Page 11 of Black Widow's Kiss

“Dante?” Lorenzo called after me.

I couldn’t face him. Not now. I just needed to get away.

Grabbing my keys, I jumped into my car. Pressing the button and flooring the gas, I pulled away. If they hadn’t opened the gate, I would have run it down. I didn’t have to. And as the tree-lined street whipped past me, I rolled down the window to get air.

I couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t I breathe? Shifting in my seat, I was having a hard time putting things together. I wasDante Ricci. I was the head of the Ricci family. I didn’t kiss men. I didn’t…

That was when I felt it. A pinch to the neck. Had I been shot?

Touching the spot, I pulled my hand back. Was there blood on it or wasn’t there? I couldn’t tell. It was getting hard to see. Looking back up through the wind shield I realized how fast I was going.

“Oh shit!” I exclaimed before I blacked out and heard a crash.

Chapter 4

Dante

‘What happened?’ I thought as my mind cleared from the haze of nothing. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was a wedding. No, wait, I was in a car. I was driving away from a wedding. No, I was driving away from my wedding.

Shit! That’s right. I had gone to Sato’s place to negotiate my way out of marrying his son and had ended up marrying him on the spot. Then, he kissed me, I ran, I felt what felt like a pinch to the neck and then things went dark.

I think I crashed my car. Was I still in my car?

Forcing my eyes to open, I didn’t find my BMW. I was lying down in a white room. As things cleared, I saw a pulse monitor and a ceiling level TV. I was in a hospital room and I felt like shit.

Looking around, I found only one person. It was Lorenzo. He was entertaining himself on his phone when the sound of my movement made him look up.

“Dante, you’re awake. Thank God!” he said hurrying to my side.

I opened my mouth to ask him what the fuck was going on but nothing came out.

“Relax. I’ll get the doctor. I was worried about you for a second there,” he said with a smile before rushing out of the room.

He was worried about me? Why was that? Did other things happened after whoever it was shot me?

I needed to recover and I needed to do it fast. Well, maybe not recover, but I at least needed to be able to speak. Seeing if I could lift my hand, I moved it onto my chest.

I felt drugged. Maybe they had given me a painkiller? That meant it would be up to five hours before I was back on myfeet again. After that, I could get out of here and figure out who shot me.

I was reaching across my body to feel where the bullet hit me when the door reopened and a doctor entered. She was a lot younger than I was used to my doctor’s looking. She was also distinctly not from our family. Maybe that was a good thing.

“No, don’t do that,” she insisted, reaching out as to stop my hand.

Not knowing the situation, I lowered my hand and again tried to speak.

“What happened?” I squeaked out, my throat feeling like a desert.

“You might need something to drink.”

The small Indian lady turned to my brother.

“Do you mind telling one of the nurses at the stand to bring Mr. Ricci something to drink?”

“Of course.”

“And, can you give us a minute once you do?” she requested causing Lorenzo’s eyes to bounce to mine.

I gave him a nod and Lorenzo agreed. I figured, whatever the doctor knew was better kept between us, at least until I had time to eliminate a few potential shooters.

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