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It was. This was the last possible chance I had to end this. “Stop,” I begged, shaking my head. “Please. I’ll do what you want.”
A smile curled his lips as if he’d won, and I stepped forward two steps.
I stepped forward one last step, faked a stumble, and then plunged the small blade into Valentino’s wrist.
36
Dante
Valentino’s gun hit the floor, and I moved. I stood with my one good leg and shot forward, trying and failing to hold myself upright fully as a look of pure rage filled the eyes of my enemy.
“You’re going to regret that,” he snarled.
I was a few feet away, but Valentino was the only one uninjured enough to move swiftly. He grabbed Sienna’s wrist, and she screamed in agony as he dragged her toward a door and threw her inside, slamming it behind them.
I lunged, colliding with the door hard enough that it should have buckled under my full weight, but the lock clicked, and it remained sealed. Everything else in this house had been reinforced and built to last through anything, and this door was no exception. I couldn’t balance on my injured leg long enough to kick it in, so I took a step backward and looked around.
I had one option.
I had to call for backup despite Bria being in the line of fire. I couldn’t risk walking her back through the complex and past all the guards. Even if I killed Valentino and we escaped, we’d never make it out alone.
It was the only option.
I moved toward Bria, taking in every inch of her small, petrified face. “Bria, I’m going to hide you, and then there’s going to be a lot of gunfire. I don’t want you to move until I come and get you. Only me. Nobody else. If anyone else tries touching you, I want you to scream as loud as you can.”
She only nodded.
God, I couldn’t put my brother’s little girl in danger when she’d been trusted to me, but what other choice did I have? I grabbed her hand and guided her toward a side room, pushing through it with my shoulder.
“Uncle Dante, are you going to be okay?” she asked. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know,” I said. I could feel the pain in my hand and thigh radiating through every other part of my body, and only the adrenaline kept me up and moving right now. “I’ll be fine as long as you stay hidden.”
“Sienna’s bleeding, too. Are you going to protect her?”
“With my life.”
Bria had no idea how much I’d give to see each of them out of this situation safely. I glanced around the room and found a heavy wooden dresser tucked against a wall. It would have to do.
I moved toward it, using all the strength I could muster to pull it away from the wall about a foot, leaving a small hole for Bria. An adult could never fit behind it, but a child?
“Sit behind this, and don’t move. Don’t make a sound until I come back,” I demanded.
She listened wordlessly. In her eyes, I could see a terror that I wouldn’t have wished on any child. Bria rarely went without words, but as she tucked herself behind the dresser, pulling her knees to her chest, she didn’t say anything.
I grabbed both sides of her face and left a kiss on her forehead, meeting her eyes. “I love you so much, Bria.”
She only nodded and gave me a small peck on the cheek.
I stormed toward the door and sent the signal the moment the door closed. My team lagged for less than five seconds before gunfire began exploding outside the walls of this place. It was all the distraction I could afford. I needed to get into the room with Valentino and Sienna. I didn’t know what he was doing to her. Fear coursed through me as I looked around at the ground.
My gun.
I grabbed it with my left hand, glancing down at my right one. I’d been damn lucky not to lose any fingers. The shot went through my palm, right between my forefinger and middle finger. Icouldn’t bend or flex either adequately, so I gripped the handle in my other hand and fired twice into the door handle.
I shoved my shoulder into the door before stepping back and doing it again, using the last bullet that I’d allotted for this gun.
The door flew inward, and I fell with it, unable to support the weight of my body with the injured leg I’d already pushed too far.
