Page 71 of Little Dove

Papa curses. “Get your asses back here, we’ll hold them off until then.” Then the line goes dead.

Tires squeal as we race, Dante barking orders over the phone to the other SUV.

My heart stutters in my chest and I try to fight back a rising tide of fear. Amara is alone, with only one guard on her. I pray that Mario will get her to safety. If anything happens to her, what remains of my soul will all turn to black.

The night is about to burn, and I’ll be the one to light the fuse.

23

AMARA

Shoutingand dogs barking bring me abruptly out of sleep, and I shoot up straight in bed, looking around wildly. The door flies open, and I realize I’m still naked when Mario zeroes in on me and immediately looks away. He keeps his eyes averted as he rushes for the bed, ordering, “We need to go.”

I yank the sheets up to cover myself, trying not to panic, but not quite succeeding. “What’s going on?” I demand. I screech when Mario rounds the bed and scoops me up, blankets and all, and runs out of the room.

The hallway is utter pandemonium. My heart leaps into my throat as I try to comprehend what’s happening. Where is Lazaro? Why isn’t he here? Did something happen to him? My breath comes in short pants as I try to get myself under control.

“Give her to me,” a deep voice orders, and my head whips to see Massimo grimly shoving a gun into a holster at the small of his back before he opens his arms for me. “Get down to the salon and clear it. We’re getting all the women in there. You, Peter,and Antonio are on guard for all of them until we can spare any others.”

Mario doesn’t hesitate as he hands me over to Massimo and takes off. Massimo carefully adjusts me, picking up the hanging edges of the blankets and wrapping them around me so it’s only my face peeking out. Despite everything, he winks down at me and says, “Don’t want Lazaro to murder me for seeing anything I shouldn’t.” Then he’s off and running.

“What the hell is going on?” I demand, craning my neck around, but with all the blankets, I can’t see anything but straight in front of me.

“Your dear old Papa has sent men to retrieve you,” Massimo tells me as he rushes down the steps, his arms tightening around me as I’m bounced in his arms. “But we won’t allow that to happen. Don’t worry,cara, you’ll be safe. I’ll make sure of it.”

Fear grips me at the mention of my father. He’s here to take me? As in, kidnap me? I try not to freak out, but my breathing picks up even more. “Where’s Lazaro?” I gasp, gripping the inside of the blanket so tightly I can feel it tear.

“He’s handling some things,” Massimo tells me absently as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. “He’ll get to you as soon as we deal with this, I promise.”

If I thought upstairs was crazy, down here is a thousand times worse. There are people running every which way; the air is alive with screams, cries, barked orders, and gunshots. It’s like being back in the SUV with Lazaro that first time all over again, but with a thousand times more people, and less glass flying everywhere.

I don’t know how we manage to get there through the sea of people and the chaos, but Massimo carries me into the salon, barking orders in Italian to the guards at the door before stalking inside. Sienna and Gia are here as well, along with a very pissed off looking Sofia. Wait, where’s Rori?

Before I can ask, Sofia rounds on Massimo and shouts something at him in Italian. It’s rapid fire, and Massimo snaps back at her, clearly irritated at whatever she says. Sofia snarls something, and all I can do is look between them while I’m held in Massimo’s arms. I hear Dante’s name, then Nico’s, and finally Massimo turns away from her to look down at me. “You’ll be safe in here,cara. I’ll try and get you some clothes as soon as I can, but I need you to hang tight for now.” He sets me on my feet, careful to keep the blankets from falling away before he turns, barks something over his shoulder at Sofia, and slams the door behind him as he leaves.

“I’m going to roast his ass,” Sofia hisses, dark eyes fiery and her fists clenched at her sides. “I’m going to roast all of them. They think they can bark orders with no information, and we just accept it?”

“I mean, you did call him a pig-headed jackass and suggested some anatomically impossible things he can do with himself,” Gia points out drily as she walks toward me.

“They’ll be anatomically possible when I’m finished with him,” Sofia huffs before turning her attention to me. “Did they just scoop you out of bed and not let you dress?” she demands, angry all over again. She spits another string of Italian curses. She looks around the room, but nothing stands out, and she mutters something under her breath.

“It looks like I’m out of luck,” I say with a weak smile. “As long as we don’t have to make a run for it, we should be fine.”

“Who knows, maybe if you have to streak out of here, you’ll shock people enough to buy yourself some time,” Sienna jokes, but I can see the worry on her face. She’s wearing a pair of tiny silk pajama shorts and a cropped tank that barely covers her boobs.

“You’ll be distracting all on your own.” I smirk. “You start running, and you might slap yourself in the face with those babies.”

Sienna glances down at herself, then laughs and shrugs. “Blame Alessio. He’s the one who bought me all the stupid clothes, and it’s either this or naked. I’m glad I refused to get naked tonight, though not for lack of trying on his part.” She winks at me with a wicked grin. “Then he got the call and had to leave, so that kind of ruined the fun.”

“Who grabbed you and brought you down here?” Sofia asks curiously.

“Not sure, but pretty sure it’s someone that works for Alessio, not Nico.”

Sofia smirks. “Well, they’re in for a world of pain when Alessio finds out. Massimo and Mario will also be hurting, when Lazaro learns of the state of Amara right now.” She looks over at Gia. “And you’re no better, darling. I imagine Nico is also going to be pissed as hell.”

Gia’s wearing a short white nightgown with flowers. It barely hits her mid-thigh, and has such tiny straps that I’m surprised they can even hold up the fabric. Looks like all of us were up to something tonight. Well, other than Sofia, who’s still in her work uniform, though her hair is down instead of up like normal. She must have been done for the night but not gone to bed yet.

Or she was smart and got dressed at the first sound of trouble to avoid being caught unprepared.

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