Page 37 of Unwritten Vows

Liza

I come back from class the day after Derrick fucks me on the open lawn in my backyard, to my father, roaring mad and raging through the house.

“Tell him that I will fucking kill him! I will have his head, and his son’s too!

If I ever get my hands on that greedy little son-of-a-bitch, I swear to god, I will ring his neck until his eyes pop from his skull!

” I hear a plate break and drop my backpack to rush into the kitchen.

My father is on his phone, the kitchen staff is hovering in a corner, and he is making an unholy mess, throwing pots and plates everywhere.

Oh god. Did he find out about last night?

“Daddy! Daddy, what’s wrong? What is going on?”

He stops and looks at me, the deep red color in his face turning a shade lighter.

“I have to go,” he says, ripping his phone away from his ear and pressing the end call button.

“It’s none of your concern, Solnyshko . But you will have to stop seeing that two-faced son of a bitch who gave you a ring just two weeks ago. ”

“Oh, no.” Derrick warned me he would have to do something that wouldn’t look good. He even told me that last night. I guess he’s had to make good on that promise. “If it has to do with Derrick, then it does have to do with me. Tell me, Daddy, please!”

Instead of answering me, he just shakes his head. “Well, I haven’t seen him around very much. Now I understand why. Have you been in contact with him? Because it ends now.”

I don’t think I should tell Daddy what Derrick has told me, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know what to say. So instead, I try to get the information I so desperately crave. “Why are you saying this?”

He shakes his head. “His father called me to discuss better terms! He said he’s had a ‘better offer.’ I knew he was a slimy little rat.”

My face falls. “Better terms? What does that mean?”

My father holds the countertop in a white-knuckled grip, likely to stop himself from damaging his own property even more than he already has.

“He has something of value to Maxim, and he’s been in talks with someone else.

He hinted at New York. It can’t be Timur because he only has sons.

It has to be that fucking Italian! The traitor! ”

“Edoardo?”

Daddy looks surprised. “Yes.”

I bite my lip. “Derrick doesn’t like him.”

“Well, he likes him enough to consider marrying his daughter and fucking us over in the meantime.”

I know Derrick told me he’d have to do something I’d hate, but I didn’t know it might be marrying another woman.

And if he really does have a part in whatever this strange scheme is, whether he is just going along with it because he feels like he has to or not, I’m not fucking okay with it.

I’ll never be okay with him marrying someone else, no matter how much he says he wants me more.

I feel tears stinging behind my eyes. I can’t show my father this.

The only person I’d show this too is Derrick, which is strange, since he’s the one who’s causing it.

I can usually confide in my father, but I can’t this time.

He has to think I’m over Derrick. He needs to think of me as logical and level headed, even if I’m somewhat lovesick.

You didn’t love him. Get that shit out of your head . But it feels like I could have. Still, I’ll never know now. Even if Daddy wasn’t going to kill him the second he saw him next, I wouldn’t want to. If he’s agreed to marrying some other woman, I can’t even stand the idea of looking into his face.

I think he’s finally done something to cut the thread I’ve been holding onto.