Page 17 of Forgotten Vows

"My men are getting him right now. Is he in one of the bedrooms at the end of the hall?"

Her eyes widen, and her whole body goes rigid with panic. "Lachlan?—"

The sound of my name on her lips, after all these years, reverberates through my whole body. "He's safe. I promise you, he's safe. But we need to move. Now."

She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see her trying to decide if she can trust me still—if this is real or some kind of trap, or a dream she's going to wake up from. Finally, she nods.

"Okay," she whispers.

She gets dressed quickly. It feels like it goes against every part of me to turn away, tonotlook at her after all these years, but I do. I want to see her, compare her to my memories, see who she is now… but I give her privacy, my pulse beating in my throat. Anger seethes in me again at the thought ofnotbeing able to look at her when that guard was drinking every inch of her while he pleasured himself to those photos, but I remind myself, teeth gritted, that he's dead. Dead, with his eyes jello on his face. He can't look at her any longer, and soon enough I'll have her home and safe, and I'll be able to look my fill.

When she's done, she clears her throat, and I turn back around. She looks terrified, and I want to pull her into my arms and tell her everything is going to be okay. I want to promise her that I'll never let anyone hurt her again.

But we don't have time for that.Soon,I promise myself. Everything can be said soon, when we're away from here.

"Stay close to me," I tell her, taking her hand. Her fingers are ice cold, but I feel a flood of heat at her skin touching mine for the firsttime in ten years, a buzzing arousal filling my veins despite the utter inappropriateness of the timing. "Don't make a sound unless I tell you to. Understood?"

She nods again, and I motion for her to follow me as I step out into the hall. I can feel her trembling next to me, but she doesn't make a sound.

We're almost to the service entrance when I hear angry male voices coming from the direction of the main staircase. I pull Adriana into a darkened alcove, pressing her back against the wall and covering her mouth with my hand when she starts to speak.

For a brief moment, I'm eighteen again, nineteen, twenty, stealing moments in places just like this with the girl I'd fallen in love with, risking death for a kiss. For a moment of my lips on hers and her scent clinging to my clothes afterward, when I'd sneak off to relieve the desperate lust she roused in me.

When I still thought we could escape and live our whole lives together.

She goes rigid against me, her eyes wide and terrified, and the momentary spell is broken. Adriana ten years ago was never afraid when we were hidden away like this. Pulse still beating hard, I lean in close, my lips nearly touching her ear.

"Don't move," I breathe. "Don't make a sound."

The voices are getting closer. I can hear footsteps—heavy boots—and I count at least three men, maybe four.

A gunshot splits the air. Then another. The sounds of chaos spill up the hall—shouting and more gunshots, rapid-fire from the stairs where Cormac and Rian should be with my son.

Fuck.

"Move," I tell Adriana, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the alcove. "Run."

"Matteo—" she gasps, and I pull her with me, forcing myself to ignore the way she tries to balk and escape from my grip. "Lachlan!"

"My men have him," I grit out. It's killing me, tearing me apart to drag her with me and not listen to what she's saying, but I trust Cormac and Rian to get him. She has no reason to, which means shejust has to trust me. I understand why she wouldn't be able to think about anything other than getting to her child… but we have to get out of here.

We sprint down the hallway toward the service entrance—or rather, I sprint, pulling Adriana along—and behind us I can hear more shouting, more footsteps. The door is just ahead, twenty feet, fifteen, ten?—

We burst through it into the thickly warm night air. Adriana tries to balk again, begging me to stop, to go back for Matteo, and I feel her wrist nearly slip out of my grasp, sweaty from running and adrenaline.

I spin on my heel and grab her. She lets out a high-pitched shriek that cuts down to my soul, and I tell myself she'll understand. Once we get to the car, once she sees our son is safe, once we're on the plane, in Chicago where she'll see what I've done to get her back and how well I can protect her now… all of this will be forgiven. Nothing that happens tonight will matter.

When I scoop her up into my arms, she smacks at my chest with her hands, wrestling against me, andfuck, the scent of her skin and the feeling of her warm body against mine, clutched in my arms, has arousal thrumming through my veins even as I run for the opening we made in the fence. I see Tommy running from the house, and he catches up just as I set Adriana down and push her through the opening in the fence.

"Cormac has the kid at the car," he pants. "Rian is right behind me.Go."

Adriana's face goes white, and suddenly she's not fighting me any longer. She runs with us as we head toward where the car is waiting, and as we round the corner, I see Cormac in the driver's seat with the engine already running.

Vaguely, through a back tinted window, I see the shape of a small boy, and my heart nearly stops.My son.

I don't have time to think about it. We all pile into the car, Rian leaping in at the last moment, and the tires squeal as we tear away from the Santoro mansion.

No one follows us—yet, at least. But even if they do, we have a head start, and Cormac takes a roundabout route to the private airport.