‘It is Dante,padrone,’ Lorenzo said, his voice shaking with anger.
Dante? What the fuck?
‘Tell me!’ I demanded.
‘He escaped, during the wedding we think. We do not know how. He tied up the men guarding him and then waited.’
‘Dante is loose on the island?’ Fury blindsided me, especially when I heard Mia’s shocked whisper from behind me.
‘D-Dante’s escaped?’
I turned to see her standing in the moonlight with a thin wrap covering her nakedness.
‘He stole a boat and got away ten minutes ago,’ Lorenzo said. ‘We fired on him, but then we had to let him go…’
I grabbed a shirt from the dresser, the fury making my head feel as if it was about to explode. ‘Why the fuck did you let him escape?’ I said, tugging on the clothing, then reaching for my gun.
‘Because he had Signora Rocco’s sister tied to him.’
‘He’s kidnapped Evie!’ Mia’s cry had me swinging round. I lurched forward, catching her before she could crumple to the floor.
I scooped her into my arms.
‘Vito, you have to get her back!’ she cried, the distress in her eyes tearing my heart out. ‘I should have let you kill him when you had the chance…’ she said, the fear in her voice crucifying me.
‘Do not worry. We will get her back. He will not hurt her,’ I said, determined to believe it. I could not be sure what that bastard would do to her. But Dante was an intelligent man, shrewd and smart as well as wild. Even if he had kidnapped her simply to make good his escape and use her as a shield against my men’s bullets, he would surely also know that hurting her would be signing his own death warrant. And a part of me could not believe even now, that a boy who had once defended his mother so zealously would deliberately hurt a defenseless woman.
But when Mia spasmed in my arms, and I heard the deep moan of pain and felt the gush of water against my pantleg, Dante and Evie’s fate was propelled to the back of my mind.
‘Vito!’ Mia cried, gripping my shirt. ‘I think… I think the baby’s coming…’
‘Lorenzo, get the doctor out of bed.’ I threw the demand over my shoulder, making a promise to myself that if anything happened to Mia or my child tonight, Dante would not live to see morning.
Mia
Four hours later
I lay shaking, sore and exhausted, my arms so tired I could barely lift them, as Vito cradled me and our baby against his chest and kissed our son’s damp head.
‘He is beautiful, Mia, just as you are,’ he whispered.
I looked up at my husband, tears stinging my eyes. The birth had been much swifter than expected, and predictably excruciating, with Vito threatening the poor doctor and his nurses with all sorts of retribution if they did not take my pain away, until I’d finally managed to convince him to let them do their jobs.
I stared at our son, his tiny fists clasped tight, his face screwed up in protest, before he let out another series of tired wails. I pressed my nipple to his mouth, and he latched on greedily.
He was three weeks early, but according to the obstetrician Vito had hired weeks ago, our son was healthy and more than large enough to survive without an incubator.
His lungs were certainly in good working order.
‘Wh-what’s happening with the search for Dante and Evie?’ I asked.
I’d managed to push the terrifying thoughts about my sister’s safety to the back of my mind while I had concentrated on bringing our baby into the world, but now he was safe and well—and beautiful, I thought, blinking back more tears—the fear returned.
Vito brushed my hair back from my face and placed a kiss on my forehead. ‘Do not worry, Mia. I am confident we will get her back unharmed. I promise you, he will not hurt her.’
‘How do you know that?’ I asked.
‘He is a bad man, a wild man, a dangerous man, but not one who would hurt a woman, I think. And she is…how do you say…his trump card. He has already sent a text on her phone, saying he wishes to negotiate a truce for Evie’s safe return.’
