Page 52 of Possessive Vows

My eyes land on the knife rack on the counter. I grab the largest one and run up to the man, stabbing him in the back. He stumbles forward again, and Pia drops to the ground. I kick his gun out of his hand.

Then I flip the man onto his back and jam my knife into his eye. He screams as I lift the knife out and plunge it right back in. Blood splatters everywhere, landing on the ground, my face, and the counters all around us.

I growl as I continue to stab him, getting him closer to death with each thrust of my knife. No one comes into my home and tries to steal my wife.

The primal shout I let out as I stab him once more almost scares me. His body stops jerking. He’s dead.

I lift the knife out of his eye and hover over him, breathing heavily.

Then a sound startles me so much that I jump.

A scream.

But it’s not from one of my sisters.

It’s Pia.

When I look at her, she’s curled into a ball, looking frightened. Frightened of me.

And she’s screaming. The sound is raw and scratchy. It’s pain.

She won’t stop screaming.

CHAPTER17

Pia

The scream rips its way right out of my throat. The sound is raw and strangled.

It’s an actual sound. My vocal cords are moving, strained after not being used for years. I’m partly amazed that the sound is as clear as it is.

Then it dawns on me—I’m screaming.

Dario is leaning over the man who broke in with a bloody knife in his hand. Blood drips from the blade onto the kitchen tiles. The sight of my husband holding a knife over the dead body conjures the image of my father over my mother, bloody knife in hand.

I can’t stop screaming. Everything I’ve been holding in over the past ten years has finally come out—my fear of my father and the rage I feel from him killing my mother.

And now, seeing the man I love kill someone with a knife … it’s too painful to see.

I know in the rational part of my brain that Dario did it to protect me. But I can’t seem to stop my fear.

I curl into a ball and scramble away from him. I need to be far away. I need to be free of all this.

“Pia?” Dario’s strained voice hurts me even more. He’s never heard me before, and the first time he does, I’m shrieking. I can’t seem to stop them, either. Now that my voice has been unlocked, it has no intention of being silent ever again. “Pia, are you hurt? You’re screaming.”

He reaches for me, but I pull away. Flinching, he lets his hand drop. It hurts me to see him hurt by my reaction. But I can’t have him touch me right now, not when all I can think about is my father standing over my mother with his bloody knife.

My eyes land on the knife in Dario’s hand. Why won’t he drop it? I scream louder.

Dario looks hurt and confused as he glances at the knife before dropping it to the floor with a clatter. He reaches for a rag and presses it to his bleeding shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt you, Pia. You know this. You know me.” He tries to reach out to me again, and I still jerk away. “Pia,please. Tell me what you’re feeling.Please.”

I shake my head. I can’t speak. Not yet, anyway. All I can do is scream, and even that is starting to hurt my throat. My screams are becoming scratchier and more strained the longer I do it.

I need to get away from him. I need to be free.

I push myself up and run out of the kitchen. Dario follows.

“Pia, what’s wrong?”