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And I had enjoyed every savage second of it.
“Nora!”
My heart leapt at the familiar voice, and I spun to face the library entrance.
“Giana?” I said her name with awe and rushed toward my sister.
She caught me in a fierce embrace, and her familiar, floral scent suffused the air around me. My eyes stung, and I gripped her more tightly, whispering her name like a prayer.
“I’m here,” she promised, voice shaking with her own tears. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I pulled back so that I could look into her hazel eyes—a mirror for my own.
“Did Dante bring you here?”
Had my captor found a way to allow me to see my sister, after all?
My flicker of gratitude was quickly doused by dread. If Giana was here, then that meant Dante had returned.
I swallowed hard and looked past her, only to find a burly man I recognized as one of my father’s guards, Antonio, waiting in the open doorway. His hands flexed at his sides, and his square jaw ticked with strain.
“We have to go,” he rumbled.
Giana grasped both my hands in hers and started dragging me toward him.
“Dante didn’t bring me here,” she explained quickly. “Antonio snuck me in. Father knew you wouldn’t trust anyone else.”
My feet stalled, and I eyed the guard warily. “What’s going on?”
“Father found out that Dante killed Alberto,” she said in a rush. “He’s decided that Dante is too erratic to be Don; he’s going to take control himself. Dante murdered a member of our family. Father won’t let that go unpunished. He’s not allied to the sadistic monster anymore. I’ve come to take you home.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Father is betraying Dante?”
“Yes.” Giana squeezed my hand in a pulse of comfort. “You’re free, Nora. We have to get out of here.”
“Luca,” I gasped. “I have to get Luca. He’s locked in a cell in the basement.” I looked to Antonio. “Do you know anyone who might have access to the key other than Dante?”
His mouth pressed to a grim line, and he shook his head. “I’m trusted to enter the estate because your father is perceived as Dante’s ally, but I don’t know anything about how this place is run.”
My sister dragged me forward. “We don’t have time for this. If someone sees me, they’ll know I’m not supposed to be here. They’ll get suspicious. I’m taking you out of here right now.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt Giana,” Antonio rumbled. “Let’s go.”
I glanced between the two of them, noting the hungry, desperate way he watched her. He was afraid for Giana to risk herself like this, but he’d accompanied her anyway. I’d never known the man well, but it seemed he knew Giana. Or at least, he wanted her.
I cleared away my budding concern for her. There would be time for me to assess the potential match later. Luca was all that mattered now.
I strode past both of them, grateful that I’d chosen to defy Dante today and wear my own comfortable blouse and jeans while he was gone; I didn’t want my sister to ever see me in the scandalous scraps of lace he usually dressed me in, like I was his personal sex doll.
Giana hurried after me.
“Where are you going?” she hissed, trying to keep her panicked words to a whisper.
“I have to get to Luca,” I insisted, shaking off her gasping hand. “I’m not leaving without him.”
“Nora!”
I ignored Giana’s rebuke and quickened my pace, jogging down the long corridor toward the basement entrance.
