I stay huddled in the snow in front of my mother’s grave, clutching the ruined flowers. My ears ring, and every breath I take sounds far too loud inside my own head. I think Elio’s talking but I can’t make out any of the words. Another shot, and then the speaking stops.
Dead.
Once again, Elio’s shot someone. Someone who threatened me. He and I are caught in an endless, terrible loop. No matter what I do, I can’t claw my way out to something normal. Not while Elio’s with me. And not while my father hides from what he’s done.
I’m not even afraid now. Just numbed to it all. Emptied out by all the violence, the death, and the destruction. I barely register when Elio scoops me up into his arms and jogs back to the car. Just as he’s hauling the door open and helping me inside, another dark vehicle swerves towards us. Curse and Enzo jump out, and Elio bites out orders at them. I only catch some of the words. Irish. Make sure… No others… Bodies…
Elio slides into the driver’s seat. He starts the car with quick, sharp movements, but doesn’t drive until he’s fastened my seatbelt. Thank God he does it, because I’m not sure I have the strength to. My arms, no, my whole body is shaking. Torn and crushed rose petals fall from my hands as the car finally gets into motion.
“We shouldn’t have come here,” I whisper.
“Yes, we should have. They shouldn’t have,” Elio bites out.
“They’re never going to stop. They’re never going to leave me alone,” I say dully. I thought being trapped with Elio was bad enough. But knowing that even if I ever get away from him, I’ll never be safe, makes me feel like my entire life is getting snuffed out before my very eyes.
“No, they probably won’t. Not unless I drag your papà back here and dump him on Darragh’s doorstep.”
“No,” I say instantly.
Muscles go stone-hard in Elio’s jaw.
“Even after everything he put you through, you still want to protect him?”
“I just can’t have another person around me die!” I cry out. “I can’t! I can’t handle all this guilt. It’s like I’m being buried alive!”
“Darragh’s men keep coming for you because they consider you one of theirs,” Elio says. “You’re Irish. In their minds, you belong to them, not me.” He takes a sharp turn, and I flinch at the swerving motion of it. “There’s one way to put that thought out of their minds. One way to prove that you’re irrevocably mine. Mine in a way that they’d never dare to touch you.”
“What? What way?” I thought that was the whole point of me going to the gala on his arm. Clearly, that didn’t work.
“You take my ring. You take my name.”
“I… What?”
He doesn’t look at me as he takes another fast turn, making my insides lurch.
“You marry me.”
No. There’s no way. I’m sure I’ve heard him wrong. My blood sloshes in my head. I lean forward and grip my knees, trying to breathe slowly between clenched teeth.
But he says it again. And this time, there’s no mistaking the words. There’s no mistaking the threat of them. The way they bind me to him more than any debt ever could.
“You marry me, Songbird. Marry me, or I’ll tell Darragh exactly where your fucking father is.”
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Want part two? Elio and Deirdre’s story continues in A Vow So Soulless.
I’ve taken everything from my Songbird. Her freedom. Her innocence.
Even her name. She’ll no longer be known as Deirdre O’Malley, but Deirdre Titone. My wife. Whether she wants to be or not.
It’s the only real way to show this city who she belongs to. The only way to tell the world that she’s as protected as she is possessed. I’ll keep her safe, even if there’s no one left to keep her safe from me.
My Songbird made me believe in souls again. And maybe I don’t have one. Maybe I never did.
But she does. And I won’t stop until I’ve taken it along with everything else.
Get part two of Deirdre and Elio’s story here.
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TITANS AND TYRANTS
A Debt So Ruthless (Deirdre and Elio part 1)
A Vow So Soulless (Deirdre and Elio part 2)