Page 184 of Healed

“I’m fine too,” Dante muttered dryly from behind me. I turned to him, a sheepish expression on my face.

“Good. I’m glad. I—”

“Don’t worry about it, Gabby,” he laughed back.

“So what happened? What was the gunshot for?”

Dante jerked his chin towards the trees.

Twisting my head, I squinted my eyes and looked at where he was gesturing.

I saw a bike not too far ahead, almost concealed by the shadows. “Little fucker tried making a run for it,” Dante announced, pocketing his gun. “He won’t make it very far with two blown-out tyres.”

“Nice shot,” I said, my lips twisting in approval.

“Get the kids home, Gabriella,” Vienna said, already marching forward.

“Vienna, wait, I—for God’s sake,” I snapped. “Why do we keep fucking separating?”

“Nico was trying to get on the bike. He must have stashed it away from here to try to get away. Clearly he thought his men would stop us. Just take my children home, Gabriella. We’ve got it from here.”

“But—”

“Home,” he ordered firmly, spinning me around by my shoulders and pushing me back into the playhouse to Rachel. She was already getting to her feet, patting down the children, checking for injuries.

And as I scrambled back outside, Dante was already half-way to Vienna.

Chapter 58

Vienna

It didn’t take us long to catch up to Nico.

We marched through the trees, not bothering to be hurried or race after him. We simply marched side-by-side, brothers until the end.

As we reached Nico’s bike, Dante pulled his gun out and fired off four more bullets into it, leaving it a smoking mess behind us.

We didn’t stop to see what the outcome would be, whether it would be set ablaze or simply be left to rot in these woods like everything else here. We simply continued stalking towards Nico.

He took the coward’s way out and tried to run from us, but he had also made a grave mistake. A mistake that would ultimately cost him his life.

He tried to take a childhood memory of ours and taint it with bloodshed. But the only blood spilled today had been his own men, and he was currently running through territory that I knew like the back of my hand.

I knew the dead ends, the inaccessible paths. I knew where the trees made it difficult and the water made the land too boggy.

And so, it was hardly surprising when a few minutes of chase meant that Nico was cornered.

“Give it up, Rider,” Dante called. “There’s nowhere else for you to run.”

Nico stopped.

And then he slowly turned to face us.

“Have you brought me my princess?” he asked, scanning the distance behind us.

“Cut the shit,” Dante warned. “We—”

“Bring me my princess, or I’m saying nothing,” Nico interrupted, still looking behind us.