Page 69 of Ferocious Nightmare

"Our deal is off. You will marry me tonight."

"I will not!"

"Willingly or not, you will marry me tonight. And then you will produce my heir. What you do after that doesn't concern me," his eyes flashed. “Unless I discover that you had anything to do with this. Then you’ll live the rest of your days as my slave."

I growled, my fingers digging into the ground as I tried to get up. "You will not."

I raised my head, the burning in my chest exploding as I turned towards the men holding Aster. "Don't touch her."

"Get her out of here!" My father raged, ignoring me.

"Coulter, you're bleeding out. You need to get help." Dante suddenly appeared by my side. He grabbed my shoulder, shoving me to the ground. "Stop moving."

"Get the fuck off me." I shoved Dante's hand away from me. "I need to save Aster."

“You need to save your own ass first, otherwise you won't be around to help her." Dante tried to force me to stay on the ground but I shoved him away, groaning in absolute agony as I tried to get up.

My father, screaming about someone betraying us, echoed in my ringing ears, but Aster was the only thing I heard. She was fighting the Bratva thugs dragging her back to their car.

As soon as I stumbled to my feet, the dizziness was overwhelming. The ringing in my ears hit a fever pitch. Suddenly, I couldn't see.

When I came to, Dante was literally holding me, inches from the ground. "Coulter. You just blacked out again. You need to wait for help."

"No," I rasped, trying to get up again. I would save Aster if it was the last thing I ever did. "Aster..."

"You can't help her like this!" Dante roared, shoving me to the ground. He pointed at my chest. “You’re practically bleeding out. If you don’t stay still, you’ll die before you make it to your car.”

I grazed my fingers over my chest, feeling the open wounds for the first time.

“And stop touching it, for fuck’s sake. You’re going to get it infected.” He bent over, grabbing my chin, forcing my dazed thoughts to focus on him. "Now stay the fuck here. I called Marie. She'll be here soon.” He gave me a hardened stare. “I’ll make sure Aster is safe. If Nero goes anywhere near her, I swear on my life, I will die before he touches her."

I sucked in a breath, then nodded, pushing him away from me. "Go. Make sure no one touches her."

He nodded, then disappeared, taking off after her. I managed to keep my head up long enough to peer through the dust to watch as the Bratva shoved her into Nero's car, then Dante sped off after her.

Finally, when I couldn't see them anymore, my head fell back onto the ground.

I clenched my eyes shut, trying to slowly breathe in and out, realizing how much of an idiot I was.

This whole time, I'd been playing games with Aster, when I should've just made it known to both her and my father that I wanted her. That I fucking loved that woman.

That I needed her in my life.

That I didn't get engaged to her to only save Bourbon and Rose. I wanted to marry her, and was too afraid of her answer to ask her myself.

I was such a fucking coward.

Laying here on the ground, bleeding out, with my father ranting and the warehouse on fire, all I wanted was her.

I didn’t care about the drugs or the power of ruling Vegas. Fuck, I didn't even care about my father and my revenge.

All I wanted was her by my side, a family I could call my own, and a life with love and laughter. With Rose and Bourbon and their little kiddos running around my feet.

I would give it all up.

Escape with Aster and leave my father to rule his empty world. It meant nothing to me if I didn’t have the love of my life by my side.

"Stand in a motherfucking line." My father was still ranting and I opened my eyes, leaning my neck backwards to see what was going on. He was yelling at all of his men and they were lining up in front of him.

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