his love a mirage, and it fucking hurts—his groans, his touch, all lies.

I collapse onto my cot, unraveling, my sobs muffled by the thin pillow, Tess’s scratching a grim rhythm in the background. I’m not mad, but this place is breaking me, and no one’s coming to save me.

I barely had time to breathe before the door slammed open. Nurse Callahan, a hulking woman with a buzzcut, grabbed my hair, yanking me off the cot.