Page 83 of Vow of Hate

Dante’s eyes are open and vulnerable. “You’re my weakness, Sienna. It’s what led me here. I couldn’t stay away from you.”

I suck in a breath. “Is the thought of marrying me so bad that you would rather die?”

“No,” he breathes out. “I just… I can’t let Gabriel win.”

“You will die to prove a point? You would lose me to prove a point?”

Dante opens his lips but nothing comes out. He can’t give me the answer I want.

“See?” Gabriel huffs. “He will never marry you, Sienna. He will never play by my rules.”

“Fuck your rules,” I snap. Everyone stares at me in shock. Well, except for Dante. He’s used to this dark side of me. No one else is. “It’s always your rules. But what about the rest of us? You married Luciana to Matteo when she didn’t want it. You were going to force me to marry Dante when I didn’t want it. It’s not fair that you get to play with our lives like this. Please. Just let Dante go. Let me be with him. Make a deal with him but don’t control him. It’s the only way he’ll agree. Be equals with him.”

“Matteo wants him dead,” Gabriel responds.

“Respectfully, I don’t care what Matteo wants. I care for Dante. I’ll marry him for peace. If he agrees, let him go.”

Gabriel stares at me for a long, hard moment. “You mean this?”

“Yes.” I lift up my gun. “I don’t want to shoot you, Gabriel. But I will. If it means saving Dante. That’s how serious I am. I want to live my life on my own terms. No one else’s. Not even Dante’s. If we marry, me and Dante will be equals. And you need to treat me like an equal too. Is that understood?”

I can tell Gabriel doesn’t like the idea but he knows I’m right.

“If you kill him,” I continue. “I will shoot you.”

“You really mean that? I would hate for you to die, Sienna. I’ve known you since you were a kid. It would be a shame if you died.”

“It would be a shame if you died too. So offer another deal to Dante. Please.”

Gabriel sighs heavily and turns to Dante. “Will you agree to marry Sienna for peace? I promise to not control your life but you have to stop wreaking havoc everywhere you go. Do we have a deal?”

Dante looks at me and only me as he gives his answer. “Deal.”

I blow out a long, hot breath. Me and Dante will be married. I can really get the happy ending I was hoping for.

Gabriel unstraps Dante’s arm. “Shake on it. Be a man of your word.”

Dante finally looks at Gabriel and extends his hand. “Deal.” He and Gabriel shake on it.

“What made you change your mind?” I ask as Gabriel unstraps Dante from the table.

Dante stumbles as he gets to his feet. The bruises and blood are everywhere.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” I say, catching him as he stumbles against me. Never have I seen him look so vulnerable before. I’m sure he’s hating every second of it.

“You’re just going to let him go?” Matteo asks, drawing all the attention to him. “I want him dead. He tried to kill me and Luciana. I don’t want to make peace with him.”

“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t always want to do,” Gabriel says in the most condescending voice possible.

Matteo’s face turns to a sneer.

Everything after that happens so fast.

He raises his gun in Dante’s direction. It also happens to be the direction me and my mom are standing in.

Dante pushes me back and then places himself in front of my mom before Matteo pulls the trigger.

And gets shot.