Page 71 of Vow of Desire

No one answers.

It’s then that I remember the guard had a phone. Shit. I wasn’t thinking about that. All I was thinking about was getting Luciana out of that house.

The last thing I can do is carry her back in there. With no other choice, I find a plot of land with some bushes scattered about. I place her behind the bushes to hide her in case Dante shows back up.

Then I hurry back to the house. I’m more careful this time in going back through the glass strewn room and down into the basement. The dead guard’s body is just lying there. I pick his phone off the ground. The call he made to Dante has been disconnected.

But I see a text: Dante is on his way. Fuck.

I call Gabriel’s number. “Gabriel. I need help. That fucker, Dante Zaneli, kidnapped me and Luciana. We’re at some house. I’m hurt. She’s hurt. We need help. I’ll send you the address. But you need to come soon.”

“I’ll be there,” he says without any hesitation.

I limp my way back out of the house and snap a picture of the address and send it to him. But that’s when I see headlights coming my way.

I dive against the side of the house and hope the darkness hides me, even just a tiny bit. The car keeps driving… until itstops right before the house and Dante gets out of the passenger seat. He storms inside.

He hasn’t noticed me. I drop the phone to the ground and limp away as fast as I can. The last thing I need is Dante tracking me with the guard’s phone.

But he’ll easily know that me and Luciana escaped when he doesn’t see our bodies down there. He’ll find us and I just hope Gabriel can get here in time.

I make it back to Luciana and crouch down behind the bushes. There’s no way we can outrun Dante – who has a weapon and strength on his side. I took the guard’s gun with me but I’m too weak to fight Dante off.

I pull Luciana in my lap and hold tight. I’ve never been one to pray but in this moment, I need God’s strength. I need a miracle.

A whistle off in the distance makes my hair stand on end. “Where are you?” Dante sings. It’s fucking eerie. “Where did the two of you go?” His voice is getting closer and closer. “Are we playing a game? I love games. This makes life so much more fun, doesn’t it?”

I grip the gun in my right hand and hold Luciana against my body with my left. If Dante comes near us, I’ll be ready to shoot.

“You left a trail of blood behind you,” Dante mocks. “I’m assuming it was you, Matteo. There’s no way Luciana could carry you. But you could easily carry her. So where are you two?” I hear him getting closer to the bushes where we’re hiding. He’s so close. So close.

“Found you,” Dante growls.

I glance up and find him looking down at us. Without any hesitation, I bring my gun up and fire. Dante jerks back, just barely avoiding getting hit. He backs away from the bushes but he now knows exactly where we are. I only have a few bullets left in the gun. I can’t waste them.

I set Luciana on the ground and aim my body around the bush to fire. I manage to hit Dante in the arm, knocking him back farther.

“You motherfucker,” he hisses, clutching his arm. I go to shoot him again when he fires his own gun back at me. I duck behind the bush, narrowly avoiding getting hit. “You can’t hide from me. I know where you are. You’re fucking dead.”

A car comes careening down the street and stops before Dante. Gabriel gets out, followed by Rocco. Dante fires at them and they take cover behind the car.

With a laugh, he takes off running. Gabriel aims at him but Dante dives into a doorway and doesn’t get hit.

“Forget about him” I gasp out. “We need help.”

Rocco and Gabriel rush to my side. That’s when Rocco lays eyes on his daughter. “Luciana?”

“She’s alive. But she has an infection. We have to get to the hospital. Now.”

Rocco scoops Luciana up into his arms and runs over to the car while Gabriel helps me to my feet.

“You’re in rough shape,” Gabriel says.

“I know,” I snap. “Just get us to the hospital.”

“I’ll let your tone slide. I can see you’re hurt and Luciana isn’t doing well.” He helps me into the back seat where Luciana is. Rocco hasn’t let Luciana out of his arms.

“Hurry,” Rocco begs. Gabriel is fast at getting back into the car and driving away.