Page 31 of Blood Vows

“I do,” he said.

“Then we go back to my apartment,” she said.

“Absolutely fucking not.”

“We have to,” she said.

“No, we don’t,” Dante mumbled.

“How else are you going to get it?” Dante opened his mouth, but nothing came out because she was right. He hated when she was right.

Luca sighed. “I’ll send men to get it.”

Elena shook her head. “They won’t find it.”

Luca looked at her. “Why?”

“Because my father taught me where to hide things.” That sentence landed strangely.

“What does that mean?” he asked.

Elena’s gaze held his. “It means if you want the card, I have to go with him,” she said, nodding to Dante. He wanted to refuse. Every instinct screamed no. Her apartment was compromised. Someone had already died there tonight. Going back was stupid and dangerous. It was exactly the kind of decision Luca had just warned him not to make based on emotion. So Dante forced himself to think like a soldier. The card might identify Hale, and he might connect to Elena’s father, and that could unravel the accounts. The risk had value, though. He hated that logic, but it was logic.

“Fine,” he said.

Elena blinked up at him. “Fine?”

“We go at first light.”

Luca shook his head. “No.”

Dante looked over. “No?”

Luca’s mouth twitched. “See how annoying that is?” Dante glared, and Luca continued. “You’re not going with two men this time.”

“I don’t need—” Dante started.

“You’re taking six,” Luca ordered.

“Luca,” Dante said.

“Six,” Luca insisted.

Dante understood. Luca wasn’t asking. “Fine.”

Marco leaned back. “I’ll go too.”

“No,” Dante and Luca said at the same time.

Marco frowned. “Why?”

“You’re useful here,” Luca said.

“And annoying there,” Dante added. Marco flipped him off, and Elena looked between them.

“You people are insane,” she accused.

Dante looked at her. “You’re just figuring that out?” She smiled, and there it was again—that tug somewhere beneath his ribs.