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“Now the shoes.” A slight growl roughened my voice as I suppressed my most primal desires to grab her and fuck her hard.
She reached for them just as the studio door burst open with a bang. She yelped and lifted her hands to her heart, startled. I was instantly on my feet, positioning my body in front of hers.
Two of my guards stood in the doorway, guns drawn.
One of them spoke, and my blood ran cold. “Your father is dead. You’re to come with us. Dante wants to see you.”
Chapter 10
Luca
“Idon’t answer to Dante and neither do you.” My words were cold and precise, and I clung to my control by a thread. I couldn’t fly into a rage. One wrong move could send bullets flying, and Nora might get hit.
Fear like I’d never known before gripped my lungs with sharp claws, digging deep and robbing my breath. Because I wasn’t the only one in danger. My heart hammered against my ribcage at the prospect of my fragile wife being hurt. It was my job to protect her, and now I had two traitors in my home, guns threatening her.
The man who’d spoken first, Andrea, swallowed hard but firmed his grip on his weapon. “Dante paid us well. He’s the boss now. You’re coming with us. Quietly, or we won’t hesitate to shoot.”
“Don’t point that at my wife.” I couldn’t quite keep the growl from my voice.
Both weapons trained on my heart. The second man, Federico, said, “Dante wants her alive. She won’t be harmed. He wants to see you both, but we have orders to shoot you if you try to resist.”
My mind churned. Dante wanted both of us. Probably to make an example of me. And Nora…
My teeth flashed in a snarl. I knew exactly what that sadistic bastard wanted from my pretty wife.
“You’re both dead men,” I informed them, struggling to maintain my cold demeanor. “You’ll pay for betraying me.”
Andrea paled, and his gun swung in Nora’s direction. “Come quietly, or I’ll hurt her.”
Federico swore. “We can’t. Dante said—”
“Dante will get over it,” Andrea snapped, sweat beading on his brow. “We’re getting the fuck out of here. Right now.”
He was right to be nervous. They weren’t the only men guarding my estate. If I gave even the smallest signal to any of my people as we exited the mansion, Andrea and Federico would die instantly. They were counting on the threat of their guns to subdue me. But Andrea could see the truth in my eyes: I wouldn’t willingly go to Dante under any circumstances, even if it meant risking my own life.
But Nora’s life…
No, I couldn’t risk her.
I couldn’t let Dante have her, either. I couldn’t even let myself begin to contemplate what the sick motherfucker would do to her if he got his filthy hands on my wife.
“Alright,” I bit out. “I’ll come with you. Just keep your aim on me, not her.”
I took a slow step forward, and Andrea’s gun jerked back to target my heart.
My teeth cut the inside of my cheek when Federico insisted, “She’s coming too.”
I held out my hand behind me, never taking my eyes off the threat. I couldn’t focus on Nora’s terror. I couldn’t take my attention off the traitors for so much as a heartbeat.
“Get behind me, Nora.” I kept my voice controlled, tone calm. I couldn’t spook her, or she might bolt. I needed her firmly shielded by my body.
Her hand trembled when she placed it in mine, and I gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. I wanted to swear to her that I would never give her to Dante, but there would be time for that later. We wouldn’t leave our home with these bastards. Even if it meant taking a bullet myself, I wouldn’t let them anywhere near her.
We took slow, measured steps toward the two men, and they eased back into the corridor. When I reached the threshold to the dance studio, I acted. Grabbing Nora’s hip, I shoved her farther inside the room, to the left so that she was no longer a target in the open doorway.
“Get down!” I barked, lunging at Andrea first—he’d proven to be the more unstable one, so I needed to handle him quickly.
I grabbed his wrist and twisted, drawing on my years of training to disarm the threat. Two shots boomed through the corridor, one from my gun and the other from Federico’s. My bullet ripped through Andrea’s skull, exiting in a bloody splatter against the wood paneled wall. Federico’s bullet grazed my upper arm, a shot to injure but not to kill; he was still obeying Dante’s instructions to bring us in.
