21. Dario
TWENTY-ONE
Chaos eruptsas people scatter in panic. Before my mind can process what”s happening, my instincts take over. I lunge forward, tackling Mia to the floor and shielding her body with my own. Her startled gasp is muffled against my chest as bullets whiz overhead.
Fear grips my heart. The need to protect her consumes every fiber of my being. I desperately scan her for any sign of injury, blood, a wound—anything that could”ve slipped past my guard. But she”s unharmed, merely shaken by the sudden violence.
Her wide eyes meet mine, and for a suspended heartbeat, the world around us fades away. A silent understanding passes between us—whatever this threat may be, we”ll face it together.
Screams pierce the air, dragging my focus back to the danger at hand. One shrill cry rises above the rest, its anguished pitch chilling my blood. Craning my neck, I catch a glimpse of a figure sprawled on the floor, crimson blooming across their chest—the mayor—her father.
People swarm around him like vultures. Mia tenses beneath me, desperate to get closer, to see for herself. I pull her tighter against my body, shielding her from the grim reality, but she fights my hold.
”Let me see!” Her voice is strained, edged with fear and desperation. ”Dario, please!”
I refuse to release her, unwilling to expose her to such brutality. But Mia is relentless, squirming and clawing until finally she wrenches free.
And there it is—the precise moment when her anger toward her father shatters into a million irreparable pieces. Raw anguish contorts her beautiful features as realization crashes over her in relentless waves. All the bitterness and resentment she”s harbored evaporates, leaving only a daughter”s love for her dying parent.
Tears stream down her cheeks as broken sobs wrack her curvy frame. Without hesitation, I gather her into my embrace, cradling her against my chest as she crumples beneath the weight of her grief. My fingers thread through her soft curls, offering meager comfort as her world unravels before our eyes.
We rush over to where her mother is hovering over her father.
The mayor gasps for air, struggling to speak as blood splatters from his mouth. “Jo?—”
“Shh. Marcus, don’t talk. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay,” Josephine recites over and over. ”Someone help him!” she yells.
Josephine meets my eyes, her face streaked with tears and makeup, her expensive dress smeared with her husband”s blood.
”Dario,” she cries, gripping my arm with trembling hands. ”You were supposed to protect us. He came to you for protection. Do something!”
Her words cut deep, rubbing my face in my failure to keep them safe. White-hot shame and anger surge through my veins as I hold Mia tighter, turning so that my back is to the crowd to shield her against any further threats. If the shooter is still in the room and wants to take another shot, I would rather take the bullet than her.
”Get the women to safety,” I growl at Rafael over my shoulder, gesturing towards Mia, Josephine, and Gabby. ”Now.”
But Mia”s mother shakes her head vehemently, refusing to be pried away from her husband”s side. ”No. I won”t leave Marcus.”
The screams, the chaos, the stench of blood and gunpowder—it”s like being submerged in a waking nightmare. I should”ve seen this coming and knew they wouldn”t stop until they”d taken everything from me. We neutralized the threat, or so I thought. There was no evidence, no hints that someone else had been pulling the strings.
”Josephine...” My voice is a low rumble, barely contained frustration vibrating beneath the surface. ”You need to go. Now. Let me handle this.”
She”s not listening, her grief overriding all reason as she sobs and clutches at her husband”s still form. Mia joins her cries, her small hands fisted in the fabric of my shirt as if it”s her only anchor in this storm.
Enough.
I have to get them out of here before any more violence rains down. Steeling myself, I pry Mia”s hands from my chest and shove her toward Rafael.
”Take them,” I snarl, the command laced with a lethal promise if he fails to obey.
Mia yells, fighting me like a wildcat as I forcibly drag her toward the back exit. ”No. No. I won’t go. My dad— Mommy.”
Hearing the pain in Mia”s voice, the hurt that she may be losing her father ignites a fury within me. Whoever is behind this attack will pay dearly.
“Mia, baby. It’s okay. Go with Dario. Let him keep you safe.” Josephine orders, snot running down her face.
“I won’t leave you.” Mia shakes her head while reaching out for her mother.
“Go,” Josephine barks at me.
“Bella, we need to go,” I say, wrapping my arm around her waist to hoist her towards the exit at the back of the room.
Almost as if realization dawns on her, Mia blurts out. “Gabby—we have to find Gabby!”
Her nails rake across my skin, but I don”t relent, pulling her into the shadows of the hallway as the screams and chaos fade into a dull roar behind us. We don’t stop, moving as fast as possible to reach the exit doors. We burst through them, and as if on cue, the screech of tires grabs my attention as Renzo, one of my men, jerks to a stop in front of us, the engine rumbling.
Racing to the SUV, I open the back passenger side door and hustle Mia into the backseat, trapping her between my body and the car as she bucks against me.
”Gabby,” she screams, her voice cracking with despair. ”We didn”t warn her. If—if she is hurt…Dario.”
The tears are streaming full force now, and all I want to do is take all of this pain away from her.
“This is our fault. We should have told her everything when you got that picture. She’s my best friend, I can’t?—”
Gripping her face firmly, I force her gaze to meet mine.
”Rafael will get Gabby to safety,” I grit out, trying to penetrate the panic cloaking her mind. ”I promise you, I will keep you safe. Always.”
For a moment, our eyes lock in an unspoken vow, a connection that transcends the chaos swirling around us. I secure Mia in the backseat, slamming the door shut before she can escape. My heart thunders as I round the SUV, her haunting cries echoing in my mind. Rafael will make sure Gabby is protected, but I have to focus on keeping Mia alive right now.
Wrenching open the driver”s side back door, I climb in next to a hysterical Mia. Renzo peels out of the alleyway, tires squealing as we blast onto the main street. In the rearview mirror, the gala venue shrinks behind us, still swarming with panicked people fleeing the chaos and destruction.
Mia is a crumpled form next to me, her shoulders shaking with her muffled sobs. The raw anguish twists like a knife in my gut—she shouldn”t have to suffer this hell because of my world, my life. A primal urge surges through me to shelter her and protect that beautiful light within her from being extinguished by the darkness surrounding us.
”Mia…” I rasp her name, needing her to hear me over the engine’s roar and her turmoil. ”Look at me, Bella.”
She doesn”t respond, her body wracked with silent cries.
”Mia!” I shout louder, commanding her attention even through her haze of despair. Slowly, she lifts her head, those soulful brown eyes finding mine. Tears glisten on her cheeks, her full lips parted with ragged breaths. The very image fractures what”s left of my battered heart.
”Listen to me,” I rumble, holding her gaze with an intensity that conveys the gravity of my promise. ”Rafael will make sure Gabby gets home safe. And I swear on my life I will not let anything happen to you. You”re going to be okay, angelo mio. I”ve got you.”
A tremor passes through her, but she gives me the slightest nod of understanding. In that moment, a strong sense of purpose solidifies within me—I will eliminate any threat, defeat any enemy, and protect her. She is my truth in this darkness, and I will not disappoint her.
Renzo drives like a bat out of Hell, taking every right turn we approach to avoid the stoplights in our way. Always keep moving. I peek at him through the rearview mirror, taking in the serious look on his face. We’ve seen so much shit in this fucked up world. Death and violence are nothing to us, but Renzo has seen far worse, done far worse during his time as an interrogator in the military. Nerves of steel is what he has, and right now, I’m damn glad he’s behind that wheel.
It feels like forever before we pull up to the condo, our closest safe haven. He whips a left, taking the alley that runs along the back of the building so that we can be in and out without too many eyes on us.
We pull to a stop, and I climb out first, rushing to her side to help her out of the G-Wagon. She stays close to me, burying herself in my chest.
Closing the door, I tap the front window. Renzo rolls it down and stares at me.
“I want eyes on every exit. If it so much as opens, I need someone guarding it.”
“Got it, boss.”
With that, we head for the back door of my building, using my key fob to disengage the lock. When I purchased this building, the first thing I did was have Rafael install the best security system money can buy. Every resident in the building gets to benefit from living in the most secure apartments in the city, and they pay top dollar for it.
We enter the building, taking the loading dock to the service elevator we had programmed to go to my penthouse only. Mia stays close to me, clutching onto my blazer for dear life. She’s petrified, her body riddled with nerves evident in her trembling hands.
The elevator dings, and the doors open to my floor. We exit the lift and travel the short distance to my front door. Once inside the condo, the adrenaline coursing through my veins begins to ebb.
With Mia finally within the safety of these walls, my frantic energy transforms into a calming steadiness. I guide her to the plush sofa, my touch gentle yet firm as I ease her onto the cushions.
Her eyes are glassy, haunted, the horrors of tonight”s events still swirling in their depths. But there”s a flicker of relief, too, of being momentarily untethered from the threats that haunt us.
”You”re safe now, Bella,” I murmur, brushing a few stray curls from her face. Her skin is soft as silk beneath my calloused fingertips. ”I”ve got men securing the perimeter. No one”s getting through.”
She doesn”t respond, trapped in the confines of her mind. So I stay by her side.
With each shallow breath, the tension melts from her body until her eyes flutter closed in uneasy slumber. Even in this fragile, unguarded state, she is breathtaking—resilient, fierce, and achingly vulnerable.
I inhale deeply, savoring the faint traces of her intoxicating scent mingled with the metallic tang of lingering smoke and fear. Carefully, I extract myself from her side, draping a throw blanket over her slumbering form before retreating to my study.
The heavy oak door shuts out the night”s pandemonium with a decisive thud. In this sanctum, the trappings of my life envelop me—deep mahogany shelves lined with dusty tomes, an array of bottles containing amber and dark spirits, and the imposing desk that was my father”s.
I sink into the worn leather chair. With a few deft keystrokes, the computer”s monitor flickers to life, revealing a complex web of encrypted files—my father”s legacy and perhaps the key to unraveling the mystery of who the fuck is behind all of this.
What the hell were my father and hers involved in? Years have passed, and any sign of their friendship has been buried. But someone out there remembers, and whomever it is, struck tonight.
Line after line of code streams across the screen as I delve into the digital vault, scanning intently for any shred of information that could expose our enemy. Marcus Gordon”s political machinations extended far beyond the public eye, intertwined with the underbelly of Chicago in ways even I couldn”t fathom.
Dossiers on rivals, blueprints for illicit dealings, records of every debt owed, and leverage held…it”s all here, interwoven through this byzantine tapestry my father spun to maintain his iron grip on the city. But there are gaps, vagaries even his meticulous chronicles cannot fill.
My mind races with possibilities as I cross-reference files, searching for any connection to tonight”s attack, any hint of who may have slipped through the intricate web of security meant to protect Gordon and his kin.
The weight of responsibility bears down, made heavier by the knowledge Mia”s safety hinges on my ability to extract answers from this digital morass. I am the silent sentinel keeping the shadows at bay, the only barrier between her and those who would bring ruin to our worlds.
The minutes bleed into hours, the screen casting an eerie phosphorescent glow in the shrouding darkness. I am consumed, burrowing deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of secrets and lies as the night bleeds away.
The shrill ring of my phone pierces the silence. I nearly upend the desk in my haste to silence the sound before it rouses Mia. My heart thunders in my ears as I snatch up the phone.
”Gabrielle?” I demand, without preamble, the name a gruff exhalation laced with dread.
”She”s safe,” Rafael”s voice crackles over the line with customary impassivity. ”I made sure she made it home and had Luca guarding her.”
A lead weight lifts from my chest as the fear of further tragedy dissipates. At least there”s one less wound for Mia”s heart to bear tonight.
”And Marcus?” I press, needing constant updates to stave off the rising tide of uncertainty. There”s a weighted pause stretching out for an eternity.
”Alive,” he finally replies. ”Alessandro went with him and Josephine to the hospital. I”m headed there now.”
Another pause, this one more ominous, as a sense of dread prickles along my spine.
”Dario…Santino is dead.”
The confirmation of what I already suspected still hits with the force of a sledgehammer. I expel a guttural ”Fuck!” laced with rage and frustration at this entire clusterfuck.
Santino was one of our best men, someone who”d repeatedly proven his undying loyalty. And now he was just another casualty, burned alive like some sacrifice.
”We need to find out who”s—” I start, mind already whirring with potential culprits and scenarios for revenge.
But Rafael”s voice stays with me, always the voice of reason. ”I”ll handle it. Just focus on Mia…I”ll take care of everything else.”
The line disconnects. My cousin will ensure the appropriate retributions while I remain here, guarding Mia as she sleeps obliviously in the next room.
With a weary sigh, I lean back into the worn leather, the digital secrets still spread before me. Secrets, sins, and deceits bleed together until my eyes cross. I may not have found the answer tonight, but nothing will keep me from unraveling, finding this asshole, and putting a bullet in his brain.