Page 36 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

"You have to come stay with me," I tell her.

She snorts. "Yeah, like your sister is ever going to stand for that—"

"I don't give a fuck what my sister thinks!" The words catch me off guard—her, too.

She looks at me, a furrow in her brow. "You don't mean that."

"I don't want you to get hurt," I reply, gritting my teeth, holding on to the wheel so tight that I can see my knuckles straining against my skin. "I... I can't lose you, Elena. I can't."

I try to get the words out, but they're strangled, so caught up in the mess of everything going on inside my head that I don'tknow where to start. I want her to see that I mean this, that I want her more than I want anything else in my life, but I don't see what I can do to get her to look past the lies I fed her for so long.

I pull the car onto the side of the road so she can gather herself. It's clear she's losing control, her mind spinning out as she tries to wrap her head around the enormity of everything that has happened. I lean over and wrap my arms around her, holding her close, pressing my face into her neck and breathing in the scent of her.

I won't let anything happen to her. I just won't. I don't care if I have to take on her father, take on the world, anything that's thrown at me, as long as it means I can get her out of this in one piece. I kiss her cheek and pull back, drawing her face around to mine so that she's looking at me properly.

"We're going to get out of here. Out of the city," I promise her.

"And where can we go? There's nowhere we can make it to. He's going to come looking for us—"

"I'll figure that out," I reply, waving a hand. "I have money. Access to enough that we can make a new start, at least. It won't be easy, but it's better than being here, isn't it?"

"And what about my life?" she exclaims. "What about college, what about my—"

"You can start college over somewhere else," I assure her. "We both can. We can study together, we can find jobs, we can get a little place of our own. We don't have to live this life anymore."

As I speak, I can almost see the fantasy playing out before me, so vivid that I just want to reach out and grab it. The two of us, on an early Sunday morning, wrapped around each other in bed, crawling out just so that we can get some coffee before we retreat back under the covers to hide from the world. And I would do anything to make that real, anything—even if I know it's nothing more than a fantasy.

She parts her lips, and I can tell she's going to agree with me—until we hear the roar of an engine beside us. A car closes off our exit back onto the highway.

"What the fuck—"

"That's my dad's car," she explains in a panic. "He must have followed us here. Is there some way we can get out?"

"He's blocked us off."

I peer around the side of the car, reaching for the gun at my side. Much as I would have killed for a chance to be face-to-face with this man with a gun in my hand just a few months ago, this is different. I can't do anything to him in front of her, I know it would destroy her. I know she would fall apart completely if she saw her father killed right in front of her eyes, at my hands. No matter how much I want to keep her safe, that will destroy whatever remains between us.

So all I can do is watch as her father slowly climbs out of the car beside us. He moves with a measured calm, like he knows there's no reason for him to rush. He's got nothing to worry about. He's totally in control here, and he knows it.

He reaches her side of the car and leans on it, gesturing for her to roll the window down. As though under some kind of trance, she does as she's told.

"Get out of this fucking car."

His words are low and leave no room for argument. She turns to me. Her eyes are a picture of sadness and terror, and I feel helpless as I sit there beside her.

I can't do anything.

I have to let her make her own choice, no matter how hard it might be to watch it unfold, no matter how much it kills me to see her walk away from me like this.

"I love you," she whispers to me, and she leans forward to kiss me, just once, on the mouth. And then, she climbs out of the car, standing between me and her father, the forest behind her, the highway in front. She looks so small compared to him, like he could snatch her up and take her from me at a moment's notice.

And all I'll be able to do is sit there and watch it happen.

I can't hear what they're saying to each other. He's getting right in her face, close enough that I can see the twisted look of anger in his eyes. He grabs her by the arm, and my grip tightens on my gun. If he so much as lays another hand on her, then I'm going to pull this fucking trigger, and I'm not going to think twice. My emotions are getting the better of me. This man has already taken so much from me, and now he wants to take her, too?

She yanks herself free of his grip and takes a few steps backward toward the car. For a moment, I think she's coming in to join me, to tell me we've got to get out of here.

But, instead, to my total shock, she shoots off toward the forest and, in a matter of seconds, vanishes between the trees.

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