Chapter 10
Nora
“Get dressed,” Dante commanded. “You’re coming with me today.”
“What?” I eyed the outfit he’d placed on the bed for me: one of my own from before he’d kidnaped me. My blood ran cold. He’d given me normal clothes yesterday, when he’d forced me to attend that awful meeting with my father and Alberto.
He seemed to sense my disquiet, because he cupped my cheek in his hand, capturing me in a steady green stare. “Don’t worry, little bird. I won’t let them near you ever again. I’m taking you to see your sister.”
Giana. I longed to hug her and promise her that I was okay.
It would be a lie, but it would ease the worry that must have plagued her every day since Dante had kidnapped me. Concern for her tightened my chest. I had no idea what my father might’ve done to her in my absence. I’d always been her protector. She might be suffering without me to shield her.
“We’re going to your father’s house,” Dante continued, “but I won’t allow him to be in the same room as you. His home is well guarded. You’ll be safe there.”
I’d never been safe in that house, but I would risk a beating if it meant I could see Giana.
Why? Why would he allow me out of my cage to see my beloved sister? This must be some sort of trick, another sadistic game.
He seemed to read the doubt in my eyes. “I know you’re unhappy here,” he said. “That will change with time. I’ll earn your trust. You’ll believe me one day,” he added when I flinched. “I don’t want you to be miserable, and I know you love your sister. I won’t keep you from her.”
He urged me to get dressed, and I complied with hesitant movements. I still didn’t trust him. He was a monster out of my worst nightmares.
But he hadn’t lied to me yet, and if he said he was taking me to see Giana, I dared to hope that it might be true.
Once I wore my comfortable blouse and jeans, he approached me with a bulky vest. I shrank back, uncertain.
He didn’t pull away in the face of my concern; he simply fitted the vest around my chest. “This is Kevlar,” he explained. “You’ll wear it until we’re back on the estate. No one is going to hurt you, Nora. Not while I’m breathing.”
He put on his own vest and took me by the hand, leading me out of our bedroom.
When we stepped through the front doors and out into the crisp fall air, we found three armored SUVs waiting for us.
Dante directed me toward the one in the middle of the convoy.
I couldn’t see through the dark tinted windows, but I knew a handful of men would already be in the other vehicles, Dante’s guards. He really was intent on protecting me.
I shook the thought away. He wanted to possess me completely, so he clearly didn’t want to see me dead. He had darker plans for me. As long as I was alive, he could use me to torment Luca.
I yanked my hand from his and stalked the last few steps toward the SUV. He opened the door for me without commenting on my sudden prickly demeanor. I only had a few seconds to draw in a deep, calming breath before he’d circled the vehicle to get in on the other side.
He reached over me and buckled my seatbelt, his hands lingering at my waist. I stiffened and turned my face away.
He sighed and secured his own seatbelt when the convoy started moving. I watched the mansion disappear, then looked out at the woods as we wound our way down the long drive. The terrible night when he’d chased me through those woods played through my mind, and a light shiver raced over my skin.
He snagged my hand and squeezed it in what was meant to be a pulse of comfort. But I found no reassurance in the monster’s touch as I recalled the way he’d ruthlessly hunted me down and then bound me cruelly beneath the moonlight.
“Would you like to play the piano when we return home tonight?” he asked, voice rich with warmth, as though he was completely unbothered by my hostility.
I gritted my teeth and didn’t respond. I didn’t feel like making small talk with my captor.
“The piano has been untouched since I lost my mother, but I had it tuned for you,” he continued, rubbing his thumb over my palm. “I’d love to hear you play.”
“I don’t feel like it,” I responded tersely, taking a tiny hit of vindictive pleasure in denying him. I played the piano to calm my mind, not to perform for others. Especially not for him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
I thought of how Luca had commanded me to dance for him when he’d gifted me with the ballet studio at our home. Longing tugged at my heart. Yes, I could’ve made a home with him there. We were meant to be a family.
I straightened my spine. Once we were free and Dante was dead, we would fulfil that dream.
The monster caressed my hand again. “It doesn’t have to be this way between us,” he said for what felt like the dozenth time. He kept trying to tell me that I could make a home with him, not Luca.
He was insane.
“As long as you’re torturing Luca and me, it can’t be any other way,” I shot back.
Some part of me registered that I no longer feared a beating if I spoke out against him. Dante hurt me for his own pleasure, but he didn’t lash out in anger.
His jaw firmed. “I’m only torturing Luca,” he insisted. “I’m giving you what you secretly desire. You just don’t want to accept that. Luca deserves to suffer. He—”
Pain exploded through my skull as something smashed into my head.
I reeled to the side, and my seatbelt burned my chest, driving the air from my lungs.
The world spun, and I floated a few inches above my seat before the belt caught me, digging deeper between my breasts and crushing down on my sternum.
Metal screeched, and my brain rattled at one final impact.
“Nora!” Dante’s voice was faint beneath the ringing in my ears.
I blinked slowly, my brain struggling to understand what was happening. The side airbag deflated to my right, blocking my view out the window. Dazed, I stared forward, distantly noting the way the front of the SUV had buckled around the tree.
“Nora!” Dante’s shout was clearer this time, closer. His big hands cupped my cheeks, carefully turning my face to look at me.
Something like fear flashed over his shockingly green eyes as he studied me, his intense gaze raking over each of my features.
“Are you hurt?” I could barely hear him over the tinny sound that threaded through my skull.
Before I could gather my thoughts to formulate a reply, a deafening bang resounded through the SUV. Dante cursed and quickly unbuckled my seatbelt, throwing his body atop mine.
“The SUV is bulletproof,” he reassured me, hands roving over me to check for injuries.
He raised his voice to address the driver. “Get us out of here!”
“Can’t,” the man grunted in reply, voice slurred from the disorienting impact. “It won’t move.”
Another bang as a bullet smashed into the armored vehicle, the sound drawing a soft cry from my aching chest. Dante’s body lowered over mine, almost suffocating me with his weight.
Gunshots rang out, rending the quiet country air with sharp reports. They must’ve been waiting for us only a few miles down the road from the estate.
“Russian motherfuckers,” Dante muttered, cursing his enemies.
Ice frosted my skin, and I shuddered.
Dante caressed my cheek. “I won’t let them get to you,” he promised.
Several bullets smashed into the window on the driver’s side, and glass crunched as it began to give way.
“What’s going on out there?” he demanded.
His side airbag had gone off too, hampering his visibility.
“Three armored cars,” the driver groaned. The other man in the passenger seat wasn’t responding at all. “One wrecked from hitting us, two others blocking the road ahead. Our men are returning fire, but this thing isn’t going anywhere.” He punched the dashboard in frustration.
My teeth clicked together as cold seeped into my bones.
They would capture us. The Russians would rape me before they killed me. Just like they’d done to my mother.
Dante pressed a quick, fierce kiss to my lips. “Stay down until I say otherwise.”
His weight lifted from me, and he twisted to retrieve something from the back of the SUV. An assault rifle appeared in his hands.
Cold air swept into the vehicle when he opened the door, and I slammed my hands over my ears as gunfire exploded around me.
Dante was using the door as a shield, ducking around the side to fire a barrage of bullets at our enemies before taking cover a few seconds later.
He held his hand out to me. “Come with me. We have to get to one of the other SUVs.” He swore to himself. “I never should’ve taken you off the estate.”
He tugged at my hand, but I shook my head mutely, my body freezing in place. I couldn’t go out there where the Russians were waiting for me. They would make me beg for death before the end.
His body weight settled over me once again, his heat blanketing me. He stared down into my eyes, and his features sharpened with possessiveness that was almost feral.
“They won’t take you from me,” he growled.
“I will protect you with my life, Nora. You are my wife. I won’t let them have you.
” He grasped my shoulders in a firm grip and pulled me upright with him, keeping his big body between the damaged door and me.
He curled two fingers beneath my chin, locking me in his steady gaze.
“You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met.
You can do this. We have to move. Stay behind me. ”
I swallowed hard and nodded, gathering my courage. He was right: we couldn’t stay here, not when the SUV was dead. Our only way out was to get to one of the other vehicles.
Mastering my terror, I shoved down my lifelong fear of the Bratva that’d paralyzed me. I wouldn’t simply lay here uselessly and wait for them to get to me.
Dante gave me a short nod of approval, then turned from me to unleash a hail of bullets from the rifle.
He reached back and grabbed my hand, dragging me out of the armored SUV and into the open.
His huge body shielded mine as he kept me tightly pressed to the vehicle at my back, scarcely giving me enough space to move as we edged toward the closest allied SUV.
His body jerked twice, and he fired at the Russians with a snarl. He’d taken the impact of two bullets for me. The Kevlar vest protected him from the first, but I noted the red bloom on his white shirt, a wound gouged into his left arm.
He kept himself squarely in front of me, acting as my personal human shield. His men continued to shoot at our enemies, and by some miracle, none of them managed to catch Dante with a head shot in the long, breathless seconds it took us to reach the waiting SUV.
Dante shoved me through the open door. His body jerked again, and he roared as crimson stained his shoulder.
I had one moment to stare into his fierce emerald eyes. They glittered with murderous intent.
“I’ll kill them all,” he vowed. “Get her out of here!” As he issued the barked order, he slammed the door between us.
A shocked cry that sounded a bit like a ragged protest burst from my chest, but the SUV lurched forward. Through the tinted window, I watched Dante reel back from the impact of another bullet hitting his vest. He ran for the cover of his other SUV.
The violent scene disappeared from sight as we rounded a sharp curve in the road, tires squealing. I was being taken back to the safety of the estate, while Dante stayed behind in the midst of the firefight.
He’d bled to protect me. He’d saved me from the Bratva.
For the first time since he’d kidnapped me, I didn’t wish for Dante to die.