The Killer’s Vow by Aria R. Blue
Vera
Idon’t think I heard him right.
“The Italians?”
“The Montes, your papa’s favorite,” he says.
“He’s not going to like this,” I say. “He’s not going to like this one bit.”
“Why are you still afraid of him, tigritsa moya?”
“We’re still in his city, dude. He can still catch us.”
“He can, but he won’t.”
From the time I’ve spent with Simon, I’ve learned that he’s cocky as hell.
For some reason, he believes he’s the greatest thing to happen to the world since sliced bread.
It might be our downfall.
“You’re right about me being scared,” I say. “But fear exists for a reason. It helps a person slow down and rethink before they make a move.”
“But if you second-guess everything, you’ll end up talking yourself out of just doing it,” he says. “Sometimes, you just need to go for it.”
“Why the Italians?” I ask.
It feels almost sacrilegious, like I’m going from being a good girl to committing the worst kind of crime.
It feels like I’m backstabbing my own family.
The Italians and the Russians of Chicago have had a rocky relationship from the start. I don’t care about the politics, but I’m still the Pakhan’s daughter.
I’m still Vera Maximovna Reznikova.
My father’s enemies are my enemies. At least on paper.
“What are you really worried about, Vera?” he asks.
In my heart, I know the answer.
My sister and I are of the same blood, but we’re polar opposites in every way.
She couldn’t give a flying fuck about what our parents think.
But I still crave my parents' approval.
My family still has a hold on me.
I look out at the city’s streets. People walking their dogs. Women in three-piece suits talking on the phone. Teenagers walking in groups.
Even though I live in the same city as them, my life is vastly different from theirs.
It’s almost like I live in a parallel world.
“Don’t ask me things like that,” I say to Simon, staring at the perfectly spaced apart trees. “If I want to share something with you, I will. But don’t make me feel inferior by asking me deeply invasive questions.”
To his credit, he doesn’t defend himself like I half expect him to.
“Okay,” he says.
I stroke Lion’s head. So Simon is cocky, but not to the point of arrogance.
“I’m sorry,” he adds quietly.
And he’s kind of sweet too.
“It’s all right,” I say. “I’m just not used to people being so inquisitive.”
He nods as he switches lanes. “To answer your earlier question, I think the Italians can help us.”
“With finding Inessa?” I ask. The boy Inessa supposedly ran away with is Nico Monte’s cousin.
He nods. “That and something else.”
“How do you know they won’t try to kill us on the spot?” I ask.
I already know the Italians won’t do that, but I want to know what Simon knows.
“They’re friends with the Blackwoods,” he says. “And the Blackwoods are friends with you. The Italians could turn your father’s empire to dust, but they would never lay a finger on you.”
He’s not wrong.
But he doesn’t know the obvious reason the Italians would protect me at all costs.
“We’re actually doing this,” I breathe.
The thought of the future sits like a heavy weight in my stomach.
“I can send someone to your house if you want me to fetch something,” he says.
“I don’t want things,” I say. “I just think I’ll miss the greenhouse. It was my space, you know?”
“Do you know if someone will look after it?”
“The plants may grow wild, but it’s pretty much self-sustaining,” I say. “I set up a drip irrigation system two years ago that takes care of all the water needs of the plants. And if I can somehow contact Ivan, I’m sure he’ll help with the soil and fertilizers.”
“No,” he says. “Vera, this won’t work if you contact anyone without asking me first.”
“What’s in it for you?” I ask for the fifth time.
The bar I have for men is set so low that I have a hard time comprehending kindness.
Someone always takes before they give.
Life is a business transaction.
Nobody ever does something nice just for the sake of helping. Not in my world.
“I already told you,” he says. “But I’ll remind you again. I like you, and I don’t like anyone.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel special?”
“I’m drawn to you, Vera. The same way you’re drawn to me. And when you feel a pull this strong, you have to follow.”
Lion shifts in my lap, starting to get restless.
“It’s his mealtime,” I say. “He gets cranky when he doesn’t eat on time.”
“We don’t want that,” Simon says, making another call.
He orders food—both for the dog and for me.
“Is someone else going to be standing on the road holding our food?”
“They could also be sitting,” he says.
I groan and pet the back of my dog’s neck. The excitement he had an hour ago has faded.
Simon doesn’t stop anywhere as we drive out of the city.
In the quiet moments that follow, it dawns on me that all I have left are the clothes on my back and the dog in my arms.
But strangely, it feels like enough.
The buildings start to get smaller as we leave the city.
After a couple more minutes on the road, Simon slows to a stop in front of a small diner.
A chubby man appears at the window and signals for us to come inside.
My heart starts to beat double time.
“Stay here,” Simon says. “I’ll get the food.”
I panic. “No.”
Some deep instinct tells me not to let Simon go into that restaurant. And if I’m being honest, I don’t want to be alone either.
“No?” Simon asks.
“Something feels off,” I tell him. “Can we trust that man?”
“As much as we can trust anyone,” he replies.
“I want to come with you.”
“Absolutely not,” he says firmly.
“Just to stretch my legs a little?” I ask. “My hamstrings are starting to cramp up.”
He studies me for a few seconds. “Sunglasses and scarf stay on. And no talking.”
“Done,” I say.
He doesn’t look happy, but he lets me and my dog tag along behind him. The cold winter air bites my skin as we stride toward the diner.
Simon holds the door open for me.
As I pass by him, my shoulder brushes against his chest. I suck in a breath and look up at him.
He’s busy scanning the street for outside threats.
The cozy diner smells like coffee and fresh bread. The chubby man who waved us in is packing something into containers.
He has enormous eyes that dart around too much. His eyes widen when he sees that I have a dog.
I cautiously take a step forward.
If Simon trusts this man, I don’t have much of a choice but to trust him too.
It’s possible that I’m just being paranoid in the aftermath of everything that’s happened.
But I halt when Lion bares his teeth at the stranger.
I can’t ignore my dog’s instincts too.
The chubby man reaches for something under the counter. I don’t have to look to know that that’s where he keeps his gun.
“Simon,” I whisper.
He whips around. His face turns venomous when he sees what I see.
And I see the killer in him for the first time.
He launches himself at the man and presses cold metal against his forehead.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asks in a cool voice.
Chubby dude almost wets himself. “Sir, it was a mistake. I wasn’t really going to do anything.”
Simon has zero patience for his bullshit. “You were reaching for your gun. Why.”
Lion stalks toward Simon and stops near his feet, growling at the stranger.
I suck in a breath.
“I asked you a question,” Simon says, his tone lethal. “Answer me.”
The stranger holds the edge of the counter for support and heaves with his head down.
“Hands behind your head where I can see them. And I’m giving you three seconds to answer. Three. Two. O—"
The chubby man tries to bargain. “Will you let me go if I tell you?”
“Yes,” Simon agrees readily.
“There’s a bounty on her head,” the other man confesses. “A notice was sent out to everyone in the circle. Seven million dollars.”
“On her head?” Simon seethes.
“Yes, but it was specified that she should be brought to the Pakhan alive and unharmed.”
Simon’s jaw grinds. “So, what were you going to do? Kill me so you can take her from me?”
His rage is a whip. You don’t feel its power until it forms a welt on your skin.
The chubby man never gets to answer.
Simon pulls the trigger.
The ring of the gunshot echoes in my ear. On instinct, I crouch down to the floor, hugging myself.
I’ve always been protected from this kind of violence. And I can’t get the image of what I just saw out of my brain.
I jump when a strong hand grips my shoulder. It’s gentle yet grounding.
“Vera, it’s okay,” he says. “You’re okay.”
“You said you’d let him go.”
“I lied.” Simon shrugs. “But he’s gone. He can’t harm you. No one will ever harm you, Vera. Not as long as I’m alive. It’s my vow to you.”
Terror strikes my heart.
I’ve always felt apprehension before serving a fatal dose. But this man does it like it means nothing to him.
There was zero emotion in his eyes as he pulled the trigger.
“Vera, breathe,” he says now, squeezing my shoulder.
I part my lips and saturate my lungs with oxygen again. I didn’t realize that I stopped breathing.
I look up at him. Something passes between us.
There’s a bounty on my head.
Seven million dollars.
Maybe I could’ve made it on my own, but I’m glad I don’t have to.
I’m glad I have someone who has my back.
“Good,” Simon says, swiping his thumb over my cheek. “Now go back to the car and wait inside. Lock the doors.”
I take the keys from him.
And I don’t look back as I walk out.
He returns to the car a minute later, handing me the food.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I will be,” I say, stuffing my hands under my thighs to keep them from trembling. “Did you clean up?”
“Someone else is going to come by to do it,” he says. “We don’t have the time.”
“How are you doing all this?” I ask, watching as he gets the engine started. “I thought you were a government spy?”
“You’re not the only one who has gone rogue, tigritsa moya,” he says.
“Are they okay with that?”
He chuckles. “They most certainly are not okay with that.”
“Fantastic. They’re going to try to hunt you down too now.”
“If they haven’t started already,” he says under his breath.
But we’re back on the road.
The farther we move away from the diner, the more it feels like a strange dream. I shake off all thoughts of the man who painted the wall behind him red.
The more time I spend with Simon, the more I realize how apt his nickname is for me.
I really am an animal to these people.
Something to be bought and sold by those who think they’re superior to me.
Rebellion spreads in my heart.
It spreads and spreads until it has contaminated every organ in my body, including my brain.
Deciding to run away with Simon was the best gift I ever gave myself.
“Are we going to stop somewhere to eat?” I ask, turning to face him.
There’s stress on his face that wasn’t there before.
“Sure,” he says sarcastically. “I’m looking for the perfect place for us to have a picnic in the fields."
“You could’ve just said no,” I say, opening the containers of the food Simon brought for us. Sandwiches and salad for us, and chicken for Lion.
“I’m sorry.” He sighs. “It’s just, I almost got you hurt.”
“No, you didn’t,” I say, letting Lion eat his chicken straight from the container. “That man wasn’t planning on killing me. He just wanted the money.”
“I took you to him, Vera,” Simon says.
I reach for his hand but then decide against it. “Close encounters with the Grim Reaper aren’t new to me. I’ve gotten used to bullshit. All of the men who almost assaulted me. The wedding I almost had. The fate I almost gave in to.”
My words don’t seem to ease him, though.
If anything, that furrow between his eyebrows deepens.
Our roles have shifted. He’s the frazzled one, and I’m the one trying to make him feel calm again.
“All I’m saying is,” I sigh. “I’m here now. With you. What almost happened and what’s about to happen doesn’t matter. Not really.”
“Can I kiss you?” he asks abruptly, swerving off the road as he hits the brakes.
My mouth dries. “What?”
His eyes are squeezed shut. “I need to kiss you, Vera. Can I kiss you?”
The space in the parked car is electric.
It’s not just any fire, but one caused by a high voltage—an electrical fire.
It has the power to destroy bodies and burn souls.
And I want it.
So bad.
My lips part on their own, and I nod.
He leans in and wraps his big hand around the back of my neck. Capturing my bottom lip with his teeth, he uses that grip to tug me closer.
I’m swimming in an ocean and flying in the clouds at the same time.
A deep moan spills out of my throat.
The adrenaline and the lust form a dangerous combination, and I completely let go.
Of everything.
He kisses me rough.
He kisses me sweet.
It’s like he’s making sure with his mouth that I’m really here. That I’m really okay.
With a pained groan, he lets go of me.
I fall back in my seat, feeling a little addicted and delirious.
We get back on the road.
Turning away, I touch my lips. They’re still warm—like the warmth of soft candlelight.
Lion finishes eating, oblivious to everything that just transpired.
I watch the afternoon sun sink into the clouds. Everything is a soft blue.
To hide my smile, I polish off two sandwiches. It’s only when I open the salad that I turn to Simon. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’ll eat once we reach our destination.”
I don’t want him to go hungry.
He’s been under stress the whole day, helping me escape from my father and his cronies. He’s still driving at a speed that’s way past the recommended limit.
Something tender overcomes me.
I take out the remaining two sandwiches and hold one out toward him.
“Here,” I say, bringing it to his lips.
His eyes flash to mine.
Tiny little butterflies awaken in my stomach.
The rate at which this thing between us is developing terrifies me. But the only option we have is to move forward and see what the future has in store for us.
He accepts it.
“Is this okay?” I ask, feeling a little unsure.
I had this man all over my body. But this moment feels the most intimate.
“I think I’d eat even poison from your hands, tigritsa moya,” he replies.
* * *
After another houron the highway, we enter backcountry roads that look like the American Southwest.
Sand dunes and prickly pear cacti dot the landscape.
Everything is flat and never-ending.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“It’s near the Sand Ridge State Forest,” he says. “It’s one of the places where Luna’s family used to live when they were being hunted.”
Luna, like her husband, Nico, is also Italian.
She’s a Genovese, and he was a Monte.
The feud between the two Italian families was a legendary one. People in our circles still gossip about it.
Before Luna married Nico, her family lived in exile for two decades because of their feud with the more powerful Monte family.
Nobody who searched could find the Genovese.
People believed they went back to the motherland. But the Genovese were in America the whole time.
Nico and Luna are like real-life Romeo and Juliet, minus the tragic ending.
And we’ll be meeting them both soon.
At least I can ask Nico about his cousin Luigi, the man Inessa ran away with.
“That’s where we’ll be staying tonight,” Simon says, nodding toward a modern black gate.
Our Audi stops in front of it.
He opens his window slightly and speaks into the security intercom, rattling off another long password.
The doors swing open, revealing a sprawling one-story house that looks like a private resort.
“Are they waiting for us inside?” I ask.
“They haven’t arrived yet,” he says, pulling into the driveway.
There’s a fountain in front of the house. A statue of a topless mermaid reaches toward the sky, her face upturned.
I watch it as Simon parks in front of the house.
“So it’s just you and me, then,” I say, taking a deep breath.
I’ve spent all these hours with him in the car, but I’m still shy around him.
“You and me and your dog,” he says, reaching out to pet Lion.
I watch in awe as Lion accepts him so readily.
There’s a bond between them that synced from the very start.
And I guess the same happened between Simon and me.
I don’t like admitting this, but something about him made me trust him from the very beginning.
And it wasn’t just that he was a gentleman.
Everything about him felt familiar.
Like I’ve known him all my life, and we’re just picking up where we once left off.
“Come on,” he says, nodding toward the house.
“Is it safe here?” I ask.
“The Italians won’t try to harm you in any way,” he says, pushing the main door open.
I step into the foyer after him. “I know they won’t, but what if this location has been compromised? What if the bounty hunters figure out where we’re staying? That diner guy couldn’t be the only one.”
He spins around and holds either side of my head right over my ears.
“Vera.” He chuckles.
The only sound I hear is his voice and the sound of my heartbeat.
“Does this big brain of yours ever stop analyzing every little detail?” he asks.
“I don’t want to be sent back, Simon,” I say. “Not until I’m ready to go home. Not until I find Inessa.”
Not until I find myself.
“I’ll protect you, tigritsa moya,” he says. “You’ll fight the battles you’re ready to fight, and I’ll fight the rest for you. Together, we’re going to win. Okay?”
I take a deep breath. “A roof over my head.”
“What?”
I continue. “Sandwiches. Friendships. My intuition. Your quick reflexes.”
“The gratitude list,” he says, nodding proudly.
It seems silly, but once I took my mind away from everything going wrong and instead focused on everything good, I immediately felt better.
I was gifted a brand new state of being the last time, even under immense mental pressure.
And this time is no different.
“By the way, what was the other thing you wanted to ask the Monte’s?” I ask.
Simon turns away from me and heads toward the kitchen. “Do you want some water? I’m parched.”
“Yeah,” I say, glancing around at the house. It looks like it’s been remodeled recently. Minimalistic decor and modern art on the walls. “But you didn’t answer my question.”
“Here,” he says, handing me a glass of water. “Driving always makes me so thirsty.”
I drink the entire glass and hold it out toward him for more. “Simon.”
He starts humming as he refills my glass.
“Are you seriously avoiding my questions again?” I ask.
He nods at the large window behind us.
“Dusk,” he says. “My favorite part of the day.”
I let myself be distracted by the sunset.
Pinks and purples over the desert landscape. Tall cacti dot the scenery, and there’s absolutely no other signs of civilization around us.
It reminds me of home.
Except now, I have a choice.
To stretch my legs a little, I take Lion on a house tour with me.
Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and views that look straight out of some painting.
My heart pounds when I hear voices coming from the living room.
I rush back to the foyer. “Luna. Nico.”
The Italian couple turns toward me, both of them grinning at me.
On seeing their familiar faces, this house immediately feels like a home.
I hug them both and give air kisses on both their cheeks.
Simon watches me, not bothering to hide his surprise.
He doesn’t know I have a history with these two. We go way back.
“Thank you for letting me stay here,” I say, stepping away.
“Are you kidding me?” Luna says. “We owe everything to you.”
Simon’s eyebrows shoot up.
I’m starting to notice that he doesn’t miss a thing. He says I overanalyze things, but that’s his default mode too.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say. “Everything happened way too fast, and now, there’s a bounty on my head.”
“Nothing will happen to you,” Nico promises.
“We’re here for you,” Luna says earnestly.
I blink away tears of relief and look back and forth between the two of them.
Both of them have raven black hair. Luna’s eyes are a shimmering gold, and Nico’s are ice blue.
Together, they make a striking couple.
But what I really notice is the compassion they have for me. They genuinely care, even though we don’t get to see each other often.
The Russians and the Italians don’t run in the same circles. Besides, my family would disown me if I was caught interacting with them at parties.
“I was kind of scared,” I admit. “I still am.”
Luna loops her arm over my shoulder. “Of course you are, sweetie. Anyone in your position would be.”
Nico doesn’t beat around the bush, though. “We heard only today that Inessa ran away last week. What happened?”
I take a deep breath but don’t say anything.
Thinking about Inessa is like peeling back a fresh scab.
Luna glances at her husband and looks back at me. “As far as we know, the bounty is only for you. Why didn’t your papa send men to search for your sister as well?”
“He did send men,” I say. “They came away empty-handed. As for the bounty, I don’t know why there’s one out only for me. Maybe it’s to save face or something.”
My family is big about things like disgrace.
It’s the end of the world if the family honor is threatened.
Luna’s eyes dart to her husband again. “Worse things have happened to families.”
I shrug. “I guess. Inessa has been unhappy for some time now. I didn’t think she would actually do it until she did.”
“Do you know anything about where she went?”
“I don’t know where, but I have a suspicion about who she ran away with.”
Nico folds his arms. “Who?”
“Luigi,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek. “She met him at a party.”
“Luigi who?”
“Luigi, your cousin.”
Luna and Nico exchange glances.
Nico’s arms drop to his sides. “Vera, I don’t have a cousin named Luigi.”