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)
I howled out my rage, but I kept my hold achingly gentle. I wouldn’t do anything that might harm her. Not ever.
Gunfire still popped around us, the battle ongoing. Luca and I had surged in first, desperate to get to Nora. Now, our men had the Russians pinned down, our combined forces more than the Bratva had bargained for.
I scanned the warehouse for survivors in our immediate vicinity, and something gold glinted to my right. Another primal sound ripped from me at the sight of Nora’s pendant in the dead man’s hand. I snatched it back, the jagged, cut metal biting into my palm. It pained me more keenly than the wound where Luca had driven the knife into my shoulder; that pain was little more than a low buzz at the back of my mind. I was too high on adrenaline to feel it, and my full focus was centered on Nora. I had to get her out.
The need to kill more of the Russian bastards was an itch beneath my skin, but she was more important. I would take my full revenge later, when I could truly savor their screams.
I tried to step over Luca’s unmoving body, but my feet stuck to the concrete.
I love him! Nora’s desperate declaration grated through my mind.
I couldn’t leave the son of a bitch here to die. She would never forgive me. She would never love me.
The realization hit me like a sucker punch. I didn’t simply desire my wife’s devotion; I wanted her love.
But she’d given her heart to Luca, the weak, useless bastard.
Her heart would break if he died today, and she’d already suffered so much. I wouldn’t be responsible for her pain.
I’d already failed her unforgivably.
Half a dozen men burst into the warehouse, breaking past the Russians to help rescue my wife. I recognized one of them who was loyal to Luca. The rest were mine.
“Get Vitale out of here,” I ordered my men. “We’re going back to my estate. We’ll finish the Bratva soon enough.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Luca’s man protested, anvil-hard jaw set with determination.
I narrowed my eyes at him. We didn’t have time for him to get in my way.
“Kill him.”
Without question, one of my men shot him square in the chest.
The obstacle between me and what I wanted was effectively eliminated. Now I just had to get Luca back to my waiting armored SUV before more of his sycophants made it to the warehouse.
My enemy would live. I would do everything in my power to ensure his survival.
For Nora, I would do anything.
Chapter 3
Luca
My head throbbed, and nausea churned my stomach. But the physical discomfort was secondary to the desperate fear that gripped me as soon as I struggled back to consciousness.
“Nora.” I groaned her name and forced my heavy lids to open, searching for her.
The deafening gunfire had died down, and the quiet made my blood run cold. I couldn’t hear her pleas, her screams.
I blinked hard and gasped her name again, pushing myself upright.
A strong hand clamped on my shoulder, shoving me back down. I didn’t hit the concrete floor; I was lying on something soft and strangely comfortable.
“Stop thrashing, you useless bastard. You’ll hurt her.”
I willed the world to solidify around me. Sharp green eyes pierced me, as though Dante could pin me down with the force of his will rather than his restraining hand.
His cutting gaze quickly flicked away, his intense focus centering on Nora. She laid on the bed beside me, pale and utterly still. A man I didn’t recognize leaned over her, carefully cleaning the blood from her face so that he could study her wounds with clinical efficiency.
“What’s happening?” I demanded, capturing her chilled fingers in mine. “Where are the Russians?”
I tried to sit upright again, but Dante forced me back down. Pain jarred my head, and the room swam around me. I willed away the darkness that flickered at the edges of my vision, clinging to consciousness so that I could stay with her.
“I killed as many of them as I could before I got her out, no thanks to you,” Dante growled at me, but his intense attention remained fixed on Nora’s bloody face. “We’re back at my estate. She’s safe now.”
I tore my gaze from her to study my surroundings. My stomach dropped when I recognized the setting: we were in Dante’s bedroom. He’d saved her from the Bratva, but he’d dragged us both back to hell.
“She will never be safe with you,” I seethed. “Let her go.”
His eyes blazed, fixing on me once again. They burned into me, his hatred searing my soul. “You did this,” he hissed. “I don’t know how, but this is your fault. You knew that she’d left the safety of the estate. You let them get to her.” He bared his teeth at me. “I should kill you slowly for that.”