Page 68 of Vow of Hate

“Sienna? Oh my god. My baby.”

I cling on to her, like I might die if I let go. I was feeling conflicted over Dante letting me go but being back with my mom is just the reminder I needed that this is where I belong.

“I need to get you away from here,” she says, pulling back. “That monster could come for you again any moment.”

“Mom. He let me go.”

Her eyes widen. Typically, my mom is a hard, no nonsense woman but right now, she looks anything but. “He let you go?”

“Yes. That’s what he said.”

“This could be a game. We should go. Come on. Let’s go to Gabriel’s. He’ll help keep you safe.”

I grab her arm and force her to stop. “Mom. He let me go. I don’t think he’s coming for me.”

“We just have to be safe. Please.”

Slowly, I nod. “All right.” For my mom’s sake, I’ll do this.

She’s still moving slow as she grabs a gun and walks out to the car. I follow behind, just like old times.

“In case he shows his face back around here.” She grunts as she gets into the car and sets the gun on the passenger seat. “Hold on to this.”

“Mom, I can drive.”

“No. I got this. I am keeping you safe.”

I let my mom have this one. After everything she’s been through these past couple of weeks, I don’t blame her for fighting for me.

“Are you… are you all right?” she asks as we drive to Gabriel’s house.

“I’m fine,” I whisper. All the bravery I felt with Dante is just… gone. Now, I feel more like a husk than anything else.

“You don’t sound fine. What did that monster do to you?”

“Do you really want to know?”

She nods, resolute. “I am your mother. Of course I want to know.”

I stare at the window as the Florence countryside passes us by. “I wasn’t raped if you’re worried about that.”

She sucks in a breath. “I… I was worried.”

“I was beaten. But it was by another man. Dante killed that man for me. I also… killed a police officer in my attempts to find you when I escaped the first time.”

“You killed a police officer?” She almost swerves into on-coming traffic. “What? Why?”

“He wanted to hurt me even though I was looking for help. It was self-defense. I killed him.” My voice sounds numb. No emotion to it. I almost sound more like a robot than a human, like all the things I went through happened to someone else and not to me.

“Oh. Well… I… I don’t know what to say to any of that.”

“Dante helped clean up the mess so I’ll be safe. The police won’t come looking for me.”

“How do you know that? He could have just said that. Now that you escaped again, he could turn the police against you just to hurt you.”

“Mom, I said he let me go. I didn’t escape this time. That’s the difference.” When I flick my eyes in her direction, I see her gripping the steering wheel so tight, her hands look as white as paper.

“I just can’t believe that you’re safe. Not until that monster is dead.”