Page 110 of Enforcer

Albeit she was cheated on and he left her, but if I were to get through this…. If I were to get through this, I would fall even more in love with Dante, only for him to eventually leave or get shot, or…

I swallow through a sob, hearing myself scream as if I’m having an out-of-body experience.

“I can’t do this. This is too hard,” I cry, slumping to the ground with a handful of clothes, clutching them to my chest like they’ll make it better.

Nothing is going to make this better.

Nothing but time.

All of this is my fault for being too weak. Dante might not be in that bed had I not been weak. If I would’ve stuck to my gunsand kept him at arm’s length, we wouldn’t have been on a date, and they wouldn’t have caught him unaware.

I crawl off the ground, stuffing the clothes in my suitcases, renewed in my decision.

I can’t be for him what he is already becoming to me.

Weakness.

So, as I robotically shut down my emotions, I internally sever the ties that have begun to bind me to the Enforcer I should’ve never let in.

I’m going to do what he can’t. I will save us both by leaving and being the bigger person.

Not because this is too hard, but because we both don’t deserve this hurt.

If we fall deeper, it’ll only hurt worse.

I’m going to save us both.

Even if it kills me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

DANTE

Six Months Later

Ahefty yawn spreads my lips, and I let it drag out, loudly groaning after it’s over. Stretching my hands to the roof above, I arch my back off the seat of the Range Rover and feel my back pop in multiple spots.

“The drama with you,” Lorenzo jokes, and I sigh.

“Well, we’ve been here for fucking six hours. I don’t know why we had to come so early if we know girls are getting snatched after two a.m.

“We had to come here at the time ourbossstipulated. You want to tell a man who’s on the edge already over his wife who’s due any day now with their first child that you don’t want to carry out his orders?”

I swallow. “No thanks. What time is it?”

“Just after midnight,” he says, and I groan and get out of the car.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to stretch my legs.”

Something softens in his eyes. It’s likely the realization that I have enough metal in my leg to join the Autobots if Optimus Prime ever truly lands on Earth. It’s not causing me pain currently, however.

The new hardware in my left leg only bothers me when it rains.

The night is clear and chilly as I step out of the Range Rover and wander across the street. I lean against a lamppost, out of sight, and blend in with the shadows surrounding it.

It dawns on me that this is probably how they do it, the ones stealing all the unsuspecting girls off the streets as they make their way home.

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