Page 9 of Daddies of the Underworld

I was questioned before I entered every room, and I’d started hanging my credentials card on my apron pocket so I didn’t have to try and balance a tray while digging for it.

My information had meant something to them. I should feel proud of myself, but worry took over instead.

“Nina.” Rosa snapped her fingers in front of my face when I entered the kitchen after delivering a tray to the east wing.

“Yes.” I was out of breath and flushed from speed-walking everywhere.

Rosa looked me over, tsking. “The formal gathering tonight. You are on staff. Stephanie is sick.”

I opened my mouth to argue that I was supposed to have the night off but snapped it shut. No one liked a complainer.

“Good.” Approval brightened her tone. “They’re starting early. You need to go.” She turned me by the shoulders and all but shoved me toward the terrace that had been transformed by white linen and bouquets of flowers.

I worked the room with my head down and nerves strung tight. Something in the air lingered despite everyone looking normal.

Well. Fancy normal in their tuxedos and cocktail dresses.

Matteo, Dante, and Luca stood in their usual spot, high above me and staring down at the world.

I tried not to let that bother me as I handed off champagne glasses and kept my head down.

Glass shattered to my left. I wheeled that way, ready to help whoever had dropped their flute.

Screams shattered the air, sending ice down my spine as more glass shattered. The table arrangements exploded, and my brain finally caught up with reality.

Gunshots.

Someone was shooting up the party.

My legs locked. Move, Nina. Get under a table. Run. Hide. Do something!

Fuck. I didn’t have any kind of training for this, no instinct that helped the adrenaline create the right movement in my body.

A hand closed around my upper arm.

I started to scream, whirling at the same time. Dante’s face came into view, and I sagged against him.

A grunt rumbled in my ear, then we were moving. Dante carved a path through the chaos, pulling me along after locking me against his side. He steered the two of us around an overturned table, through a door that connected to the interior corridor, and down another hallway that narrowed as it bled into the older part of the villa.

Shouting echoed behind us, then another shot that made me jump despite being muffled by walls and distance.

I tried to speak, but anything I might ask failed to come out when Dante opened a door and pushed me through.

“Here.” He walked in behind me, pulling the overhead string to illuminate what looked to be a tiny storage closet. “You’ll be safe here.” He released me and tried to step away.

I clawed at him without meaning to, my grasping hands saying what my mouth refused. Don’t go. Don’t leave me here alone.

The door slammed closed.

Dante wheeled and twisted the knob as a heavy thud on the other side rattled the floor under my feet.

A whimper escaped, and I folded my arms over my stomach.

Dante tried the door once. Then again. “Fuck.” He slammed a palm on the thick frame, then ripped a hand through his hair. “Fuck.”

Hearing him say it again broke something in me. My stomach heaved, and I took a great big gulp of air.

The swinging bulb overhead sizzled and popped, sending hot glass raining down.