Page 37 of My Solemn Vow (The Mafia Arrangement #1)

VALOR

LATE NIGHT VIEWING PARTY

“So...” Antonella looks at the king-size bed in my suite as she comes out of the bathroom after her bed prep routine and changing into pajamas. “Which side is mine?”

“Take your pick. I get pushed around to whatever side has the most room when Kerrianne comes in if she has a nightmare, wants to snuggle, or wakes me up way too early trying to pull me out of bed.” I strip out of my shirt and yawn, releasing tension from my body.

“Alright, well, I’ve been sleeping in the middle of a queen, so aren’t we a pair.” Antonella sighs but then picks the side of the bed closest to the window.

Tactically, it puts me closer to the door and to Kerrianne, and I realized that I did have a preference after all. Works out, then.

Despite feeling like I could sleep for a good sixteen hours, my brain doesn’t turn off when I lie down.

It’s filled with the buzzing sound of too many thoughts and situations that haven’t been sorted.

Antonella’s still form is beside me, and I can’t keep tossing and turning.

It’s not fair to deprive her of sleep because it’s eluding me.

I slip out of bed and go down to my office, where I open my laptop. Normally, I lean on my tech-genius brother, Royal, to handle a lot of things. But there is something I have unfiltered access to without needing his expertise.

The school’s security system feed filters right into my security company’s cloud. Only three people have access to view footage: me, Royal, and Doctor Thatcher. So, it doesn’t take me long to log in through a few firewalls and select the date files.

After pulling ‘Ms. Mancini’s’ room number off the roster, I have a camera to start with. On fast-forward, I start playing back the events of the day Antonella called the truce.

At the end of the day, Antonella escorts the kids down to the safe zone. Kerrianne has her little smartphone in hand, looking at the screen, brows furrowed. She’d be waiting for a text from Sean saying he’s nearby. Minutes tick by and no Sean.

A pit forms in my stomach knowing he won’t arrive.

Antonella and Kerrianne come out of the safe zone, and I slow the speed down to real time. Antonella leads her toward the office.

I flick to a closer camera, facing the opposite direction.

Antonella walks into the office but comes right back out and leads Kerrianne to the waiting bench. From this angle, I can see into the office, and Antonella continuously checks to maintain a line of sight through the office window to my daughter.

It’s reassuring how much care she’s taking with Kerrianne. And yet, my hackles rise, knowing something will happen. Something will shatter the little bit of sanctuary the school should be.

At the top of the screen, in the hallway that leads from the classrooms to the office, feet come into frame first, then legs, then a torso, and then Berto’s smug face.

My wolf growls, ready to snap.

Berto holds his hand out to Kerrianne. Antonella sees from the office and starts moving at the same time that Berto grabs hold of Kerrianne’s hand and pulls her off the bench.

Little raptor fights back, pulling against his hold and leaning, trying not to follow him, but Berto’s a man and she’s a wolf pup. I’m transfixed and can’t even breathe, waiting to see what happens next.

Antonella bolts out of the office, her eyes wide and fearful.

It’s the kind of panic that can’t be faked.

I can practically smell her fear through the video footage.

She races down the hall, and I flip through cameras and fast-forward to the right time stamp until I get to the best view of the hallway in front of Antonella’s classroom.

The protective way Antonella moves Kerrianne from Berto’s side and proceeds to lock the classroom door eases my ache of dread. Finally, I draw a breath.

The fierce way Antonella shakes her head, points to the door, and then gestures for Berto to leave swells my heart with a little pride. Seeing her tell off the man I’ve wanted to do the same to a hundred times over soothes that bit of my ego.

The slimy fuck is a foot taller than her in her heels, and yet she stares him down. He moves in, threatening her maybe?

She pulls his gun on him.

That’s our mate. My wolf wags his tail in pleasure.

It’s not a practiced move by any means, but she does it well.

Berto’s eyes are wide, the whites clear in the image as he backs away. He shakes his head and raises his arms in surrender before he slowly and unthreateningly pulls out his phone, then dials. When Antonella flicks off the safety, I’m wishing she would have shot him.

I could turn the audio on. I could listen to what they said, but as I move to plug in the headphones, Antonella’s classroom door opens from the inside.

Kerrianne pokes her head out, and Antonella steps, blocking her from Berto. Then Kerrianne disappears back through the door again.

More words are exchanged, and finally Berto leaves down the hallway toward the back doors.

Antonella lowers the gun to her side. She breathes for a moment before checking her surroundings, pulling a scarf out of a cubby, and hiding the gun.

She protected Kerrianne from seeing it. My wolf notes. She tried to protect our pup from the darkness.

I sit in silence, looking at the screen where I hit pause. Antonella looks down the hallway, watching to make sure the coast is clear. I don’t know Antonella well, but that scene told me everything I needed to know about her.

She saved Kerrianne. It wasn’t an act. My wolf presses the facts, the genuine fear in her eyes, the way Berto fumbled when she took his gun, and this image on the screen. Antonella’s soft features are pulled together pensively, fighting for calm.

None of those motions were practiced or rehearsed. They were live, in the moment. It was real. Antonella put her life on the line to save Kerrianne. I close the lid to my computer, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness.

Our mate. My wolf settles inside me, content for the night. For a heartbeat I consider if he could be right.

When I get back up to the top of the stairs, I check on Kerrianne before heading back to bed. Little raptor is curled up, hugging her dino nugget plush toy, and it sinks in how close I was to losing her...

Movement in my bedroom draws my eye. Antonella steps toward the bedroom door. “Is everything okay?”

I draw myself away from Kerrianne’s room. “Yeah, I’m coming back to bed.”

Antonella doesn’t move when I get to the doorway, and she repeats her question. “Is everything okay? ”

I’m caught off guard by the repetition. “I needed to see she was okay. It’s alright.”

“I can go somewhere else.” Antonella offers.

No. I keep myself from protesting as loudly as that word was in my head. “No, it’s okay. Really. I’d tell you if it wasn’t. It set in for a second how close I was to losing my entire world.”

Antonella steps back and turns away from me, but I reach out, ensnaring her hand in mine. When she turns back to look at me, her eyebrows are raised. “Valor?”

My mouth is dry, and I don’t know how to explain without sounding like the overprotective father I am.

How do you tell your new wife that the reason you’re not in bed is because you were downstairs watching the footage of her saving your daughter’s life?

So, I settle with the beginning of how that conversation would go.

“Thank you, for keeping her safe for me.”

“You’re welcome,” Antonella answers, squeezing my hand and pulling me with her back toward the bed.

Ours, my wolf reiterates, and it resonates in my soul.