Page 122 of Coerced Queen

Livy puts an arm around me, offering much-needed support.“What about the guests?”

“No one leaves until I’m back,” Saverio says.“I may want to question some of them myself.”

“Logan is trying to keep everyone calm,” Nicole says.“I’ll tell the caterers to prepare hot drinks and warm snacks.”

Saverio takes his cane and makes his way to the door.When he reaches me, I grab his arm.

“I’m coming with you.”

He looks down at me.“I want you to stay here where you’re safe.”

“She’s my baby.”My words hold a challenge.“I’m not asking.I’m telling you.”

Not breaking our eye contact, he says, “I need a moment alone with my wife.”

Everyone scurries for the door.It closes with a click, and then we’re alone.His eyes gleam like the bluest glacier—cold and hard.The deadly intent and rage I read in them make my skin break out in goosebumps.The violence in his gaze promises torture and death.Yet his hand on my cheek is tender.

“I trust you, Anya.”He searches my face.“I know you can handle yourself.That’s why I was going to give you the title of CEO of our business tonight.”

The news comes as a shock.I didn’t expect it.Under different circumstances, I would’ve been flattered.Honored.Now, all I can think about is if we’ll get to Claire in time.

He brushes a thumb along my jaw.“You’re that and so much more already.”Pride rides on his statement.“It’s about time we officialize it.”

“But?”I ask, holding my breath.

“But the problem isn’t you.It’s me.”

I stare into those otherworldly eyes that look so similar now, so different without the eyepatch.“What do you mean?”

“If I take you with me, I’m going to be focused on you because nothing can ever happen to you again.”He implores me with that steely gaze.“Do you understand?”

I do.Like Livy said, he’ll be forced to divide his attention between Claire and me, to keep both of us safe.I’ll be a distraction.

“I need you to run the show here because I have to take Dante with me,” he says in a soft voice.

Because Saverio is unstable on his legs.He needs the backup, and the only man he trusts is Dante.

“I need you to take charge of the guests and give the guards orders if necessary,” he continues.“Can you do that for me,tesoro?”

He’s not telling me.He’s asking me.Begging me.And I find I can’t deny him.That he’s right.He doesn’t need the added burden of worrying about me on a stakeout to get our daughter back.

Wrapping my arms around him, I burrow my face in the fabric of his jacket.“Bring her home.Please.”

“I promise,” he says, giving me the same vow over and over again no matter how many times I demand it from him.

He hugs me with his free arm locked around my waist, holding me in such a fierce embrace it’s impossible to breathe.I revel in it, happily sacrificing my oxygen for the reassurance of his strong arms and the hard shape of his gun that presses against my hip.

As abruptly as he grabbed me, he sets me free.Pushing me aside is difficult for both of us.When he walks from the room, leaving me behind, we’re both hurled into the worst kind of hell.

ChapterThirty-Seven

Saverio

The motel is a cheap, rundown hovel, exactly the kind of place where I expected to find Mary.The April night is cold, a breeze rustling the weeds that creep around the fence.Except for the sedan Mary drove, there’s only one other vehicle parked close to a vending machine—an old pickup.

We left our cars a block down the road.Dante and I keep in the shadows as we make our way past an empty swimming pool filled with rubble to the single row of rooms.My men are stationed around the parking lot and the back in case of an ambush, which I already eliminated as a possibility based on the drone footage of the area.The place is isolated, and we’re the only people outside.Our infrared drone camera didn’t pick up soldiers hidden in the nearby buildings.Not counting the man at the reception desk, there are three people in the motel, two in the room where I assume the owner of the pickup is sleeping, and in Mary’s room…only one.There’s no sign of a baby in the car or anywhere on the property.

I try not to think about that.Not for now.Not until I get answers from Mary.She’s the only lead I’ve got.

---