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My lips brushed his lightly. “How strong are you, Remo Falcone?”
“Strong enough to take you and our children home where you all belong, Angel.”
I smiled. I wedged the blade under the rope. “Swear not to kill my family. Not my brother, not my father, not my uncle. Swear it on our children, Remo.”
“I swear it,” he murmured. I cut through the rope when I heard the creak of the door. I dropped the knife in Remo’s now free hand.
“Serafina, get the fuck away from the asshole!” Danilo growled, gripping me by the shoulders and pulling me to my feet. I whirled around on him, getting in his face. “Don’t tell me what to do. I have a right to be here.”
Danilo was breathing harshly, his chest heaving. I took a step back, closer to Remo again. Dante and my father stepped in. I shielded Remo mostly from their view but that wouldn’t last long.
“You shouldn’t be here, dove. This isn’t something for a woman,” Dad said gently.
He still believed in my innocence, but Dante and Danilo regarded me more cautiously. “Where’s Samuel?” Dante asked.
I wrapped my arms around my body and slid my hands beneath my cardigan, my fingers curling around the gun strapped to the holster there.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and pulled the gun on them.
Dante put his hand on his gun at his waist but didn’t pull it. My father and Danilo were completely frozen.
“Samuel’s going to be okay. He’s knocked out behind the sofa.”
“Fina,” Dad said in a soothing voice. “You’ve been through a lot. Put down the gun.”
I took another step back, releasing the safety catch. “I’m sorry,” I said again, biting back tears, thinking of Samuel, of what he would think once he woke up. In my peripheral vision, Remo cut through the last rope around his ankle.
Dante pulled his gun and so did Danilo, but I barred their view of Remo. They wouldn’t shoot me, not even now that I was holding them at gunpoint. I was a woman, someone to protect. I was their responsibility and their failure. Remo staggered to his feet behind me, and Danilo aimed. I shot at him, nicking the outside of his upper arm. He gasped, his eyes flashing at me.
“Not a single move,” I warned. Remo pressed up behind me, as usual not heeding any safety measures, towering a head over me. “We only want to leave. No one has to get hurt,” I whispered.
Remo reached for my gun but I shook my head. “My back,” I told him. His hand slid under my cardigan and pulled the gun from there.
“Dove,” Dad croaked. “You don’t owe this man anything. He raped you. I know emotions can get confused in a situation like this, but we have people who can help you.”
I smiled sadly at him and then Samuel stumbled inside, holding on to the doorframe. I hadn’t dared use a higher dose on him than was absolutely necessary; obviously it wasn’t enough. He stared at me uncomprehendingly, his arm with his gun hanging limply at his side. My twin, my confidante. For most of my life I had been sure my love for Samuel, for my twin, could never be challenged, and I still loved him, loved him so much the look of betrayal on his face splintered me in half, but now there were my children and the man behind me.
Remo’s gaze moved from me to him, and he touched my hip. I swallowed the rising emotion.
“Please let us leave, Uncle,” I addressed Dante. “This war is because of me, and I can tell you I don’t want it. I don’t want to be avenged. Don’t rob my children of their father. I’ll go to Las Vegas with Remo where I belong, where my kids belong. Please, if you feel guilty for what happened to me, if you want to save me, then do this. Let me return to Vegas with Remo. This doesn’t have to be an endless spiral of bloodshed. It can end today. For your children, for mine. Let us leave.”
Dante’s cold eyes were on Remo, not me. “Is she speaking in the name of the Camorra?”
Remo’s grip on my hip tightened. “She does. You breached my territory, and I breached yours. We’re even.”
“We’re not!” Samuel roared, stepping forward, swaying. Remo lifted his gun a couple of inches. “You kidnapped my sister and broke her. You twisted her into your fucking marionette. We won’t be done until I’m standing over your disemboweled corpse so my sister is finally free of you.”
“Sam,” I choked. “Don’t do this. I know you don’t understand, but I need to return to Vegas with Remo, for myself, but more importantly for my children.”
“I knew you should have gotten rid of them,” Samuel rasped, his eyes glassy. Remo’s hand on my hip jerked and I knew without the promise he’d given me, he would have killed my brother for his words.
