Blood & Vows Read online

  Table of Contents

  AUTHOR’S NOTE:

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  Epilogue

  OTHER NOVELS BY BELLA J

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  RESPLENDENT RUIN (Resplendence #1)

  RESPLENDENT RUSH (Resplendence #2)

  STILETTO SECRETS

  Contents

  AUTHOR’S NOTE:

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  Epilogue

  OTHER NOVELS BY BELLA J

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BLOOD & VOWS

  An Unapologetically Twisted Romance Novel

  By

  Bella J

  BLOOD & VOWS

  Copyright © 2017 by Bella J

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This novel is a work of fiction. While reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imaginations. Any resemblance to people either living or deceased, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

  Edited by Ansley Blackstock

  Cover Design by Q DESIGN

  AUTHOR’S NOTE:

  Blood & Vows is the second and final book in my Twisted Duet series.

  I’m sad to let Castello and Tatum go, but I loved every minute I spent with these characters. Telling their story has been the best part of my writing career so far.

  Please be aware that this novel contains scenes of violence, and sexual situations that may be triggers, and make some readers uncomfortable. For some readers there may be scenes that are just downright disturbing. But you’ve been warned.

  To all the readers who have fallen in love with the dark and twisted romance between Castello and Tatum, thank you for loving these characters as much I do.

  Prologue

  CASTELLO

  This all started with a well thought out plan for revenge. For months I plotted against the Linscotts, and I vowed to avenge my twin brother and father’s death. I had Tatum Linscott kidnapped, and held her prisoner in a room with nothing but an old bed, and a cold cement floor to piss on.

  The plan was simple—kidnap the golden girl of the Linscott family, then lure her father straight down to the hell I had specially prepared for both of them. And once I had my fun, extracted every last drop of revenge I craved from them, they would pay the ultimate price with their lives.

  I wanted to watch them bleed on the tiled floor of my dining hall, witness the life drain out of their bodies. I wanted to slice the blade of my knife through Tatum’s skin, to see her body weep tears of crimson. But little did I know that her blood would feed the monster inside me. That her innocence marred with desires for the darkness would make me want her in ways that were completely forbidden.

  She was the daughter of my enemy, and the blood my family demanded flowed through her veins. Yet, I couldn’t stop myself from being captivated by the blue eyes that seemed to plead with me to set her free from the prison society had put her in.

  Her body called out to me.

  The scars on her skin seduced me.

  And ultimately…Tatum Linscott ruined me.

  TATUM

  A few weeks ago I was kidnapped by an enemy I didn’t even know I had.

  I was beaten.

  I was starved.

  I was humiliated.

  My life held no value to my enemy, and death was promised with venomous threats of hate. Every minute that went by was a minute spared. I knew it was only a matter of time before a knife got driven through my heart.

  But then something happened, and it changed everything. Somehow the line between captor and prisoner had been crossed, and I found myself in a world I never knew existed. A world where family and loyalty were everything, yet lies and deception were used as weapons against blood.

  The Fattores built their hate, and their war against me and my family based on lies told by a man that I trusted once. A man I welcomed into my life, and into my bed. In the end it almost cost me my life.

  While I was held captive I never could have predicted the outcome. What I never expected to find within the walls of lies that surrounded me was freedom. That was why I had to run…because Castello Fattore freed me.

  1

  TATUM

  The second he opened that bedroom door telling me that I had a choice, I knew he was wrong. I didn’t have a choice. I never had a choice.

  I had to run. It was my only option, and that was why I rushed out the door before I could convince myself not to. If my time with Castello taught me anything, it was to always expect the unexpected. And every decision had consequences, good and bad. It was up to me to make sure I made the right ones. I’ve learned not to underestimate him, and to not allow myself to think that I knew him. I was no longer the naïve, weak woman he had kidnapped with the intent to kill. I was stronger, wiser, and hopefully, I was learning how to play this game between us…a game of cat and mouse.

  We’ve been living in his uncle Gino’s home since the day we fled from the Fattore mansion, but I hardly ever left the room. I couldn’t. No matter what happened that fateful day, I was still Castello’s prisoner. The matter of my freedom had not yet been discussed. He owned me, and for that reason I obeyed and accepted my place.

  Even though the bedroom door had never been locked, I chose not to open it, not to set foot out of the room I shared with my captor. Call it cowardly. Call it stupidity. Call it what you want. But I had learned that the only thing to fear was the unknown. Outside that bedroom door lay the unknown, and I was too afraid to open it…until Castello opened it for me.

  Now, while I ran through the unfamiliar halls with no damn clue where I was going, a part of me wished I was brave enough to have stepped outside those four walls sooner. Then maybe I might have stood a chance to not get caught. But now, deep down, I knew there was no getting away from him.

  My heart was racing at a million miles an hour, the adrenaline swooshing through my veins like angry waves. The thoughts inside my head were too loud, making it impossible for me to think and focus.

  The halls were dimly lit by a few antique lamps hanging from the walls. The smell of freshly polished furniture hung in the air, the oak
floors guiding me from one hall to another. If Castello caught me, there was no telling what he would do. He might have given me a choice, to decide whether I wanted to run or not, but I knew him. I could see it in the darkness of his eyes as he stared at me, the way his jaw ticked while he waited for me to decide. Castello wanted me to make my decision based on what would please him. Everything was always about pleasing him. But tonight, I made the decision based on what would please me. Based on what I wanted…and I wanted to run. I needed to feel the adrenaline in my veins as Castello prowled the halls searching for me. Hunting me. It was thrilling to know his determination to find me was fueled by his desire to possess me, to dominate and devour me. Predator versus prey.

  With a quick turn to the right I stumbled and caught myself against the wall. I had no idea how long I’ve been running through the maze of halls, but my legs started to feel weak, and my stomach clenched tighter with each passing second. But the fast beating of my heart, the anticipation and excitement that rushed through my veins incited me to move faster, further, to see how this all would end.

  “You can’t hide from me much longer, little mouse.”

  The sound of his voice caused me to gasp, and with my hands against the dark walls I started to move, my chest rapidly rising and falling as I struggled to breathe.

  “Do you really think you can run from me? That I would let you get away?”

  I heard it in his voice as it echoed through the halls. The threat…the promise.

  “The longer you make me search for you, the harder your punishment will be, little mouse.”

  Stumbling around yet another corner I knew that I would never find my way out of this maze of expensive architecture and Italian furnishings. So I opened the first door on my left, ran inside, and closed the door behind me.

  It was dark, but I didn’t dare switch on the light. Darkness became my friend the moment I realized it no longer held the power to hurt me, but rather the ability to liberate me. There was nothing to fear in the dark. Castello showed me that for people like us, darkness turned into our playground. A place where we could acknowledge our deepest, most sordid desires, and embrace the shadows that cling to our souls.

  I’ve learned to love the dark.

  Footsteps came down the hall. It was him. My predator.

  With a racing heart and heaving chest I searched the room for a place to hide. There were two couches with a huge desk on the other side of the room. Long, thick curtains draped the big window behind it, and there was a large cabinet to the left, a few feet away from the wall.

  I rushed across the room, and hid behind the cabinet. I was still trying to catch my breath when I heard the soft, slow creek of the door.

  “Are you in here, little mouse?”

  His voice was low, dark, and I could feel how its sound reached for my soul like a demonic whisper, pulling me, willing me to give in. To give up.

  “If you’re in here, it would be in your best interest to come out willingly.”

  The door clicked closed, and my heart skipped a beat. He didn’t leave. I knew that. I could still feel him, his presence, the way the atmosphere pulsed whenever we were in the same room together. It felt like there was no air, only us, and the suffocating pressure of the knowledge that he owned me completely, undeniably.

  “I know you’re in here, little mouse. I can feel you.”

  The same way I feel you.

  The sound of his slow footsteps filled the darkness. Knowing he was so close made my pulse race, my insides coiled tight with the most thrilling kind of anticipation.

  “There is no escaping me. I own you, and the sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”

  I tried my best to not even breathe. Sweat trickled down my spine, and my heart hammered against my ribs. I was almost certain he would be able to hear it.

  More footsteps. “Your body is calling out to me, Tatum. I can hear the hum of your desire, the way it flows through your veins. It wants me, my touch.”

  Desire flared, and I closed my eyes as I sucked in a breath.

  “Your body needs me. It craves the ecstasy only I can give it. The release.”

  Dear God. Every word he spoke made my body ache in ways only his touch could soothe. Just his voice, and the promise of bittersweet pleasures hidden behind it, had the power to lure me out, to throw myself freely at the mercy of my predator. My body was already willing me to give up, to give in, to let him do what he did best—possess me.

  “Are you thinking about it?” More soft yet confident footsteps. “Are you thinking about what I’ll do to you once I find you? How I’ll punish you.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “The pain. The pleasure. The absolute fucked-up-ness of it all. It turns you on. It makes you feel alive…doesn’t it?”

  I heard the soft sound of fabric, and imagined it being his jacket he just took off. With my eyes closed, and my heart racing, I pictured him unbuttoning his white shirt, exposing his smooth, firm, muscular chest one button at a time. Deep inside something was urging me to walk out, to let him find me, to let Castello do to me as he wished. It was, after all, what I really wanted. To have him bend and break me, to use me for his own pleasure…and mine.

  The sharp sound of his belt being ripped from around his waist, leather snapping against leather, made me jolt, a soft gasp escaping my lips.

  “Ah, that’s my girl.” By the sound of his voice, I knew he was smiling. “Tell me if I’m wrong, Tatum. Now that you know what it can be like, you know you won’t be satisfied with anything less ever again. You’re addicted to it. To the power of walking on that thin line between pain and pleasure. It thrills you, doesn’t it, playing in the dark?”

  Stop!

  I couldn’t take it anymore. Every word that came out of his mouth was laden with threats of punishment and promises of pleasure. The need kept on growing stronger. My very essence yearned for him, my soul pleaded for him to give relief against the sordid desires that plagued my body.

  With my eyes closed, I allowed a hand to travel down, over my breast until I reached below my nightdress.

  A soft whimper escaped me when I touched myself while imagining Castello holding his belt in his hand, wanting to feel the leather around my throat.

  I moved my legs further apart, the throbbing, the ache consuming me more and more with each passing second. But a strong hand grabbed my arm and ripped my hand away, the lack of touch causing me to moan.

  “I told you I’d find you.”

  I opened my eyes and stared up into the dark irises of the man that had ultimately possessed every aspect of my life. “I had to try,” was all I managed to say.

  He brought my hand up to his face, smelling the fingers that were playing between my legs mere seconds ago. “You tried, but you failed, little mouse.” He sucked a finger into his mouth before letting it go with a pop.

  I bit my bottom lip. “You wanted me to fail.”

  “Of course I did. Did you really think for one second that I would have opened that door for you if I thought there was even half a chance of you actually getting away?” His lips pulled up at the corners, and the scar around his left eye seemed to move, too.

  “I don’t know half the time what you’re thinking, Castello.”

  His hand came up to my throat and he squeezed lightly while brushing my skin with his thumb. “When will you learn that the correct way to address me is sir?”

  I swallowed hard, desperately trying to calm the hurricane of emotions creating havoc inside me. This man had the power to scare and enthrall me at the same time. Like he could set fire to this burning flame of desire deep within my core while stirring an ice cold current of equal parts fear and doubt inside my head.

  Castello Fattore was the ultimate mind-fuck.

  He leaned closer, and my stomach clenched tighter when I smelled his intoxicating scent of amber and peppermint. It was the same scent that lingered in the bedroom we shared, whether he was there or not.

 
; “You need to start playing the game correctly, little mouse.”

  “By calling you sir? Master? Enslaver?”

  His grip around my throat tightened abruptly, and he pushed my chin up toward his face. I was too busy trying to get air into my lungs to notice that his other hand was no longer pushing my shoulder against the wall. Instead, I felt his fingertips softly trace against my inner thigh, just below the hem of my nightgown.

  “You know, Tatum, running half naked through a house filled with mobsters was probably not such a good idea,” he mocked with a wicked grin.

  “Probably not,” I choked out, and his grip loosened just a little. “But hesitating after you opened that door wouldn’t have been a very good idea either.”

  “Oh, how fast you’ve learned, little mouse.” He leaned closer even more, brushing his cheek against mine. “And just for that I’m willing to reward you.” His fingers travelled upward, and my breath hitched. His touch was like a toxin and a cure all rolled into one dose of pure ecstasy. No matter how hard I tried, I just wasn’t strong enough to fight the darkness that lurked inside me, and Castello fed that darkness with his own.

  “You’re shivering, Tatum.” His warm breath softly moved against the skin of my neck. “Why are you shivering? Because you’re scared?” He sucked my earlobe into his mouth. “Or because you’re turned on?”

  My entire body felt like a raging volcano, ready to erupt at any moment. His voice, his words, and his wicked ways had the power to consume me within seconds. My strength, my will was nothing compared to his seduction.

  “Castello—”

  “Shhh. I’d rather find out the answer to that question on my own.”

  Without warning his hand slipped between my legs, his fingers tearing the thin fabric of my panties.

  “Castello, what are—”

  “Shhh, little mouse. I’d prefer your body do the talking.” And then he slipped a finger easily inside me. There was no way I could stop the soft sound of need that escaped me, proving to both of us that we were equally fucked up.