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So many reasons we shouldn't work, yet we do. Whatever happens next, I need Loren, and I won't let her walk away from me again. I drove her away three years ago, and she's been through hell. We both have.
From now on, my cherry blossom will want for nothing, and I refuse to lose her or our daughter again.
Chapter 21
Loren
Domenic's dark, beautiful eyes hold mine, and for a moment, all the panic, anger, and fear turn into background noise in my head. My mafioso still has blood on his hands, suit, and neck—but I'm not afraid of him. Not even a little, like I once was.
I thought he was livid at me for not telling him about Evelyn. While I was hacking into Ricardo Gallo's shit like no tomorrow, I'd been so sure that the moment we got my daughter back, Domenic would take her away from me for good. After all, now he knows I used to be part of the Wild Seven. He's seen firsthand how I've struggled to provide all alone and how I'm basically one never-ending mess.
I'm not angry at you for doing what you felt was necessary to keep our baby safe. Any good mother would have done the same.
He's only mad I didn't tell him about the Wild Seven. But the way he's looking at me right now isn't angry. It's tender and intense at the same time, and he finally leans forward and brushes his lips against mine so lightly it's like the brush of a butterfly wing.
"We're getting her back. I promise."
I don't care if I'm crazy for trusting Domenic Caputo more than anyone else. He makes me feel safe and secure and…I love him. God, I love him.
The realization hits me hard, and I want to say it out loud, but now is not the time. Right now, I need to search the cars around us for signs that they might belong to the Wild Seven. So I pull away from him, heart pounding, to do just that.
In the driver's seat, Big Luck swears again and huffs at the cars on the busy road all around us. We're making killer time to the airport, but just as he's making another turn, my gaze snags on a dark car one lane over that seems familiar. It makes the turn at the same time we do, and their side-view mirror is marked with a red ace of spades—so small anyone else might've missed it.
"There," I exhale hard. "That car. Oh, my God, they might have Evie in there. We need to get closer, get in their lane—"Then I tense, turning toward Domenic with wide eyes. "But if sheisin there, we need to be careful!"
"We'll follow without tipping them off," he says in an all-business tone that somehow soothes me.
He nods in the rearview mirror at Big Luck, who carefully maneuvers through traffic, trying to get one car behind the Wild Seven vehicle without being noticed by them. It's challenging with the speed at which everyone else is going on this road.
But just as he's switching lanes, the Wild Seven vehicle veers hard into another lane, driving another vehicle out of the way. It crashes into another, and the deafening sound of several more collisions behind us makes me flinch. Meanwhile, Big Luck swerves around breaking cars, trying to follow the Wild Seven's vehicle as it takes an unexpected exit.
"Where are they going?" I gasp.
Domenic says nothing. His teeth grit, and I see that he's watching another car behind us, a dark one that's picking up speed and keeping up even as we pursue the other car. We're in an actual car chase, and my heart hammers as we flash past other vehicles to try to keep up with the one in front of us.
The car tailing us switches to the left lane as we leave the main road, and soon it's directly beside us with a window rolling down. I see the handgun flash under the bright daylight before I grab Domenic's shoulder and try to tug him down with me. The sound of gunfire goes off, making me scream, but though I can hear the impact of the bullets against the car, no glass shatters.
"Your car is fuckingbulletproof?"I ask.
"Yes. I'm a pessimist, remember? One can never be too careful," Domenic mutters.
Then he pulls out his own gun, rolls down the window, and fires a shot. It's calculated and swift, and then the tire of the vehicle gunning for us blows out, and they veer off the road, colliding into cement.
"But Evelyn—" I begin as terror claws at me.
"She wasn't in that one," he cuts me off, looking forward again. "It's the one in front of us."
I don't know how he's so confident about this, but the car we're chasing screeches to a halt so suddenly that Big Luck slamming on the brakes only locks them. I smell burning rubber and squeeze my eyes shut as we barrel toward the stopped car. Domenic's shout is followed by Big Luck getting off the brakes and wrenching the wheel hard, and then we narrowly miss the other vehicle and come to a hard, rocking stop.
Domenic is out of the car before I can do more than blink. I shriek when I hear more gunfire going off. My self-preservation instincts are screaming at me to get down and stay down where I'll be less likely to catch a stray bullet, but I can't just hide. They have Evelyn, and Domenic is out there raining down hell.
I hear a man scream and the honking of the other vehicle's horn which doesn't stop for a long moment, as if a dead weight is stuck on it. Calling my courage and ignoring my ringing ears, I stagger from the back of our car just as Big Luck also gets out and launches himself toward none other than Roulette. The two men smash into each other, all flying fists and bellows of anger. If I wasn't shaking and desperate to catch sight of my daughter, I might've been intrigued to see which of the two goliaths came out on top.
Domenic is wrestling with Jack, their guns a short distance away on the asphalt. There are two dead bodies of other Wild Seven lackeys nearby.
Then I hear a feminine laugh behind me. I tense right as Twilight—Chloe—lurches toward me with a knife gleaming in both hands. I manage to avoid both by some miracle as I scramble away, but two things quickly become apparent. First, she's trying to get me away from the other car stopped in this vacant parking lot we're fighting in right off the side of the busy road. Second, she's determined to stab me.
I jump back again, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I avoid her manic swipes and slashes at me. "Where is my daughter?" I snap at her despite our dangerous dance.
