Page 74 of My Solemn Vow

“Quit your sniveling,” Neil snarls at the man.

It’s an almost animalistic sound, and it startles me more than seeing them drag the man into place. I hold one door open out of the way while they bring him in. And in response, I get a grunted ‘thank you.’

“Table or chair?” the second man asks Valor.

“Chair,” he answers. “My wife has bread rising, and I don’t want the smells of intestines screwing up the joy of freshly baked bread.”

I try not to let my face change and remain impassive, but at the thought of what Valor is saying, I feel my features contort. If anyone sees, they don’t call it out.

They have the man strapped into the chair, and when I stand next to Valor, the second man offers his hand out to me. “I’m Gavin Cavanagh. Neil’s youngest. Nice to meet you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for your wedding. Pleasant surprise to see you now.”

“On such short notice, I don’t blame anyone for not being able to attend.” I shake his hand, indulging his attempt at small talk. It slowly creeps in, though, that we’re doing so with a man strapped to the chair in the room.

“Are you two staying for the information or do you want the notes?” Valor asks, looking between Neil and Gavin.

“Staying. I don’t want to make a second trip if you’re not playing with your victim.” Gavin nods toward the poor man.

“How fast this goes depends on our friend here.” Valor steps toward the man and pulls the bag off his head. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t my good friend, Marc.”

When I see the man’s face, recognition has me drawing a sharp inhale before rational thought leaves me entirely.

“Are you fucking shitting me? Marcell Lawrence Trakas!” I snap at him and lunge forward, rage brewing inside me.

Valor wraps his arms around my waist, holding me back.

“Oh, shit.” Marc’s eyes go wide. “Toni, I didn’t know you’d be here. I’m so sorry. I didn’t — It’s a misunderstanding. These guys. I’ll go. It’s not like I came here on purpose. It’s, I’m —”

Gavin rips off a piece of duct tape from a roll conveniently hanging on his belt and slaps it over Marc’s mouth before muttering, “Jesus Christ, Valor’s woman is as scary as he is.”

Valor pulls me tightly against his chest. “Whoa, easy, princess. How do you know my friend, Marc?”

“This motherfuckin’ asshole is the sleaziest son of a bitch I ever fucking met, and I promised the next time I saw him that I would gouge his eyes out of his head.”

My blood boils with renewed malice at seeing him again, and I fight against Valor’s hold around my waist.

“Patience,” Valor says softly. His words are laced with a deep tone that settles in my bones and calms me down. “Steady, Antonella, Marc isn’t leaving here alive. I have no problem sharing my toys. But I need a little information before he departs Earth.”

Marc’s eyes bulge, and he shakes his head, trying to talk around the tape.

He gets to suffer.

“Antonella, I’m letting you go, princess. I need you to not kill Marc right away, okay?” Valor isn’t really asking. But his words pitch like a question.

Rather than answer, I stop fighting against Valor’s arms. I try to draw slow breaths, and my fingers clench into fists. The crescents of my nails digging into the skin grounds me just a little bit. After a few more breaths, Valor must believe I won’t charge Marc because he lets me go.

“That was fuckin’ hot.” Gavin looks me over, and I glare at him. He raises his hands in surrender. “In a completely platonic, ‘you’re my cousin’s wife’ type of way.” Gavin — smartly — changes the subject. “Oh, and really, you can’t trust a dude whospells Marc with aCinstead of aK. It’s like they’re trying too hard.”

“It was fuckin’ hot in a ‘she’s my wife’ type of way,” Valor huffs.

He steps toward Marc and the chair he’s been strapped to, wrists bound to the armrests.

It looks painful. I move my hands, thinking what it’d be like to be bent at that angle.Ooft. No, thank you.

Valor stoops to get eye level with Marc, and the patronizing droll of his voice cuts through the chilly basement air. “Marc, I’ll untape your mouth. It seems like it’s in your best interest to not aggravate my wife, and I know that’ll be hard for you.”

Marc whimpers like the sniveling sack of shit he is, but he nods, and Valor removes the tape.

“Now, Antonella, why don’t you tell me how Marc ended up on your shit list?” Valor doesn’t look back at me.