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“Where’s Ivy? Did we find her?” I stand quickly, pulling her up with me, and we continue down the hallway to the room Dante was guarding. Cat rushes inside, and I follow her, and then we finally see her.
Little Ivy, lying tucked in bed. She is still, not moving, and Cat is on her in a second, feeling for her pulse.
“Is she okay??” I ask, panicking as I step up beside her, my stomach lurching into my throat.
“They gave her a sedation earlier. I think she has slept through the whole thing.” She tries to pull her up and cuddle her to her chest, but can’t because she is shaking too much, weak from stress.
“Here, let me,” I say, leaning over and grabbing Ivy, holding her to my chest. Cat's hands wrap around my bicep, and she sticks to me like glue as we walk out the door.
“Tony is downstairs with the car running,” Dante says to me as he walks us down the hallway to the elevator where Sebastian is waiting for us.
“Nico is on his way up to help us clean up this mess. Doctors are already at the compound, waiting for you,” Sebastian tells me as the elevator chimes, and Nico plus eight others come inside.
“Thanks,” I grit out, my arm killing where the bullet grazed me, but I could care less. I just need to get my girls out of this place as quickly as possible.
Sebastian holds the elevator door and looks directly at Cat.
“Cat, whatever you need, you have it. Welcome to the family,” he says before stepping back and beginning to bark orders at the others.
The doors close, leaving me with my girls. Where they belong.
43
Catherine
We step into Carter’s New York City apartment, which I have learned is part of the compound, a large, connected fortress taking up an entire block of the city where Sebastian and his mob family live. After spending some time in the very modern and well-stocked medical ward downstairs, checking Ivy’s stats, and cleaning up mine and Carter’s wounds, I am grateful for the quiet that his apartment brings us. He has carried Ivy the whole way and now as he lays her on his bed, we wrap her up in the blankets. She is still fast asleep, blissfully unaware of what happened.
Although I don’t like that they drugged her, I am glad she didn’t witness anything about tonight. Flashes of seeing my father's bloody, lifeless body fill my mind, and I take a deep breath to try to keep my nerves in check. But they are totally shot, and I don’t know how to calm myself down.
“Sit with her a bit. I will be back in a minute,” Carter says as he leans down and gives me a peck on the cheek. I have never been more thankful for a man before in my life.
He has been the only man to look after me, love me, support me, be there for me, and now he saved me. Not only from my own family, but literally saved my life by pushing me out of the way of the bullet and taking it himself.
He is right; it is only a scratch, but it could have been worse. So much worse.
I pay no attention to where he has gone or what he is doing as I sit on the bed, totally enamoured with my daughter. I slowly brush her hair from her forehead, taking in her peacefulness, knowing that we have a steep road ahead of us to heal, but a lifetime of happiness coming our way because we are free. We are finally free of the restraints that the men of our family placed on us.
She will be frightened when she wakes up in a strange bed, with memories of being ripped from me earlier today. But I will sleep with her, hold her in my arms, and will never let her go.
“Okay, your turn,” Carter says to me as he comes and stands by my side, and I look up at him in question. He gives me a small smile, and I gasp as he leans over the bed and picks me up, bridal style, my arms flinging around his neck and hanging on tight.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask as he steps away from the bed. Not worried, but not keen to leave Ivy at all.
“Don’t worry, just in here,” he says, knowing what I am feeling as he takes me into his bathroom and places my feet back down on the floor.
The bathroom is steamy, and I notice that he has filled the tub with warm water and some bubbles too. Walking around to my back, he slowly lowers the zip of my dress.
I want to burn this dress. I have wanted to rip it from my body all night, not because it is horrible or uncomfortable, but for what it represents and the cage it became, keeping me held in tight, reminding me who owned me earlier.
“Shit,” he grits out as the zip lowers, and I assume it’s because my skin is purple now. But I don’t care. Now, I can finally breathe, for the first time in what feels like years.
“Baby,” he says quietly, his voice deep in concern. His hand skims down my back before he gently grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him, looking me over.
“Who did this?” he asks me, anger burning in his eyes.
“Daniel,” I say honestly. I don’t care anymore. My father is dead, and I have no idea about Daniel. If he is still breathing, he is as good as dead anyway.
Carter nods in understanding as his hands wander softly around to my back, and he unclips my strapless bra, before grabbing my underwear around my waist and lowering them to the floor. My hands lean on his shoulders as I step out of them.
