18. Chapter Eighteen #2
My mom is waiting outside for me. “Oh, thank goodness,” she says when I step out of the car. Of course the door only unlocks when we make it back to Gabriel’s. She wraps her arms around me. “I thought I had lost you again. When Gabriel said you were gone, I knew for sure Dante had come for you.”
“Dante didn’t kidnap me again, Mom.” I push out of her arms. The hurt on her face is palpable and it makes me wince but I have to say this.
The truth of my feelings. “I went with Dante willingly back to his house and Gabriel used me to find where Dante is. He’s going to torture him, Mom.
He’s going to kill him.” My sudden onslaught of tears shocks my mom.
“Sienna, I… I don’t know what to say. You’re not making any sense.”
“I want to be with him, Mom,” I sob. “I want to be with him. But he needs to make peace first. Gabriel needs to make peace. And then everything will be all right.”
“How can you say that? I won’t let you be married to that monster. He’ll hurt you. He already has.”
“I know I can live a good life with Dante. I know it. He wasn’t as bad to me as you think. Yes, he wasn’t perfect. But I wasn’t as miserable at his place like you want to believe. I was happy at times. A lot of times.”
She shakes her head once, firmly, as if that’s the end of the matter. “No. He hurt you, Sienna. He hurt you. He kidnapped you.”
“Yes, he did!” I scream. She takes a step back.
The front door opens and Aurora stands there, looking uncertain.
Behind her is Luciana. All my friends and family.
Judging me. “He did kidnap me but it turned into something more. I care for him, Mom. I swear I do. I can’t see him tortured and killed.
I just can’t. The original plan was for me to marry him.
I’ll do that now if it means peace. I’ll be safe.
Why can’t you believe me? Why can’t you trust me? ”
“I have taken care of you all your life. I fought the vultures off from attacking you.”
“I know. But why can’t you trust me to know my own feelings?”
She blinks. “I…” There’s no answer she can give.
I storm past her to Aurora. “Where is Gabriel taking Dante?”
“How would I know?”
“You are Gabriel’s wife. You know. Where is he taking Dante? I have to stop this.”
Aurora reaches out for me. “You can’t stop this, Sienna. You just… can’t.”
“I can and I will. I will make everything turn out right. It has to. I’ve been through too much to just waste it all. So please, Aurora. Tell me. You know.”
She sighs and looks between me and my mom, who shakes her head ‘no.’ Thankfully, Aurora chooses to listen to me. “He’s taking Dante to one of his other homes. I’ll give you the address.”
“Thank you,” I breathe out.
“I can’t let you go,” the guard says. “Gabriel told me to bring you back here and that’s what I have done.”
I walk over to my mom’s side and grab the gun from her inside jacket pocket. I know she always keeps one on her.
Everyone gasps when I point it at the guard. “My mom trained me how to use this. Now get out of my way.” Slowly, the guard steps to the side. “Give me the keys.” When he hesitates, I snap, “Give me the keys!”
He throws the keys my way and I get into the car.
“Sienna, don’t do this,” Mom begs.
“I have to save him.”
“Then I’m coming with,” she says, getting into the car. Aurora texts me the address. I know where to go now.
“Mom, no.”
She doesn’t listen and remains seated beside me, pulling her seatbelt across her body. “I am going. I am not going to let you hurt yourself.”
“Fine. But I have to save Dante.”
I drive as fast as I can to the address Aurora gave me. The tension in the air between me and my mom is palpable. You would need more than a knife to cut it.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispers.
“Because I care for him. I don’t know if it’s love. I just know I can’t see him die.”
“He is not a good man.”
“I know. And I’m not a good person. I killed a police officer and felt no regret for it. Even if it was in self-defense. No regret. No guilt.”
“That’s different –”
“I gave him my virginity,” I cut her off.
She sucks in a breath. “Sienna… I… you were waiting for marriage.”
“I know. But would it have mattered anyway? Gabriel wanted me to marry Dante. He would have taken it if that had happened. But I made this choice.”
“Only after he kidnapped you.”
My eyes close for a second. “I know. But I still made my choice. Dante never forced me to have sex with him. I chose it. I wanted it. He made me feel more free than anything else in this entire world ever has. Yes, he’s terrifying and scary, and I still can’t make sense of my feelings for him.
But I know I have to fight for him. I want him in my life. ”
“I’ve never heard you speak of anyone this way before.”
“Dante changed me. Whether for the good or the bad, I don’t know. But I am changed.”
She goes silent the rest of the drive. We make it to the address Aurora gave me. A run down house in the middle of nowhere. Easy to torture someone for days and have no one else notice.
A guard is out front. This is the place.
I get out of the car with my gun drawn and fire into the air. He flinches before raising his own gun. I am getting into this house, one way or another.
I guess it’s time I embrace Dante’s chaotic energy as my own.