Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 200(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Dante shook his head, confirming my suspicions. “He’s not there, either. Any other ideas?”
I bit my lip, wishing I knew what to say, something that might help save my sister.
“Would any of your father’s associates betray him? Who is the weakest?” Dante pressed. “Give me names, and I’ll hunt them down. I won’t ask nicely for Giuseppe’s location. I can make a man talk.”
A memory stirred, dangerously close to the trauma I’d just endured. Instinct warned me to flinch away from it, but deep in my gut, I knew that the answer was at the edge of my consciousness.
“Giana didn’t come alone when she helped me escape your estate.” My voice was too weak, but I managed to say the words.
Dante’s lips twisted when I said escape, but I couldn’t focus on his displeasure. My sister was more important.
“Antonio Di Mauro,” I continued. “He smuggled her in and then drove us to my father’s house.”
“I’ll find him,” Dante vowed darkly. “And I’ll make him scream.”
“No, wait,” I said quickly. “I think he cares about Giana. Or at least, he wants her.” I remembered the hungry way he’d watched her. “He might help you save her. You could use him to get her out. Don’t torture him.”
Dante’s jaw ticked. “Fine. I’ll torture him after we save your sister. He gave you to the Russians. He’ll pay for that with his blood.”
He took a breath and schooled his features to something less feral. “I’ll find Antonio, and he will help me rescue Giana, one way or another.”
“I can help,” Luca rumbled, a primal edge to his voice. “Let me hunt him down.”
Dante’s eyes turned ice cold. “Your job is to take care of Nora. Or do you not care about protecting the woman you love?” He spat the words, and I stopped breathing.
Did Luca truly love me? He’d never said the words, even though I’d declared my love for him. My heart ached, and my stomach churned. I wanted so desperately to hear him say it that I felt sick with anticipation.
“You haven’t told her yet.” Dante’s tone was frigid with disdain for my husband. “Stupid son of a bitch. You can’t give her what she needs, and yet, she loves you.”
Luca’s corded muscles flexed around me, and he scowled at Dante. “How I feel about my wife is none of your fucking business.”
I looked up into his eyes, searching. For a terrible moment, I was swept up in the fierce loathing that darkened their ochre depths. There was no affection there, no warmth. Only hatred.
“You don’t have to say it,” I whispered, my heart clenching.
He’d kissed me earlier, but maybe he couldn’t love me after what the Russians had done to me. My skin felt like it was caked in dirt, and my blood turned toxic in my veins. They’d defiled me, and now my husband might never feel the same way about me as I did about him.
His eyes focused on me, and his lips twisted with something like regret. “I love you, Nora.” Even though he rasped out the words, he spoke with the weight of an oath. “I don’t deserve you, but I love you.”
“No, you don’t deserve her,” Dante growled and stormed toward us before I could draw breath to respond. His body swelled with fury, but his hand was gentle when he captured mine and lifted it to his lips for a featherlight kiss. “I’ll always take care of you, no matter what it costs me. I’m your husband.”
A protest that he wasn’t truly my husband teased at the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it down. Dante looked… He was too volatile to ever call him vulnerable, but he was particularly on edge at the moment.
Luca was my real husband, the man I loved. But Dante had risked his life to save me from the Russians. Before that, he’d taken a bullet for me. And he’d spared Luca when I’d pleaded for him to show mercy. Luca had tried to kill him, but my declaration of love had stayed Dante’s hand and stopped him from retaliating.
You can trust me. I’ll prove it to you. Dante had once promised me that he would win me with actions rather than empty words. I’d thought he was insane to think that he could ever win so much a shred of affection from me. But now…
He could’ve simply killed Luca and eliminated his rival for good. Instead, he allowed his sworn enemy to hold me, even though I could see that the sight of our intimacy enraged him. He was jealous and possessive, but he was sharing me with Luca because I needed my husband. I needed the man I loved to caress me and promise me that I was safe.
Dante gently squeezed my hand before reluctantly releasing it. “I’ll draw you a bath, pet. Take your medicine and relax.” The last was accompanied by a warning look at Luca.