Page 88 of Keeping My Bride

Chapter 57

Luca

MY EARS ARE still ringing from the deafening explosion that just happened, and it takes me several long minutes to gather my composure and take in my surroundings.

The house around us is burning and smoke fills up my lungs as I take a deep breath. Coughing, I struggle to crawl out from under the rubble of what used to be my desk and fail miserably. I’m stuck under here. Blood trickles down my forehead and into my eyes as I call out for my men.

Some of them answer. I guess some is better than none.

Someone grabs me, pulling me out from under the charred desk. Benito.

“Gather what we can, and let’s get the fuck out of here,” I instruct him. A huge hole in the side of the mansion is our exit point as we carry out as much equipment as we can.

“Mr. Vitale,” my head IT guy, Aldo, says when he emerges. He looks worse for wear; his dark hair disheveled, his face blackened with soot and his glasses askew on his young face.

“Yes,” I answer quickly, wanting to know what he knows.

“I was able to trace the signal that triggered the explosions. It didn’t come from Constantine or any outside source. It came from inside our own network. It took a little while to trace the source, but I know it was from a phone on or near the property that generated the explosions.”

“Fuck!” I hiss, looking around at my group of men. I know none of them are responsible, but then who? Who the fuck would want to hurt us? Who the fuck would try to kill us?

Realization suddenly dawns on me, and I demand, “Where’s Verona?”

“You sent her away with Dante,” Benito says slowly, no doubt thinking I hit my head too damn hard and forgot.

“Track the SUV. I want to know exactly where they are.”

“It’s going to take a few minutes to get the servers back online,” Aldo instructs as he sits down on the grass with a laptop.

“Hurry the fuck up!” I tell him through clenched teeth. My gut is telling me Dante is somehow behind this and that Verona is in trouble. And the fact that I handed my most prized possession, my queen, over to that bastard makes my chest ache like someone is thrusting a thousand knives into the dark cavity.

“We need to move everyone to the underground bunker on the other side of the property,” Benito says hurriedly. “I doubt if Dante knew about it. He might be ready to set off more bombs in the main house, and we can’t risk losing anyone else.”

I nod in agreement. “Yes, let’s move to the bunker.” Normally, I don’t worry about my own life; but if I’m dead, who the hell is going to save Verona? I need to stay alive…for her.

* * *

After we’reall safe in the bunker and our generators are up and running, along with the backup servers, Aldo, informs me that the tracker on the SUV stopped at a small gas station outside of the city.

I go to him and look at the map. “That’s not in the direction of the safehouse. He’s not taking her there. He’s taking her somewhere else.” I stare at the time that has passed since the SUV stopped. Twenty-five minutes. Dante didn’t simply stop to fuel up. He ditched the car, knowing we would be tracking him. “Get the surveillance footage from the store. They abandoned the SUV. We need to know where they went.”

“Right away, sir,” Aldo tells me.

Benito walks into the bunker with one of our staff that has a nursing background. She looks around the place warily as she’s escorted straight to me. “You have some wounds that need to be addressed,” Benito says.

I wipe at the blood still streaming down my face. “Head wounds always bleed hard and fast,” I say, shrugging him off.

“You can’t help Verona if you’re passed out cold,” he informs me, making me rethink my decision.

“Fine,” I say with a huff. Then, I look at the young brunette, who is practically shaking with fear. “Quickly,” I instruct her.

“Yes, sir,” she says with a nod before reaching into her medical bag for what she needs.

As she’s cleaning the wound and stitching me up and I’m trying not to curse and move from the pain, Aldo tells me he has the footage. “They left in a small four-door sedan.”

“Trace the license plate. See if we can get a hit on any of the cameras in the area,” I say. “Fuck!” I yell at the girl when she pierces my skin at a particularly sensitive area around my temple.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she says.

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