Page 30 of Stay Little Fighter

“Lombardi, have you got our girl?” Ryker’s voice fills my earpiece.

I hesitate for a moment before tapping the button. “I’ve got her and Damon. I need a car out the front right now.”

“What’s going on?” Kingston demands.

“Chloe needs a hospital. Get me a fucking car,” I snap.

Shoving the dread as far down as I can, I push my brother out of the way and scoop Chloe into my arms. She’s hot despite the chill in the air, and I try to ignore the anxiety that slams into my chest.

She is not dying today.

It’s not a fucking option.

“Car’s coming down the driveway now,” Corbin tells us. “King and Ryker are on their way to the closest hospital. Tim has the coordinates patched into the GPS already.”

I don’t bother responding as I push past Rocco and move toward the front door. The gunfire was over almost as quickly as it started, and I’m careful not to trip over any of the bodies.

Not while I’m holding precious cargo.

I step into the cool morning air at the same time an SUV stops at the bottom of the worn wooden steps, and I waste no time tugging the back door open and carefully clipping Chloe in.

Damon opens the door across from me and climbs inside, immediately scooting close to her.

As difficult as it is to drag myself away from them, I force my feet to move. I can’t afford to shut down right now, no matter how hard it is to make myself get into the driver’s seat and peel away from the shitty farmhouse.

Once we’re on the road, I glance into the rearview mirror and find Damon’s forehead pressed to hers as he whispers something I can’t hear.

“Are you hurt?” I ask.

He shakes his head but doesn’t unwind himself from around Chloe. “No.”

“Why are you in a suit?”

“Mikayla was planning to force me to marry her.”

I lift a brow but he continues before I can ask any follow-up questions. “She said she would get Chloe a doctor if I signed the marriage certificate.”

“You were going to marry Mikayla to save Chloe?”

He huffs out a laugh and presses a kiss to the top of her head. “Haven’t you realized by now that I would do anything to save her?”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHLOE

THEN

ELEVEN YEARS AGO

Tension bleeds through the compound in a way I can’t remember it ever doing before.

Everyone is on edge, and my anxiety peaks every time I have to leave my family’s wing because I have no idea what waits for me around each corner.

Especially Salvatore.

He’s never particularly liked me, and I gave up trying to convince him I’m worthy of his son a long time ago because unlike with Damon, he doesn’t have a say in who Ronan spends his life with.

After the first time he floated marrying me off to another mafia family, my father told me that there was a clause in his contract with Caroline’s family that he would have no say in who any subsequent children would marry if he chose to arrange a marriage for their eldest. He thinks if he can get me out of the picture that Ronan will finally be free to marry whoever he chooses, but he clearly doesn’t know his youngest son as well as he thinks he does if he believes that to be the case.