I pull back just enough to look at his face, to check him for injuries. My hands are running over his arms, his legs, his head, searching for wounds or bruises or anything that might tell me they hurt him.
“Did they hurt you? Did anyone touch you? Are you okay?”
He shakes his head, still crying. “They were so scary, but they didn’t hit me.”
No injuries and no visible trauma beyond the terror of being kidnapped by strangers. He’s okay. Physically, at least. The psychological damage we’ll deal with later, with therapy and love and time and whatever else it takes to help him heal.
Right now, all that matters is getting him out of here alive.
I don’t know where Viktor went, and we need to get out of here before he comes back.
“Listen to me, baby.” I cup his face in my hands, forcing him to meet my eyes. “We’re going to get out of here, okay? Daddy is upstairs fighting the bad men and we’re going to be safe. But I need you to be brave for me. Can you do that?”
He nods, his lower lip trembling.
“That’s my boy. Now hold onto me and don’t let go.”
I pick him up, settling him on my hip the way I’ve done a thousand times before. He wraps his legs around my waist and buries his face in my neck, and I can feel his tears soaking into my collar.
The gunfire from the catacombs is getting closer. Marco’s team must be pushing through, clearing the tunnels, but there’s still fighting going on. Still danger everywhere I turn.
And above us, through the ceiling, I can hear the battle in the cathedral still raging. The crack of gunshots. The screams of wounded men. The sound of Dante fighting his way toward us.
We’re not safe yet. Not even close.
I tighten my grip on Luca and start moving toward the sounds of Marco’s team. If I can reach them, they can protect us. Get us out of here while Dante finishes the rest off.
But even as I walk, with my son strapped against my chest and feeling his heartbeat against mine, I know the truth.
The bullets are still flying up there. Dante is still fighting, and Viktor is still out there somewhere with his men and his desperation and nothing left to lose.
There’s no safe way out yet.
31
DANTE
Scarlett is no longer behind the pillar, though there are a few men on the ground with makeshift bandages.
Fucking hell.
My heart sinks violently, terror and panic crashing into me all at once, stealing the air from my lungs. For a second, I am totally disorganized and clueless on what to do.
I’m standing at the doorway to follow Viktor and Luca, but I also need to find Scarlett. I don’t even know which way to turn.
The gunfire and the chaos around me all blur into noise. Inside my head is a total mess. If Viktor gets away with Luca, then all of this means nothing. If Scarlett is hurt, if she’s been taken…
I quickly stop myself, because I begin to see red just by letting myself think of it.
I tap my comm with shaking fingers. “Marco, Scarlett is missing. Find her. Now.”
Then I move, running on pure instinct, and cutting through every obstacle that comes my way while I wait for Marco’s response, and I search every piece of protection she could have moved to hide behind.
Marco’s voice soon comes through two minutes later, and it’s the longest two minutes of my life. “Boss, we’ve got her. She and the boy are safe.”
She got to Luca? Oh, my fierce, fierce woman.
The relief that floods through me is so intense it nearly takes my legs out from under me. Safe. My son is safe. Scarlett found him, and Marco’s team has them both.
