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The silence that greets me makes my blood run cold and I hold the torch up and search for any sign of my wife.
“Abi, answer me.” I yell, but there is nothing back.
Suddenly, I hear a shout back from where we came, and I swear my heart almost gives out on me when I sense something has happened.
“We’ve got her.”
“Drag the bastard back with us.” I say through gritted teeth as I grab my fallen soldier and heave him over my shoulder, and we head back the way we came, the torch on our phones our only light.
It’s as if we’ve been walking for hours before we hear voices ahead and I call out, the relief immense when I see my soldiers running toward us.
“Take him.” I growl as I drop my soldier into their arms, praying we’re not too late to save his life.
The relief is enormous when even more of my soldiers race toward me, all holding lit candles, lighting the tunnel and marking our way back.
“Where is she?” I growl and one of them says quickly, “In that fucking dungeon. She’s with Cesare and…” he falters, and I growl. “And?”
“Um, Stephanie, boss.”
At first I don’t register the name and then the realization hits me hard. Cesare’s Stephanie. The woman who disappeared off the face of the earth six months ago.
“She’s here. What the fuck?”
The soldiers guide us back along the dark, dank tunnel and a shaft of light spills from the opening we jumped through. Strong arms reach down and pull us up one by one, and I waste no time in searching the room for the only person I want to see right now.
“Matteo.” A desperate voice calls my name, and it’s the sweetest sound as a hooded figure comes hurtling toward me and falls sobbing into my arms. The emotion that overwhelms me shocks me a little as my arms close around her shivering body so tightly, it’s doubtful I will ever let her go.
I nuzzle my face into her hair and fight back the emotion as the relief hits me hard. She’s safe. She’s back with me where she belongs and, more importantly, she’s alive.
The sound of raised voices catches my attention and I watch my soldiers dragging a kicking Mario out of his own pit and I shout, “Cuff that bastard to his own fucking altar!”
I watch, my hatred boiling like a simmering volcano as he is manhandled roughly onto the cruel hard stone and as Abigail’s sobs subside, she pulls back and stares across the room at the man who almost took her from me.
I catch sight of Cesare holding another hooded figure close against his chest and as our eyes meet, I see the same murderous intent in my eyes reflected back at me. An unspoken sentence passes between us, and I lean down and say gently, “Trust me, princess. This won’t take long.”
She nods and whispers, “Make it hurt, Matteo. Make him pay for what he’s done to every defenseless woman he’s tortured and killed.”
I nod with a surge of pride for my beautiful warrior wife because, far from crumbling, she is getting stronger by the second.
I glare at my nearest soldier and growl, “Don’t take your eyes off her.”
He nods, stepping to her side and draws his weapon as her protection. Not that I expect anything to happen to her in this room because it’s filled with soldiers past and present who all appear to have one common purpose in mind. Mario.
Cesare steps by my side as we head toward the stone altar, and I stare into the crazed eyes of the man I hate most in the world.
The whip is still wrapped around his neck but has slackened enough for him to breathe and he hisses, “You’re a fucking joke, Matteo. Do you really think you’ll get away with this?”
“Get away with what?” I shrug, apparently unconcerned, and his eyes narrow. “You don’t realize who you are dealing with. Back off and let the real men take control.”
I nod to Cesare, who pulls him up by the whip and unwinds it from around his neck.
Mario laughs, his eyes flashing as he senses he’s about to gain the upper hand. He probably thinks he already has it when he notices my father’s soldiers that he has commanded up until this point.
“Tell me, Mario…” I say conversationally as Cesare begins to unfasten the metal cuffs that are currently holding him down.
“What was the plan regarding my wife?”
He grins and flicks his devious gaze over to Abi and sneers, “Power, Matteo. She will give me respectability because you can’t kill me. If you do you will sign your own death warrant and your men know that.” He turns and addresses the silent soldiers, watching the scene unfold with interest.
