Merciless Vows by Faith Summers

45

Aria

The tears can’t stop falling.

They blind me as I run down the stairs. Fear pushes me forward, boosting my stride to get me far away from him.

Lucca.

He was going to kill me. My husband was going to kill me. I could see it in his eyes, and there was nothing left of the man I felt safe with until I called him Peter.

What did I expect when my father was responsible for killing his family?

I can't believe it. Dad killed Lucca's family.

That is the extent of the evil my father is capable of.

When I saw their graves and wondered who could be so evil as to kill a baby, I had the answer all along.

It was Dad. The person I trusted to take care of me when I awoke from my coma.

How could he have done that?

I run into the courtyard and continue down to the sea of roses. As I look off into the distance and see the wall of Ivy separating the graves from everything else, my heart aches.

Lucca never told me how his family died until just now. He said my father sent people to kill them. My God. My God in Heaven.

They were massacred with guns and evil. Those evil people shot them. They got a bullet to the head. I can’t begin to imagine the pain they must have gone through and how scared the children must have been before they died.

I turn to go down to the pond but stop in my tracks when the memory of a gun seizes my mind.

I see it clearly, like in my dreams, but I’m not dreaming. I remember it like I’m looking at it before me.

Someone is holding the gun, but I can’t see who it is. It's not Dad. It's the person standing next to him.

They are pointing the gun at my mother.

My mother looks terrified.

The images of Dad and my first real memory of my mother come into my mind so vividly I bring my hand to my chest to keep my heart from leaping out.

I remember her.

And I remember what happened to her.

“Shoot her!” Dad shouts, and she screams when the bullet strikes her in her head, and she falls to the ground.

My hands fly up to my mouth, and I remember doing the same thing then.

What I remember next makes bile ravage through my stomach, burning my insides. I remember Dad grabbing a container and pouring the liquid contents over her before he struck a match and set her on fire.

The memory fades from me, and I can’t catch my breath.

My heart stutters, and everything around me slows to stop as my soul weeps.

The realization of what I just remembered sends me over to the hedge, where I vomit and fall to my knees in a scream.

Mom.

That’s how she died. Dad killed her. That was what happened.

He got someone to shoot her, and then he burned her.

“Aria,” Marylin’s voice cuts into my anguish, and I find myself turning into her embrace as she reaches for me. “What happened?”

“My father… he killed my mother,” I bawl. “He killed them all. Lucca’s family and mine. My mother.”

“Oh, Aria, oh God. Come, come with me.”

I stand, and that’s all I manage to do. She slips her arm around me and ushers me to her cottage.

* * *

Marylin makes me that tea she made that day weeks ago when I first got here. I can’t remember the name, and my brain hurts too much for me to try.

I take sips of it and keep my head down. I can barely look at her. I’m too ashamed.

Confirming my father killed Lucca’s family also confirmed he was responsible for her husband’s death too.

I’m his daughter. Lucca wanted to kill me, and she should too.

I glance over at the mantelpiece at an old picture of a handsome man. Next to it is a wedding picture with a couple who look so in love the love beams from them both.

“That was us. Me and my Erik,” Marylin says. She sits in front of me and takes my hands into hers. Still, I can’t look at her. I can’t make myself do it.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter.

“Aria. You are not responsible for your father’s sins,” she states, and I lift my head, meeting her gaze. “Weeks ago, I heard you tell Damien the same thing, and I was proud of you for saying so.”

“I feel responsible.”

“I know, and I would too. I can imagine how you must feel, but it’s not your fault. I don’t blame you, so please don’t blame yourself.”

“Thank you, but I feel so bad. I’m so sorry, Marylin, for what my father did.” I blink back more tears.

“I know. I am too. I’m sorry for you too. Tell me what happened. How did you find out these things?”

“Lucca must have found some evidence about his family. I didn’t see what it was, but he told me my father arranged for his family to be killed. It was when I went out to the courtyard that I remembered what my father did to my mother.”

“You remembered?”

I nod. “I remembered. Everything I was told was a lie. She didn’t die in a fire. Someone was there with him, and he ordered them to shoot her. I couldn’t see their face, or maybe my mind is blocking me from seeing more. I don’t know, but after, my father burned her body.”

“How did you manage to see that, Aria?”

“I don’t know. It felt like I was just watching from afar. Marylin, I was told I was injured in the same accident. Now I don’t know how or if it happened on the same day my mother died or anything. But he killed her.”

My shoulders slump, and suddenly I don’t know what to do or where I fit.

Lucca told me to get away from him.

What do I do when I see him next?

He hates me.

Now he knows the truth of what happened. I don’t know if he’ll kill me or keep me.

“We will get through this, Aria. You will remember in time. Things are just slow to come, maybe because what happened was so awful.”

“Yes. Dr. Belmont said I was suppressing bad memories. He was so right.” I won’t go into the other bad memory of my abuse. It’s anyone’s guess how I haven’t gone crazy yet.

“Come, let’s go back to the house and have dinner. I made lasagna today just for you. Let’s go eat and calm down.”

I don’t feel like eating, but I only agree to go out of respect.

She places an arm around me, and we walk back to the house the way we came.

When we approach the terrace, I stop short when I look ahead and see one of the guards lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Marylin stops too and pulls me closer.

“Oh my God,” I croak.

“We’re under attack,” she rasps, looking around frantically.

Before I can answer, she grabs my hand, and we run to Lucca’s private quarters.

When we get there, there are more dead guards on the ground. I recognize the one from last week who spoke to me when I went for a walk that night.

“Marylin, my God!”

“Come. We need to get in here and out through the garage.”

She pulls out her phone and calls Lucca.

I can hear his phone ringing, but he’s not answering.