Page 144 of Ivory Oath

“I found you.” I say it for my sake as much as Dante’s. I need to drive the point home.

Only now, when he’s in my arms, can I admit that I wasn’t sure how this day was going to end. I couldn’t think of a single reason why Christos would kidnap my son and keep him alive. Let alone guarded by two terrified, inexperienced guards.

It makes no sense, but I don’t fucking care. Not when he’s here and he’s alive.

Dante buries his face in my neck. “I want Mama.”

“I know, kid. God, she wants you, too.” I actually have to blink back tears thinking about how happy Viviana is going to be.

He pulls back. His eyes are almost swollen shut from crying and his nose is bright red. He swipes at it with his sleeve and talks through hiccups. “P-please don’t t-take me back t-to school. I w-want to go h-home.”

“You’re not going back, Dante. You’re coming home.” I cup my hand around the back of his head and hold him close. “Where you belong.”

Raoul binds the living guard with a rope he fashioned out of left-behind lingerie and then drags the dead one far enough away from the door that Dante won’t see him. He’s experienced enough trauma for one day. No reason to pile on more of it.

I trust Raoul with my entire soul, but it’s still hard to hand Dante over to him. I place my son in his arms and look in his eyes. “Take care of him, brother.”

“With my life,” he vows, dipping his head.

Then he hustles out of the store with Dante cradled against his chest.

The best thing for Dante is to get back home with Viviana as soon as possible. The best thing for the future of my family is for me to stay behind and find out as much as I can from the unlucky guard who survived.

He’s shaking on his side on the floor, his hands and legs hog-tied with red and black lace. I’ve never seen Raoul without a pair of zip-ties on him, so I have to assume using the lingerie was a way to add insult to injury.

I’ll allow it. This asshole deserves whatever is coming to him.

I squat down in front of him and he closes his eyes. Like I’m some boogeyman who only exists in his imagination. Like he can wish me away.

I snatch the lace muzzle off of his mouth and grab his jaw, forcing his eyes to me. “Tell me everything you know.”

“Nothing!” he cries, shaking so hard his jaw rattles against the floor. “I don’t know?—”

He’s interrupted by my gun. Two shots—one in each thigh.

Blood sprays and he howls. His back bows, his body trying to escape the inescapable pain. I like it a little too much. So I fire again—this time, into his shoulder.

Blood soaks through his pants and his shirt. It spills onto the floor and he has to strain his neck to keep his face out of it.

“Take number two.” I tap the gun against his temple. “Tell me everything you know.”

He’s gasping for air. A bullet fragment could have hit his lung. If so, I have even less time with him than I thought.

“Talk fast,” I bark.

“I’m just a guard,” he moans. “Christos told me and—” He glances over to the dead lump in the corner and then quickly away. “Me and Tobias were sent here to guard this door. We weren’t even supposed to open it. He didn’t want us talking to the kid.”

“How long did you know he was planning to kidnap my son?”

His mouth slams shut.

“Lying won’t save you now,” I snarl. “How long?”

“Two weeks,” he admits in a whisper.

Since the day I dropped Dante off at school.

I’m a fucking idiot. I thought he would be safe there, but it just put an even bigger target on his back.

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