Page 85 of Keeping My Bride

“Benito, I want you to take Verona to the safehouse.” He gently pushes me off his lap as we both stand. “It’s not safe for her here right now, and I can’t concentrate on what needs to be done with her in danger.”

“I’m not leaving,” I say at the same time Benito says, “I’m staying.”

Luca narrows his eyes at his first-in-command. “You will do what I say!” he demands.

“My place is here, with you,” Benito answers, standing his ground. If Luca’s first in command is anything, it’s loyal. And his loyalty to his best friend knows no bounds.

“I’ll take her,” Dante says, having suddenly appeared in the room at some point.

Luca stares at him, and I can feel the apprehension rolling off of him in waves. I turn to Luca and say, “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here with you.”

He closes his eyes and nods as if making an internal decision. “Dante will take you to the safehouse. He knows where it is.” Then, he turns his attention to Dante. “Take one of the SUVs. Call us as soon as you arrive and if any problems arise along the way,” Luca rambles off the instructions.

“No!” I exclaim, clinging to Luca. “Please, Luca! I’m safe here. With you!”

He shakes his head as he stares down at me. “You’re safer where I’m not,” he tells me. Leaning down, he places a kiss on my lips. “I will come get you the moment it’s clear. We’ll be together again soon,” he says before kissing me again.

This kiss feels like the last, for some god-awful reason, and I cling to him for dear life, kissing him like our plane is going down.

Luca is the first to pull away before saying, “Now, go.” Then, to Dante, he says, “You’re responsible for her. Don’t make me regret this decision,” he threatens.

Dante gives him a nod before turning his attention to me. “Come on, Verona. We have to go quickly.”

Tears fill my eyes as he rips me away from my husband. I stare back at Luca, trying not to cry and failing miserably before Dante drags me out of the room and towards the garage that houses all the vehicles.

Opening the back door to a black SUV, Dante impatiently waits for me to climb into the backseat before slamming the door and running to climb into the front seat. He revs the engine, hits a button for the garage door to open and peels out of the garage.

I fasten my seatbelt, my hands going protectively over my stomach. “Please, Dante, slow down! I don’t want to die on the way to the safehouse!” I cry out.

“Sorry,” he says.

We make it past the front gate, and he seems to slow down a little as we venture down the road. I turn in my seat and watch the dark house in the distance. And then that’s when the darkness lights up with fireballs as explosion after explosion erupts within the house.

I scream at what I just witnessed and reach for my seatbelt, unfastening it quickly. I reach for the door handle and pull, but it’s locked.

“Please! Dante, we have to go back!” I scream at him. I hit the unlock button, but it locks before I can reach the handle.

“We can’t go back, Verona!” he yells. “We have to go to the safehouse, just like Luca wanted.”

“What if Luca’s hurt? He could be hurt! He could be…” No, I won’t even let myself think like that. Luca can’t be dead. He is not dead.

Tears stream down my cheeks as I desperately try for the handle again, but I know Dante is holding down the lock button.

“We’re going to the safehouse, Verona, and that is final,” he tells me, his voice devoid of emotion as he stares straight ahead.

I stare back at the fire engulfing the house as Dante speeds up, driving us away from it.

Sobs tear from me as I assume the worst. And what makes me cry the hardest is that I never got the chance to tell Luca that I’m pregnant with his child.

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