Page 115 of Savage Vows
He slashes. Dante blocks with his forearm; blood splashes across the ferns. Pain flashes in his eyes but he drives forward, tackles Maksim to the ground.
They grapple in the muck, boots kicking, breaths harsh. Maksim claws for the fallen pistol. Dante spots it first, grabs the grip, twists. A single shot rings out. Maksim jerks, eyes wide, the bullet buried in his chest. He gurgles a curse that dies on his lips.
Dante pushes off of him, breathing hard, left arm slick with blood from the knife wound. He staggers to his feet and turns to me. “Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, tears sliding into the rain on my cheeks. He limps closer, holstering the gun with one hand and pressing the other to the deep cut on his arm.
Samie clings to me, trembling. Dante’s eyes soften when he sees her. “We’ll get her help,” he says, voice raw.
Maksim lies motionless among the ferns, rain washing the blood from his shirt into the black earth. Thunder rolls overhead, but the only thing I hear is Dante’s ragged breathing and the frantic beat of my own heart as he pulls me into his uninjured arm, holding me as if he’ll never let me go again.
34
DANTE
It’s over.I have her.
I lean on one knee, breathing through the burn in my arm. Rain patters on Maksim’s motionless body. The forest smells of wet earth and gunpowder.
Adriana’s voice trembles. “Is he dead?”
I glance at Maksim, at the glassy stare fixed on the sky, then back at her. “Yes.” My shoulder throbs; the slice is deeper than I first felt. I grit my teeth and push to my feet.
She hisses when she sees the blood soaking my sleeve. “You’re hurt.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I cup her face with my good hand. “Are you all right? Is the baby all right?”
Her eyes flood, rain mixing with tears. “You know?”
I nod, thumb brushing her cheek. “Found the test. I just need to know you’re safe. I left the house that minute. To find you.”
She sways forward, eyes shining. “I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault. Maksim said—” Her voice cracks. “I didn’t know who to believe.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I pushed you away. I should never have let anyone make you doubt yourself,” I say, pulling her closer. I bury my face against her wet hair. She smells of pine and rain and something that feels like home. “I love you, Adriana. I loved you before I had the courage to admit it, and I will love you until I take my last breath.”
A soft sob breaks from her throat. She fists my coat as if afraid I might evaporate. “I love you, Dante. God, I love you so much. I was selfish when I left but I couldn’t bear?—”
I shake my head. “Don’t finish that sentence. I know what you were thinking, but it wasn’t true, none of it was. That was my father manipulating me.”
“What?” she says, looking confused.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, brushing a hand over her face. “I have you. I thought I’d lost you.”
“You never will,” she says. My pulse hammers when I feel her belly press against me. The thought of that tiny heartbeat steadies me more than any doctor could. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Behind us, Samie shifts, her chains gone but her eyes still hollow with fear. Liam crashes through the brush, gun up, Oleg right behind him. The instant Liam sees Adriana safe, relief softens his guarded stance.
Oleg kneels by Samie, speaking gently, wrapping his jacket around her shoulders. The girl flinches at every sound, and guiltknots my stomach—proof of the damage Maksim did while I saw nothing.
I turn back to Adriana. Blood from my arm drips onto the mud. She presses her scarf against the wound, trying to staunch the flow. Her hands shake, but her eyes never leave mine. “We have to get you to a hospital,” she says, voice gentle but fierce.
I want to stay pressed against her, to keep holding her just a moment longer, but I see the worry in her eyes. I nod and let her guide me toward the car. Oleg helps Samie into the back seat—she’s barely able to walk, skin pale and eyes vacant. She clings to Adriana as if she’s the only safe thing in the world.
Liam slides behind the wheel. “How the hell is she still alive?” he mutters, glancing in the rearview mirror at Samie, whose arms are wrapped around herself as if she’s afraid she’ll vanish if she lets go.
Adriana buckles herself next to me, one hand on my chest as if afraid I’ll disappear too. “It must have been weeks since he took her,” she says quietly. “Maksim was sick. He…he kept them alive for weeks. He liked to watch them break before he let them go.” Her voice trembles with disgust and grief.
I clench my jaw against the pain in my arm and the ache in my chest. I’ve seen a lot of darkness in my life, but nothing like what I saw in Maksim’s eyes tonight. For the first time, I realize how close I came to losing Adriana.
