Deadly Vows

by Haley Stuart

I hear Luca’s voice but don’t register what he says until I feel arms around me, dragging me away from Jessica’s body. Luca comes into my line of vision, and I realize Nicolai is pulling me out of the room.

  “Luca, wait! Luca, please! Don’t do this!” I shout at him, but he ignores me.

  He walks toward her body with a new gun by his side. One that isn’t a silencer. He looks down at her shaking body, and what I see in his eyes terrifies me. There is nothing. No shred of emotion. No sympathy. Nothing.

  He turns and looks at me, his gray eyes meeting mine, and winks.

  Nicolai drags me beyond the dining room door, catching it with his foot to swing it close. But not before I see Luca bring the gun up and aim it. Just as the door blocks him from view, I hear it.

  Bang!

  Chapter 9

  Elise

  I have to get out. I can’t live like this anymore. I have to escape from Luca. He is insane. Even more so now that he is married. He treats me as if he owns me. I truly believe that Luca needs some kind of help. Each and every time he meets with someone or just has something to do, he will call me into his office to play for him. He also forces me to practice for the upcoming recital.

  I never refuse. I never say no. Hell, I never even smile anymore. I just do as I am told. Luca is like a ticking time bomb, and I never know when he is going to blow next.

  I walk to his office without my violin today. His trusted right-hand man has come to get me, saying he wishes for my presence, but without my violin. My hands are sweaty, and I am terrified, because I know he possibly has something terrible planned for me.

  I step up to the large wooden doors and listen in on the sounds coming from the other side. I can only hear muffled voices, which means he has someone in there. I push open the door and step in slowly. Upon my entrance, Luca’s dark eyes meet mine, and a smile lights up his face. My heart drops. I know that smile all too well. It is a smile fueled by cruel intentions. I look beyond Luca’s shoulder as he comes near me, and there is a man sitting there. I have never seen him before, but judging by his pale complexion, he is scared too.

  “There’s my beautiful wife!” Luca makes his way over to me and pulls me in for a passionate kiss. He threads his fingers through my short locks and stares into my face adoringly.

  “God, you are beautiful. Isn’t she beautiful, Max?” He looks over to the man, and he smiles back at us, agreeing with my deranged husband.

  “Come here, baby. I need you as my good-luck charm.” He pulls me over to one of the couch seats with him and pulls me down on his lap as he takes a seat. I look at the coffee table in between us and the man he calls Max, and there is a gun sitting on it. Not a normal gun Luca usually uses, but an old-fashioned gun used for …

  “We’re going to play a game, baby.” Luca interrupts my thoughts, rubbing his hands up and down my arms slowly. I look up at the man in front of me and see my fear mirrored back at me through his eyes. What has this man done to incur the wrath of my husband?

  “This is Max. He was actually caught a few days ago trying to pull one over on me in one of my clubs. He actually managed to shoot one of my men! He didn’t kill him, of course, but he came close. So after some discussion, I’ve decided to be fair and give him a fighting chance.” He picks up the gun and wiggles in the air. He looks at me from his position under me and catches my eye.

  “Have you ever heard of this game, baby? It’s called Russian roulette.”

  I can’t move. I know this game. I know this game all too well.

  He flips open the barrel and shows me the gun as he loads in a bullet.

  “How ’bout you, Max? Heard of it?”

  Max only trembles in his seat across from us.

  “This is a six-shooter, which means it will shoot six times. But only one out of these shots will go off.” He sets the gun on the table and slides it over to Max, pulling his own gun out of his gun holster and aiming it at Max.

  “Now, Max, if you can fire the gun off three times, then you’re free to go. If not …” Luca pauses in his sentence and laughs a little. “Well, you know what will happen.”

  Luca takes his own gun and aims it at Max. “Don’t think about aiming that over here, and don’t think about trying to run. I will shoot you before your hand pulls that damn trigger.” Luca’s voice turns venomously serious.

  “Luca, wait, please. I don’t want to watch this. I can’t …” My voice comes out quietly as I express my fears. I don’t want to watch this man possibly blow his head off. I keep my eyes trained on the floor as I plead with Luca. I just hope some part of him will hear my plea and let me leave.

  “Now, Elise, what did I tell you about begging?”

  I open my eyes and look at Luca with horror etched into my face. He is a monster. He waves his gun at Max and scoots back into the chair, getting more comfortable. “Go ahead.”

  I turn my head away as Max shakily picks up the gun, his labored breathing the only sound in the massive office Luca has. He picks it up and slowly presses it to his temple. His eyes are wide, and there is a bead of sweat on his lip and brow. I quickly turn my head away, not wanting to watch this insanity.

  Luca grabs my chin and forces it in Max’s direction.

  “No, no, no, I want you to see this.” He holds my chin tightly and forces me to watch this man as he takes a deep breath and pulls the trigger.

  Click.

  I can’t help it; I hunch over on the side of the couch and vomit everything I have eaten up to this point, the stress and fear of him pulling the trigger making me tremble. I hear Luca’s deep chuckle, as he finds my distress amusing.

  “You’ll have to excuse my wife. She’s not a fan of violence,” he says as he pets my hair. I am still keeled over the couch, emptying the contents of my stomach onto his polished wood floor.

  “Again, Max,” I hear him say. But I don’t want to look. I have no choice, though, as Luca jerks my hair up, craning my neck at an uncomfortable angle, making me watch. Max is sweating bullets as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, pulling the trigger again.

  Click.

  I scream, and the tears begin flowing freely as I turn to Luca, sweating myself from this horrible event that is taking place.

  “Luca, please stop! I can’t take this! Just leave him be!” I grab onto the collar of his shirt and beg and plead, my body uncontrollably shaking. Luca’s heartless eyes meet mine. They are filled with joy and amusement at the situation. He pins me to the spot as he stares into my eyes and speaks again.

  “Again, Max.” He keeps his eyes trained on mine.

  “Please, sir, I swear I’ve learned my lesson.” Max is blubbering and crying behind me, begging for his life. Luca’s eyes, which have once been filled with amusement, suddenly turn cold and angry.

  Pow!

  I jump from atop Luca’s lap. His gun has gone off. I hear Max cry out in pain and turn to see him clutching his chest. There is blood staining his shirt and saturating it so that it is leaking through his hands. Luca has shot him.

  “I hate beggars. Again, Max.” Max’s cries grow louder as he picks the gun up and puts it to his temple once more.

  Click.

  I let out a breath I don’t realize I have been holding. He is going to live. He is going to live! He has won the game! He—

  Bang!

  I scream as the unexpected shot fires throughout the room. I haven’t even felt Luca move. I slowly look over to Max’s now-lifeless body. There is a bullet hole in the middle of his head, his eyes open wide and staring into the ceiling, his mouth still forming a small grin.

  “Bull’s-eye,” I hear Luca mutter underneath me.

  I quickly jump up from his lap, trying to get as far away from him as I can. I walk as fast as I can, but I feel his hand on my arm as he yanks me back.

  “No, no, no, baby, we’re not done playing yet.” He yanks me so that I spin around into his chest, and I feel myself fighting him. I push myself away from him.

  “How are
we not done? He’s dead, Luca! You shot him! You lied, you told him he would live if he won, but you lied!”

  He is watching me with a dark expression, and the moment something twisted clicks into his head, I see it. My fight-or-flight response jerks into place, and I take off running to the door. I push my legs as hard as they will go, not stopping even when my lungs are burning. I don’t know where I am going until the front door comes into view, and I sprint for it.

  I have almost reached it when, out of nowhere, two men grab me on either side of my arms, stopping my momentum at full force. I am out of breath and going crazy trying to escape them.

  “No, don’t take me back to him, please!” I scream at them, but they don’t listen. “Please don’t! Please, I’m begging you!” I scream until my voice is raw.

  They take me to another room in this massive place I call home. It looks like another office, except the flooring is carpet and it is much smaller than Luca’s office. I see Luca standing behind the desk, watching me with dark eyes. There is no emotion in them. Sitting on the desk in front of him is a revolver.

  I begin to struggle again. But they bring me closer, forcing me to sit in the chair in front of Luca. He sits behind his desk and motions for the men to leave the room. I sit there in the chair in front of my husband, trembling like a leaf. I am petrified.

  “I wasn’t done playing, baby.” Luca traces his finger over the gun facedown on the desk. He looks up, and his eyes meet mine. He slides the gun across the desk to me.

  “Your turn.” He smiles a malicious smile at me, truly reveling in my fear. Hasn’t he professed his twisted affection for me just the other day? And now he is playing a game of chance with my life.

  My hands are shaking violently as I clasp the heavy metal and pick up the gun. I look at Luca, and he is watching me with a grin on his face. All this time, I’ve wanted an out. All this time, I have been planning. And he just drops the means I need to get out of this in my hands. All I have to do is pull the trigger however many times and hope I can hit him before he retaliates against me. He won’t even be expecting it. All the hate and rage I have for this man is boiling up to the surface and driving me to do this. I am going to do this. I am going to kill Luca Pasquino.

  He motions to me with his hand. “I said, your turn, Elise. You see how the game goes. You get one try.”

  I slowly bring the gun up to my temple and take a deep breath. This is for all the abuse I have endured. For all the pain I have suffered at his hands. No more. I am taking control of my life now. I close my eyes and count to three. On the count of three, I open them and take the gun in both hands, aiming it at Luca’s skull, and pull the trigger.

  Click click click click click click click.

  What? I try again, and again, and again, but it is all the same. An empty click. No bullet. I look up from my trembling fingers, clutching the gun so tightly my knuckles are white. When my eyes meet Luca’s face, I wish he has loaded the gun so I can kill myself. He is not smiling. All earlier amusement has been wiped clean off his face.

  I drop the gun, and it lands on the floor with a thud. I am shaking so badly I’m surprised I haven’t passed out. Luca walks around the desk slowly, watching my every move. He doesn’t speak; he only stares. He is standing directly in front of me, my eyes level with his chest. I am too afraid to look up. Afraid of what may be there.

  I feel his thumb and forefinger underneath my chin as he guides my head up to meet his eyes. If I haven’t thrown up earlier, I just may have at this moment.

  “You think I’d give you a loaded gun?” His voice comes out calm. And that terrifies me even more. His grip on my chin tightens, and I wince from the pain.

  “I’m not an idiot, baby. If you happened to land on the bullet and blow your beautiful face off, then where would I be? Even if I did, you were going to shoot me? Me. Your fucking husband?” His hand releases my chin and glides down to my throat, where he squeezes lightly.

  “And what were you going to do once I was dead, huh? Run away? They’d shoot you down as soon as you stepped foot out of this door.” He stares me down.

  I reach up and slap his hand away. “You’re a monster! You have killed people in front of me, you’ve taken things away from me, you’ve done horrible things to me! Why wouldn’t I try to kill you the first chance I got?” I shout at him.

  A myriad of emotions flashes across his face. A stinging pain explodes on the side of my face, and I stagger over, about to fall to the floor, but Luca grabs a tight hold of my top and pulls me into him once again. He backs me into the nearest wall and pushes me up against it, hard.

  He slaps me across the face once again, and I cry out from the pain. He yanks my hair so that I am facing him and puts his hand around my throat. Rage is burning deep within his gray irises. He rears back and slaps me again, the pain and impact making my consciousness waver. But he is not done yet. Not even close.

  I blame it on my anger, pain, and hatred for him in this moment, but I open my mouth and let the next words pour out in a broken whisper.

  “Kill me. You’d be doing me a favor.”

  Luca immediately drops me, and I fall to the floor gasping for breath and coughing. I feel a rough tug on my short locks and meet Luca’s steel-gray eyes. He glares into my soul for what seems like forever, until an evil grin crawls onto his face.

  “I’m not going to kill you, baby. But when I’m done with you, you’ll wish you were dead.”

  * * * * *

  I jolt awake, an ear-splitting scream ripping its way from my mouth as cold water is showered on me, the pain shredding its way through my body. I look around and see Luca standing in front of me. There is blood dripping down my body.

  Luca has brought me into this room, stripped me, and whipped me into unconsciousness. Luca’s aim with a whip is perfect. And he goes to town on my body. My arms are screaming in pain from holding my weight up. He has me chained to the ceiling, my legs dragging the floor barely.

  The room is silent except for the sounds of my labored breathing. I shiver as the cold air hits my naked form. I hear Luca’s footsteps coming toward me and begin to whimper in fear, the sound of the leather whip dragging along with him making me even more frightened.

  His steps halt in front of me, and I can feel the warmth of his body heat radiating off him. I flinch and cry aloud when I feel his touch underneath my chin. He lifts it so I meet his stare. My body shakes in fear. My back is stinging from the angry welts he has ingrained in my skin.

  “P-p-p-p-please.” My voice is shaking just as badly as my body. Tears are running down my face in large rivulets. Luca pulls my face up to meet his. He doesn’t say anything as he releases the chains around my wrists and catches my limp body, cradling me against his warm chest.

  I hiss in pain as he rubs my back against him with each step he takes. I drift in and out of consciousness as Luca carries me somewhere within the house. We finally reach a room, and I jerk in shock as he sets me down in warm water. The open scars on my back are stinging, but the warm water feels so good I don’t care.

  The next time I come to, I am lying in our bed. It is dark outside. The curtains around the room are opened, letting in the moonlight. I try to move but wince from the pain that jolts through my back, the cool press of the sheets making me forget the burning sensation when I first awake. I can feel bandages of some kind on my back. I slowly sit up in the room and look around.

  Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opens, and Luca steps out with a towel around his waist, the water from the shower making his hair stick to his forehead. His bare chest and stomach are rippling with muscles. Luca is the epitome of perfection. His face is beautiful, as is his body. But his mind and psyche are not.

  He doesn’t glance over to the bed as he walks to the closet. He has no expression on his face, and it almost scares me. What can possibly be going on in his head? He reemerges from the closet seconds later wearing boxer shorts and no shirt. He looks at the bed and freezes when his eyes land
on me. His face still gives off no emotion. I don’t know what he is thinking of. Not even in the slightest.

  He walks over to the bed, pulling back the blankets on his side. He still doesn’t speak as he gets into bed beside me. After a moment of silence, he reaches out for me, but I flinch away, and my breathing speeds up out of habit. He terrifies me.

  I squeeze my eyes shut and can already feel the tears forming.

  “Does your back hurt?” he asks in the silence.

  “Only when I move,” I respond. And it is true. The pain isn’t constant or searing. I am guessing it is from some medicine he has given me.

  “Come here.”

  I can’t bring my body to move, though. It is utterly terrified of him.

  “Elise.”

  His voice comes out in warning, so I lie back down and move a little closer to him. He puts a hand on my side and rolls me over so I am facing him. I have to bite my cheek to keep from crying.

  Luca reaches out, and I close my eyes and flinch once again. I feel his fingers lightly trace my cheek and open my eyes to see him staring at me with all the adoration a queen deserves.

  “Elise, I love you.”

  No, no, no, no, no. No! He can’t! If he does, this only seals my fate. He can’t love me; his mind can’t process love.

  “Even though you tried to kill me today, I forgive you. You are the only woman I’ll ever love. You are my woman. My wife. I will kill without hesitation anyone that tries to take you from me. Anyone.” His gray eyes meet mine, and I am frozen.

  “I love you.”

  With those final words, he leans in and begins kissing my neck slowly. His hand travels down my front to the apex between my thighs. He rolls me over so he is over me as he begins sucking on my neck and getting me ready for his intrusion.

  I can only close my eyes and weep.

  Chapter 10

  Elise

  I sit in the practice room, playing anything I can to drown the noise out. The screams. The begging. I’ve even closed the door, but it has only made the sounds muffled. Luca loves conducting his “business” at home. And now more so than usual, he has a new man to torture each day.