19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Sienna
“Let me in,” I say to the guard, pointing my gun at him. “Now.”
His laugh is mocking. “Why would I let you in, little girl? You’re aiming your gun at me. You’re the enemy right now.”
My mom steps forward. “I am Henrietta Lanza. Let me and my daughter inside that house.”
He looks back and forth between my mom and I, uncertain. “I’m not supposed to let anybody inside.”
“I will shoot you,” I threaten.
“Then I will shoot you back.”
“This is my daughter, Sienna Lanza. Gabriel Romano will not appreciate you killing her. So back down.” The firmness in my mom’s voice is admirable. Even though she doesn’t agree with me about Dante, she’s still willing to fight for me. It’s why I love her so much.
“I need to call Gabriel,” he says. “Don’t shoot me.” He gives me a pointed look. I don’t lower my gun. I need to save Dante. I need to understand my feelings for him. I can’t do that if he’s dead.
The guard calls Gabriel and speaks on the phone for a moment. Once he’s done, he raises his gun again. “He said no. You’re not allowed inside.”
Fuck this. I aim my gun at his knee. In all the training my mom had me do to learn how to shoot a gun, I was always too afraid to do it. I couldn’t shoot Dante when he showed up in my room that first night.
But now, I can’t hesitate.
I pull the trigger and the bullet lands right in the guard’s knee. He lets out a blood curdling scream as he drops to the ground.
Mom stares at me in horror. “Sienna. What did you do?”
“I am saving Dante. I am not going to let Gabriel control my life.” I walk over to the guard and pick up the gun he dropped. “Are you coming with me or not?”
“You’re not the daughter I know.”
“I am your daughter. I’m just the woman I grew into under Dante’s watch. You don’t know this side of me, Mom. This dark side of me but it’s here. And it’s not going anywhere. So either accept it or don’t but I am saving Dante.”
The guard calls someone on his phone again. “She shot me! Shot me!” I grab the phone from him and throw it to the ground and shoot it. The screen cracks. The phone is dead.
“Don’t kill me,” the guard begs.
“I am not going to kill you. Just get out of my way.” I shoot him in the other leg for good measure. No guilt. Just like the cop.
He cries out as he lays on the ground, not going anywhere.
“If I were Dante,” I say to my mom, “I would have killed him. But I didn’t. So you can stop looking at me like you don’t recognize me. You taught me how to shoot a gun. You taught me how to fight for myself. And that’s exactly what I am doing.”
She doesn’t say a word. I burst inside the house with her right behind me. At least she’s still by my side. Even if she doesn’t agree with what I’m doing.
A man comes running out from one of the rooms and aims his gun at me but I already have mine ready to go. I shoot him in the stomach and he falls back, dropping his gun. Mom runs to his side and picks the gun up.
“I don’t want to risk him shooting you.”
The guard pulls his phone out and tries calling someone but I shoot him in the hand. His scream echoes through the entire house.
“Sienna,” Mom snaps. “What are you doing?”
“I am making sure no one can stop me.”
No other guards come out. It must just be Gabriel somewhere in this house, torturing Dante.
I search the entire house, room after room, until I find the door that leads down to a basement. I don’t hesitate to run down the stairs and then I stop.
Because what I see is horrific.
Dante strapped to a table, covered in blood and bruises. Gabriel and Matteo lean over him, speaking words I don’t understand in this moment, because all I can think about is how horrible it is to see the man I care about this way. Nothing else matters except saving Dante’s life.
Gabriel and Matteo finally notice me.
“Sienna,” Gabriel says in a hard voice. “What are you doing here?” His eyes flick down to the gun in my hand. “It seems like you’ve been causing a lot of problems upstairs.”
I nod at Dante. “Let him go.” Dante is looking at me with an unreadable expression. Fortunately, he’s still alive so there’s still a chance.
“Dante flouted the rules. He has to pay the price.”
“And he tried to kill me,” Matteo says. “I’m still pissed about that.”
“Stop trying to control everyone!” I scream at Gabriel.
My outburst startles him and I know Gabriel is the kind of man who doesn’t startle easily.
“You tried to force me into a marriage with Dante. And now, when I actually care for Dante, you’re going to take him from me.
We can make peace, Gabriel. Let me marry him. ”
“He’s not the kind of man who will fall in line,” Gabriel responds.
“Give him the chance.” I turn to Dante. “Will you promise to make peace? Marry me, Dante. Make peace and marry me. Please.”
Dante’s eyes are open and vulnerable. “You’re my weakness, Sienna. It’s what led me here. I couldn’t stay away from you.”
I suck in a breath. “Is the thought of marrying me so bad that you would rather die?”
“No,” he breathes out. “I just… I can’t let Gabriel win.”
“You will die to prove a point? You would lose me to prove a point?”
Dante opens his lips but nothing comes out. He can’t give me the answer I want.
“See?” Gabriel huffs. “He will never marry you, Sienna. He will never play by my rules.”
“Fuck your rules,” I snap. Everyone stares at me in shock.
Well, except for Dante. He’s used to this dark side of me.
No one else is. “It’s always your rules.
But what about the rest of us? You married Luciana to Matteo when she didn’t want it.
You were going to force me to marry Dante when I didn’t want it.
It’s not fair that you get to play with our lives like this.
Please. Just let Dante go. Let me be with him.
Make a deal with him but don’t control him.
It’s the only way he’ll agree. Be equals with him. ”
“Matteo wants him dead,” Gabriel responds.
“Respectfully, I don’t care what Matteo wants. I care for Dante. I’ll marry him for peace. If he agrees, let him go.”
Gabriel stares at me for a long, hard moment. “You mean this?”
“Yes.” I lift up my gun. “I don’t want to shoot you, Gabriel.
But I will. If it means saving Dante. That’s how serious I am.
I want to live my life on my own terms. No one else’s.
Not even Dante’s. If we marry, me and Dante will be equals.
And you need to treat me like an equal too. Is that understood?”
I can tell Gabriel doesn’t like the idea but he knows I’m right.
“If you kill him,” I continue. “I will shoot you.”
“You really mean that? I would hate for you to die, Sienna. I’ve known you since you were a kid. It would be a shame if you died.”
“It would be a shame if you died too. So offer another deal to Dante. Please.”
Gabriel sighs heavily and turns to Dante. “Will you agree to marry Sienna for peace? I promise to not control your life but you have to stop wreaking havoc everywhere you go. Do we have a deal?”
Dante looks at me and only me as he gives his answer. “Deal.”
I blow out a long, hot breath. Me and Dante will be married. I can really get the happy ending I was hoping for.
Gabriel unstraps Dante’s arm. “Shake on it. Be a man of your word.”
Dante finally looks at Gabriel and extends his hand. “Deal.” He and Gabriel shake on it.
“What made you change your mind?” I ask as Gabriel unstraps Dante from the table.
Dante stumbles as he gets to his feet. The bruises and blood are everywhere.
“We need to get you to the hospital,” I say, catching him as he stumbles against me. Never have I seen him look so vulnerable before. I’m sure he’s hating every second of it.
“You’re just going to let him go?” Matteo asks, drawing all the attention to him. “I want him dead. He tried to kill me and Luciana. I don’t want to make peace with him.”
“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t always want to do,” Gabriel says in the most condescending voice possible.
Matteo’s face turns to a sneer.
Everything after that happens so fast.
He raises his gun in Dante’s direction. It also happens to be the direction me and my mom are standing in.
Dante pushes me back and then places himself in front of my mom before Matteo pulls the trigger.
And gets shot.
The bullet lands in his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Matteo stumbles back with wide eyes. My mom gasps.
Dante lays on the ground, clutching his stomach, slowly bleeding out.
“No!” I scream.
“Matteo!” Gabriel snaps, ripping the gun away from Matteo.
I bend down beside Dante. “You can’t die on me. You can’t die. He needs to get to the hospital. Now! Please!” Neither Gabriel nor Matteo move.
But it’s my mom who goes into action.
She grabs Dante’s arm and puts it around her shoulder and motions for me to do the same. Together, we walk him out of the basement. Gabriel follows while Matteo remains behind.
Without a word, my mom helps me get Dante into her car. I get into the backseat with him while she practically dives into the driver’s seat and takes off, away from the house. Gabriel remains in the driveway, watching us go.
“Stay with me,” I say to Dante, pressing my hands against his bleeding stomach. He coughs and blood bubbles up from his mouth.
How ironic. He shot my mom in the stomach and now he saved my mom from accidently being shot again… by getting shot in the same place.
“Dante.” I sob. “Stay with me.”
He grabs my hand weakly. “Sienna…”
“Don’t talk. Just focus on staying awake, ok?”
“I do want to… marry you,” he struggles to say. “I do.”
I gasp. “Ok. I want to marry you too. Is that why you changed your mind?”
“It was for… you. I decided to… make peace… for you.”
“But you were the one strapped to that table, being tortured. Not me.”
“I couldn’t… risk you getting… killed. You were waving that gun around… like a madwoman.” He chuckles even through the blood in his mouth. “I was proud.”
“Only you would be proud of me when I was acting crazy.”
“Soulmates, I guess.”