Page 78 of Dangerous Vows

“Amara,” I growl, my voice raw with emotion. I race to her side and stroke her hair back. It’s only then that I see a young woman kneeling beside her. She must be Sarah, her roommate.

“She’s in pain. I don’t know what to do. She said she’s pregnant. Will she be okay?” Sarah’s voice is shaky, and I don’t blame her for being scared. This is all new to her.

Wait!

She told Sarah she’s pregnant?

She’s pregnant with my baby! I’m going to be a father!

My elation is short-lived as I take in Amara.

“I don’t know,” I respond a minute late. “We need to get her out of here in one piece.”

My eyes are glued to Amara. She must hear my voice because she stirs, barely. My stomach twists violently. Her face is swollen and bruised, and her lip has dark red blood that has dried on her split lip.

Her body—Jesus. There’s no fucking way she’s walking out of here on her own.

I scoop her up, and my arms naturally slide around her. She’s mine.

I know her body. I’ve committed every curve and scar to memory. My body is filled with a fierceness I never knew I possessed, and I can’t control it. I want to kill the person who did this to her.

Sarah rushes forward. “Let me help?—”

“She’s mine.” The words are a snarl, final, and absolute. She stops in her tracks, petrified.

I carry Amara to the elevator, her hand clutched to her ribs, every breath a quiet cry she tries to stifle. It kills me to hear her gasp in pain—to feel her flinch when I shift her weight.

I want to stop. To soothe. To promise her it’ll all be okay.

But I can’t.

Not yet.

Right now, getting her to safety is the only mercy I can offer.

Cracked ribs. Maybe broken. I’ve been in enough fights to diagnose simple injuries, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous.

“Who did this?” My voice is steel.

She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t need to.

I already fucking know. The elevator comes to a sudden, harsh stop. My heart breaks when Amara gasps in pain; Joseph is waiting outside. When we reach the Hummer, it is idling, and his hand is on his gun as he scans the street. “Our men surround the vehicle. We’re covered.”

I get in with Amara still in my arms. Joseph assists Sarah before he slides behind the wheel, and the entourage of security surrounds our vehicle as we take off, providing a buffer between us and what will come.

No one speaks.

My mind is filled with rage as my gaze remains focused on her, and I hear every wince and feel every shudder.

“Your father is a dead man,” I murmur. I don’t need to hear it from her. I know.

It feels like an eternity, but we leave the dirty city behind us. We travel over bridges, and the landscape turns more rural. We drive through a marsh. The safe house looms ahead. Numerous vehicles line the driveway, and I know that Matteo and my brothers are already here and waiting.

They rush out when they hear us.

Niccolò is the first to step forward. His jaw tightens when he sees her. “Shit.”

“She needs a doctor,” I say.

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