Bree

brEE

These people are insane. Not just crazy, but like straightjackets-and-padded-white-rooms mad!

My father’s words repeated to me throughout the year keep echoing through my mind. “God knows I hope it never happens, but if you’re ever behind enemy lines, remember one thing, wean . Keep. Your mouth. Shut.”

So, I didn’t open my mouth when I was grabbed, just clawed and fought for all I was worth. I’ve broken a couple of nails and my fingers sting, and I’m otherwise none the worse for wear.

But I had to say something when that lunatic Patrick Burke made that crazy announcement.

Patrick Burke and his sons have lost their minds, clearly.

And it doesn’t seem like there’s a clear way out of this.

They haven’t hurt me yet, so that’s a plus at least.

I need to get out of here, escape, but I don’t want to die trying.

So, I’m going to have to go along for now, bide my time, until something breaks. Because something always does. And when that happens, I’ll run for my life.

When Declan leaves, a dark-haired woman comes in.

“Have fun, Paige.” Gray empties his glass and walks out of the room, leaving me alone with the woman he called Paige.

She is older than me, but not but all that much, I don’t think.

She comes up behind me and unties me.

When she is done, I slowly stand up, massaging my wrists and looking around studying my surroundings now that I can move. I’m not much of a fighter, but if I see an opening that doesn’t kill me, I’m taking it.

She starts walking outside the room. "Come, please.”

She waits by the door until I pass her, and she closes the door behind me, grinning at me brightly, taking my elbow and leading me down one of the halls.

“Who are you?” I ask, and Paige tilts her head as if confused.

“I’m Paige Burke, of course. From what I heard, I’m your new sister!”

Another, taller, lighter-haired woman comes into view. “And so am I. Your new sister, I mean.”

She’s long, lanky in a way that the petite Paige isn’t, towering over me. She’s statuesque, elegant, where Paige is cute and tiny. She smiles softly. “I’m Lara. The second oldest. Paige here is the baby.”

Paige pouts. “I’m not a baby anymore.” She looks me up and down, but not in a judgy way. More like she’s gauging my measurements in an analytical way. “You look to be about the same size as me.”

She takes my hand, and hers is small and warm, and leads me up the stairs. Lara follows close behind me.

I feel like it’s on purpose, so that Lara can keep me from sprinting out of the house.

The whole Burke clan is fucking nuts, apparently. These two are acting as if we’re new best friends. We are supposed to be mortal enemies. What is wrong with this family? Have they all lost their fucking minds?

“What are you, a size four? Six?” Paige asks.

“Something like that,” I mumble, my mouth feeling like I’ve eaten cotton. I keep looking down at my cracked and broken nails.

Lara makes a displeased sound in the back of her head. “This won’t do. I think I have some press-ons that you can wear. I know it’s a little tacky, but I use them between nail appointments.”

She disappears into a room, and I’m finally able to look around the mansion. It’s a little bigger than my father’s, probably fifteen rooms instead of our ten, and Paige drags me into a bedroom that’s bigger than my own.

There’s a four-post, king-sized bed with a pink canopy in the corner, and it’s very clearly her room. A crystal chandelier hangs above us, and there’s a portrait of Paige and a small dog on the wall.

She catches me looking at it and smiles sadly.

“That’s Bouncer. He passed on when I was twelve. I’m so glad we posed for that portrait together before Da accidentally backed over him.” She sighs, frowning. “Took me years to forgive him.”

I want to open my mouth and scream, tell her I don’t give a fuck about her stupid little dog or any of this, to just let me out. But I don’t.

Relax. Go with the flow. Just wait it out and your chance will come.

I might be delusional, but that’s what I’m doing now. I’m going along with the flow, so that I can strike like my cobra of a father later.

I take a breath.

This is not how I pictured my night when I got to bed six hours ago. My dreams and hopes are resting all on the chance that my father will come for me.

I would say my brother too, but he left the family, cut all ties with our father, so he won’t even know if something happens to me. And if he does, he’ll just think maybe I’m my mother’s daughter.

No, stop that! This night is bad enough without having to think about that too.

God. I really am all alone now, aren’t I?

Please, Daidí , hurry up and save me from this fate that might be worse than death.

I just have to focus on my breathing and try and make this as painless as I can for me.

“What kind of dresses do you have available?” I force a smile.

Paige beams back at me, sliding open a closet door to a huge walk-in closet with more shoes than I’ve ever seen. I have plenty of clothes and shoes on my own, but this is ridiculous.

Lara hurries into the bedroom, taking my right hand and filing my nails as Paige rustles through the dresses in her closet.

“You should shower, honey. There’s fear sweat all over you,” Lara says. “Let me finish filing your nails, and then I’ll get you a towel. I know this isn’t ideal, but it will all work out. I promise.”

I blink at her, surprised that she cares.

“Thank you,” I whisper, and Paige just keeps looking through her closet, humming, as Lara takes me to the bathroom.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” she says, but I don’t miss that she stays right outside. I can hear her and Paige as they whisper gibberish right by the door.

They’re all crazy. Every last one of them.

I look in the mirror.

As far as kidnappings go, mine wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it was scary, but Declan didn’t hit me or anything, so there’s no bruises. I just look sweaty and pale, like I’ve been through something bad.

I suppose I have.

I take in a shaking breath, suddenly fighting tears now that I’m alone.

Looking around the bathroom, I search for windows. And I find them… about six feet off the ground. And they’re too small for me to climb out. There's also a skylight, but it’s not like I can burst through there like Superwoman. It’s about ten feet to the ceiling, anyway.

I guess I can’t do anything but what they tell me to do, so I turn on the water and hop in the shower.

It’s one of those shower walls, and I lean against the tile, letting the warm water cascade down my back.

I wet my hair, dragging my fingers through it to finger-comb it and finding knots. I had been sleeping when Declan grabbed me right out of my bed, so it’s all messed up since of course it hasn’t seen a comb or a brush since yesterday.

I get to shampooing and conditioning with clearly expensive products that I find in the bathroom. It smells like lavender and rosewater and just... clean. I don’t know a better way to describe it.

I do feel better when I step out of the shower, and the towel is big and fluffy. At some point, Lara has opened the door and hung a big, pink robe on the hook.

I put it on after drying myself and towel-drying my hair and slowly open the door, hoping against hope that they’ve left the room so that I can figure something out.

Of course, Lara is standing right there, taking my elbow with a smile and leading me to the bed.

I sit down on it, defeated, and she starts putting glue on my newly-filed nails. I’m wearing simple French tips, and that’s the style of press-ons she’s brought me.

As she does my nails, Paige grabs a dress that’s on the bed and holds it up. She hums.

“This one is a size five, but I think you’ve got more hip than me,” she muses. “And this ivory color will suit you so much more than the white Da wanted.”

“Sure.” I have no idea how else to respond. I’m trembling.

I’ve always wanted to get married. Always wanted a big, white wedding with all the trimmings. But I never imagined it would be like this. This was a childhood dream for me that has now turned into a nightmare.

“You’ll look so beautiful,” Paige gushes.

Lara, less exuberant than Paige, looks at the dress.

“Can we style it off the shoulder?”

Paige gasps. “Oh, my god. That would be perfect.”

My nails have dried, and I look down at them. They honestly could have been done by my own nail tech.

“Stand up,” Lara urges, and I do as I’m told.

Paige pushes off my robe and I stand there, fully naked, wanting to cover myself. But I don’t.

I’m going along.

Relax , I tell myself, steeling myself for what will happen next.

But nothing happens. Paige just crouches to let me step into the dress, and she’s right, it fits perfectly. She zips it up and it hugs every curve just like it should. I look down at it.

There are embroidered flowers all over it, and a slit up one side that shows the long line of my thigh.

Paige positions the straps off my shoulders, and smiles.

“You’re so beautiful,” she says, moving my wet hair out of the way. “Lara, get the blow dryer.”

Lara does as her little sister says and starts to blow dry my hair as Paige begins to put on some light makeup.

So, we’re really doing this. They’re really going to marry me off to the Irish scourge.

“Declan is mostly nice,” Paige says, and it’s the first real mention of the wedding they’ve made, just focusing on dressing me up like some doll.

“He’ll treat you well,” Lara pipes in. “We’ll make sure of it.”

“This is crazy,” I whisper, unable to hold back.

Lara shrugs. “It’s unorthodox, I’ll admit. But so much of our lives is. I think you’ll agree?”

I suppose she’s expecting some kind of answer, but I just stare at her.

“Not like you come from a family of saints.” Paige chuckles.

There’s a brief knock on the door just as Lara finishes blowing out my hair, and when I glance over at the mirror, I have to admit that she did a good job. Paige also made my makeup look really natural, and the green eyeshadow shows off the green in my hazel eyes.

“Come in,” Paige calls.

Gray walks in, and I stiffen as his intense blues eyes zero in on me.

“You girls done primping?” His demeanor is so different. He still looks intimidating, but he has a bit of a smirk on his face.

Relax.

I stand up, although I can’t imagine my face looks like I’m feeling anything but dread.

“I’ll walk you down the aisle.” Gray sticks out his elbow.

“Lovely,” I mutter, but I loop my arm through his.

I take a breath. I just have to endure this until I can get away, and then my father will drown the city with their blood.

Continue to read Vengeful Vows …