Bound (The Devil’s Vow #2)

8. A New Person

Chapter eight

A New Person

After I drank the whole glass of grappa, I took a shower.

However, the hot water had done little to wash away the heaviness that clung to my skin.

Minutes later, I stood in front of the vanity with my hands pressed against the cool marble countertop.

Holy shit.

Swallowing down sadness, I stared at my reflection.

My brown eyes looked darker, and my pupils held shadows that hadn’t been there before, as if they had soaked up the darkness of everything I had witnessed in these past two days.

It was strange how eyes, with their ability to reflect light, could instead reflect something much deeper.

Something darker.

I’m changing.

All the softness and innocence in my eyes had faded, replaced by something harder.

More dangerous.

Eyes were said to be the windows to the soul.

Is my soul turning black?

I moved my view from my reflection and took in the vanity.

I’d used the same shower cap from earlier. It had kept my hair safe from the steam and water, but I could still feel the weight of everything that had happened pressing down on me.

With a sigh, I took off the satin-lined cap, letting my hair breathe. It was still in the same stretched state I had left it in. That meant that it was soft and manageable from the last time I had moisturized and detangled it.

But tonight, I needed something sleek and elegant.

Okay. You have to get yourself together.

I reached for the leave-in conditioner, working just a small amount through my roots and the edges, smoothing it down to keep the moisture in place.

Then, I grabbed my soft boar bristle brush and began brushing my hair back, taming the few newly forming curls into loving submission. The tension in my scalp eased with each stroke, as if smoothing down the strands helped me smooth out the chaos in my mind.

Once I had my hair gathered at the back of my head, I tied it into a low bun, tight but not too harsh. I left a few strands out at the edges, letting a couple of coils frame my face for a hint of softness.

Stepping back, I looked at myself in the mirror again.

Alright.

The bun was perfect—clean, simple, and elegant.

Okay. One thing down. Now for the next. . .

I left the vanity and put my gaze on the gown that Gianni had carefully picked out for me.

It hung from a wrought-iron hook on the bathroom wall, elegant black fabric billowing like smoke.

I wonder why he chose this one.

I walked over to the sequined black gown and for a moment, I just stood there, staring at the wicked beauty.

Taking it all in.

The black lace was elegant in its design like a veil of night that had been woven into every thread. It shimmered with sequins that caught the faint light, sparkling in a way that was both beautiful and sinister.

In fact, the more I stared at it, the more I swore it breathed in and out, pulsing with the same darkness that had begun to grow inside me.

I swallowed and got closer.

The bodice was strapless, with a deep, plunging neckline that would leave little to the imagination.

I’d never worn anything like this in my life, because I had never been the sort of woman who could slip into something so bold, so undeniably dark and seductive.

I am her now. . .how did that happen so fast?

The skirt flared out at the hips, cascading down like a waterfall of even more haunting shadows. I knew without even trying it on yet that the breathtaking fabric would pool at the floor and trail behind me as I walked.

Fear hit me.

I was almost scared to wear the gown as if putting it on would be akin to accepting the blackness that now rose in my soul.

But there was the other part of my mind that knew. . .it was too late to save me.

I was meant to wear it. . .right now.

And perhaps the blackness of the gown was symbolic of my mourning the old me—the innocent ballerina that had been dragged to the Devil of Shadows.

I took off my robe and let it fall to the floor.

Then, I got even closer to the gown.

Pressure built in my chest.

With a heavy sigh, I reached out and ran my fingers along the delicate lace, feeling each sequin beneath my fingertips.

This is who I am now.

I slowly took the gown from the iron hook.

The lace swayed slightly.

I slipped into it and just like I figured, it was like putting on darkness.

The gown enveloped me in its dark embrace, fitting like a second skin and cinching at my waist before flaring out at the hips.

Slowly, I returned to the mirror.

Wow. This is me now?

The strapless bodice left my shoulders bare, vulnerable.

Now, I will walk into that ballroom as the wife of the Devil of Shadows.

I swallowed.

Growing up with my stepfather, I had always been a part of Obsidian Bay’s criminal world, but always teetering on the fringes.

Never deep within it.

My presence had barely been noticeable.

But this week, my hope of truly escaping this life, had died.

And the most twisted part of it all.

Right now, I didn’t want to escape.

My heart had surrendered and entwined itself with Gianni’s, and no matter how wrong or dangerous it was, I couldn’t pull my heart away from him.

How did I fall for him so fucking fast? How did he get his hooks deep in me so easily?

And I wouldn’t fight it.

In fact, I was fine with it.

Does that make me just as sick as he is?

My fingers traced the top of the bodice.

I looked different.

Darker.

Colder.

More like someone who belonged in this life of blood and death.

Still. . .don’t forget what happened earlier.

With Vivienne’s death, I had crossed a line that I could never come back from. And as much as the guilt and horror still gnawed at me, there was a strange acceptance of it settling in my bones.

This was who I was now.

Perhaps. . .this was who I had always been. . .

The door creaked open behind me, and I didn’t need to look to know it was Gianni. His presence filled the room like a dangerous thunderstorm—dark and electrifying—sucking all the air out of the space.

His footsteps were slow and deliberate, as he crossed the room to stand behind me.

Lifting my view, I watched him in the reflection of the mirror.

Fuck.

He looked wicked and impossibly sexy in his tailored black tuxedo, the crisp white shirt beneath complimenting his olive skin. The fabric stretched taut across his chest and shoulders, barely containing the hard muscles underneath.

His dark hair was slicked back, and the sharp line of his jaw was set in that controlled, lethal way. I was starting to see that he always wore this expression like a mask when he planned to be around his men.

I watched him slip those deadly green eyes over me and then loudly groan.

Warmth spread across my skin. “You like it, Daddy?”

He sneered. “Careful, princess.”

“Why be careful?”

“We should go downstairs tonight. Say daddy again and that gown will be on the floor.”

I widened my eyes.

“You are stunning , and that is a word that I don’t use much in my life. But here I am using it with you.” His gaze lingered on me, drinking in the sight of the black gown and probably the way it clung to my curves. “You should have a crown on your head.”

I swallowed hard, trying to still the wild fluttering of my heart.

Even after everything.

Even after the blood on the carpet and the violent truth of who he was, I wanted him badly.

Still.

Our attraction had become undeniable. It was now a magnetic, electric force drawing us closer and fucking closer. The inky depths within him resonated with the growing shadows within me, beckoning our souls to become one.

I turned to face him.

For a moment, there was no sound, no movement—just the weight of our shared silence.

Then, Gianni reached out, and his fingers brushed along my chin. “Are you ready, Queen ?”

Tonight, that last word wasn’t just a loving nickname or his simple term of endearment.

In this twisted criminal world of his, I was exactly that—the queen to his king.

If his castle didn’t tell me that, then his easily killing Vivienne put an exclamation mark at the end.

A chill ran through me. “Yes. . .I’m ready.”

“Good.” He offered me his arm.

Swallowing down the last bit of my fear, I took it and headed away with him.

What will tonight bring?