The Wedding Vows

VICTOR

Vincenzo shoved a heavy silver flask against my chest. “Hey, I got this for you.”

I did not take it right away. I stood in the dim, stale air of the church’s back room, staring at the polished metal. Instead of grabbing it, I reached up and tugged my tie into place. The silk knot dug against my throat, tightening like a hangman’s noose. The lingering weight of Dante’s unspoken death threa