Page 104 of Obsession & Oath

With one brutal uppercut, Lacruz stumbles and falls to his knees, face brutally bloodied as Dante stalks forward. There’s nothing but malice in his expression as he stares down at the older man.

“You disgust me,” he spits at him. “Tell me, what was your plan here? To scare her, to take her. Kill her even?”

Lacruz spits out a glob of blood before sneering back at him. “She’smineto do what I please with.”

Dante snatches out a hand to grasp the older man by the collar and wrenches him close to his face. “She was never yours, you sick fuck. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as her.”

Then those oh-so-familiar black eyes find mine. “Look away, princess.”

I just have enough time to jerk my head to one side before there’s an ominoussnap.

Hernando Lacruz’s body slumps to the floor.

Dante stands over Lacruz’s unmoving body, his chest heaving with each breath. His fists, bruised and bloodied, hang loosely at his sides as the anger seeps out of him, draining away like a receding tide.

But something else takes its place. Hesitation. Fear.

Not of Lacruz. Not of the blaring alarm or the gunshots above.

Ofme.

He turns to me slowly, his sharp, brutal edges softening as his dark eyes search mine. He approaches carefully, his hands slightly raised, as if afraid I might recoil from him.

“Carmen?” he murmurs, “You’re safe now, okay? I’m not going to hurt you.”

Safe.

I frown.

Of course, I’m safe. He’s here, isn’t he? Why would I think he would hurt me…

“I shouldn’t have done that, not in front of you.” He keeps talking as he takes another step forward. “I’m sorry.”

He’s worried I actually care about that?

“Y-you–”

“You don’t have to like me,” he says, carefully, gently. “You don’t have to forgive me. I don’t care if you never talk to me again. But I will get you out of here. I will make sure you and the baby get the care you need.”

He’s close now. Within reach.

I stare at him, at this man who stands before me with bruised knuckles and blood on his shirt. This man who killed another for the crime of wanting to claim me. This man came back to save me, even though we stood on opposite ends of the battlefield others have made.

“You absolutedickhead.”

And suddenly, I can’t hold back anymore.

I surge forward, closing the distance between us in an instant, and crush my lips against his.

Dante stiffens, just for a second, as if caught off guard. Then he melts into me, his hands coming up to cradle my face, his mouth moving against mine like this is the only thing keeping him breathing.

Maybe it is.

Maybe it’s the only thing keepingmebreathing, too.

Chapter29

Dante

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