Page 41 of Heartless Union

“I need to find Rocco,” I tell her.

She grabs my wrist. “No, Lara. You can’t. Whoever this is—they’re not friendly. We should stay together. Rocco knows we’re in here. He’ll come for us.”

“You’re right.” We huddle behind the bed. Even though I listen to Gabriella, all I want to is to find Rocco. I’m not even sure why. He’ll be fine. He’s a Mafia man. If anyone knows how to handle this situation, it’s him.

Gabriella winces as I start taking some of the glass shards out of her.

“It doesn’t look like the glass got you anywhere bad,” I say. “There are no large chunks. Just little ones. We have to get you to a doctor, though. You don’t want any of this to become infected.”

“That’s not really an option right now, is it?” She manages a smile. “I’ll be fine, Lara. Thank you for helping me.”

When the door bursts open, we scream.

A tall figure enters. One with dark hair and intense eyes. It’s Rocco to save us.

And then I see who it really is.

Dante.

“Two for the price of one,” he says. “Even better.”

Before I can process what he means, Dante is running toward us. I scramble up, grab the lamp off the nightstand, and swing it at him. He dodges out of the way and rips it from my hand. Within a second, he has my hands behind my back. Gabriella tries to get up, but she’s too weak.

“Let her go,” she demands.

Dante eyes her over. “Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you out of this.” He pulls rope from his pocket and ties my hands together. I try kicking back at him but he’s too skilled. He keeps dodging out of the way. Once he has my hands tied, he quickly ties my feet together, making it so I can’t run.

I yell when he pushes me to the ground.

“Lara,” Gabriella gasps out, reaching out for me. Dante grabs her hand and makes quick work of her wrists and feet.

“You two are coming with me,” Dante says.

“No, they’re not,” Rocco’s deep voice cuts through the commotion.

For the first time, I feel relief and happiness at the sight of my husband.

Dante spins around before Rocco can get a hit in. He lands a kick to Rocco’s stomach, but Rocco doesn’t stay down for long. With a growl, he barrels straight into Dante, and the two of them fall to the ground.

“You thought you could send your men here to be done with me?” Rocco snarls, punching Dante in the face. “Like I’d go down that easily.”

Dante laughs as he lands a hit to Rocco’s face next. “This was only a message. We’re coming for you and your dad. The De Luca’s aren’t going to be in charge for much longer.”

“Enough with this,” another man says, entering the room. It’s Carlo. He grabs a gun and points it at me.

Rocco immediately stops fighting. Dante pushes him away and goes to stand beside his dad. “Don’t shoot,” Rocco says in a low voice.

Carlo smirks. “We’ve come for your wife, but we’re taking your sister with us, too. This is to keep you in line, Rocco. We’re in charge now. Understand our power. Take them.”

Dante grabs my arms and hoists me up. I try wiggling out of his hands, but it’s useless. He’s a lot stronger than me, and I’m tied up. He shoves me toward Carlo, who wraps his arm around me and presses the gun to my head.

Gabriella spits in Dante’s face when he picks her up off the ground. Dante gives her a lascivious look as he wipes the spit away. He takes his own gun out of his pocket and places it against Gabriella’s head.

“What are you going to do, Rocco?” Carlo asks, tightening his arm around me. “You can’t save them both. You go for one, then either Dante or me will kill the other one. Or you let us walk out of here with both, and they’ll live.”

“You’re going to torture them,” Rocco growls.

“Are we?” Carlo tilts his head to the side. “We just want them for leverage. Now, we’re taking the girls. You can’t stop us unless you want to lose one of them.”

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