Page 38 of Stolen Union

“I’m going to see my sisters,” I tell him. “I’m going alone.”

“But—”

“No buts. I need to do this. Dante … hurt me. I don’t want to be around men right now.”

Antonio nods quickly. “Of course. I understand. Completely.”

I walk away before he can stop me.

I can’t believe how easy it was to get away. I think the men are so concerned about me that they’re not even thinking about me.

But soon, they’ll realize I’m gone again. I won’t play by Rocco’s rules.

I have no idea where I’m going, but I’ll figure it out. What I do know is I’m most definitely not going to Lara, Ophelia, or Caterina. They would just tell their husbands.

No. Where I’m going is a place I won’t be found.

Where I’ll finally have the freedom I’ve been craving.

CHAPTER 19

Dante

It’s only after Rocco has tortured me for an hour that he and his brothers realize Gabriella is missing.

Massimo comes running into the small basement, his phone to his ear. “Gabriella never showed up to meet Ophelia and the others.”

Rocco pauses in punching me. Bruises cover my face and stomach. I haven’t seen myself in a mirror—I just know because I can feel them. Rocco kept repeating over and over that I would pay for hurting his sister. I could only laugh. I never hurt Gabriella. She wanted to be with me, but Rocco will never understand that.

“What do you mean?” Rocco asks. Emilio stands up straighter from where he’d been leaning against the wall. Unlike Rocco, Emilio hadn’t touched me at all, but he did provide Rocco with the tools to hurt me.

“I called Ophelia to check in with Gabi, and Ophelia told me she never showed.”

“You let her go off alone?” Rocco growls.

“No. Antonio went with her.”

As if on cue, Antonio walks down the stairs. “What’s going on?”

Rocco growls again, grabs Antonio, and slams him against the wall. “Where’s my sister? Where’s Gabriella?”

“She told me not to follow her. That she needed a break from men.”

“Damn it.” Rocco lets Antonio go, and Antonio slumps to the floor. “Damn it! So, Gabriella was left to her own devices, and now she’s gone?” He turns to me. “Did your men kidnap her again?”

“No. I swear.”

“Like your word means anything.”

I shrug my shoulders as best I can even though my hands are bound behind the chair I’m strapped to. “You don’t have to believe me, Rocco. But your sister is gone again; this time, she left right under your nose. I don’t know where she is.”

Rocco stares at me hard before looking at Massimo. “Start looking everywhere for her.”

“Got it,” he says, nodding.

A thought passes through my mind—the conversation Gabriella and I shared about our parents. The one connection we shared. “I think I might know where she is.”

Rocco pauses. “Where?”

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