Page 89 of Keeping My Bride

I close my eyes and curse under my breath. “It’s all right. Keep going. Hurry,” I tell her.

Three more sutures are in when my phone in my pocket begins to ring. I’m quick to answer it without even glancing at the caller ID. I hear nothing at first, but then voices begin to speak, having their own private conversation.

Furrowing my brows, I pull the phone back and stare at the caller ID.

Verona’s name on the screen has my heart skipping a beat. I call for Aldo and tell him to connect the phone to a laptop to trace the call and to put the call on speaker so that we can hear the conversation.

Hearing Verona’s sweet, melodic voice has an instant calming effect. But then when I hear Dante’s much deeper, crueler voice, the anger builds right back up inside of me. My hands clench at my sides as I listen to him tell her that he killed her mother.

Verona’s sobs fill the room, and it’s almost too much to bear.

“I’m done, sir,” the little nurse tells me, and I wave her away.

Benito escorts her out of the bunker before returning to my side, listening intently to the call.

When Dante begins to talk about killing my mother, my anger reaches a fever pitch. “That son of a bitch!” I roar.

I let the enemy into my home. The man that I’ve hunted for so long was right under my nose this entire time. He will suffer for his crimes. I will make him pay ten-fold. I will paint this entire fucking city with his blood.

I hear Verona and Dante struggling, and the phone falls, her screams fading off into the distance. “I will burn this entire world to the fucking ground until my wife is back in my arms,” I tell everyone in the room, making it crystal clear of my intentions. “How long until you get their exact location?” I ask Aldo.

He looks up from his laptop and pushes his glasses up higher on his nose. “Almost got it, sir.”

I turn to Benito. “Let’s get the vehicles ready. Aldo can alert us on the way where we need to go. We can head to the gas station first, and hopefully have the information we need by the time we get there.”

Benito nods in agreement, but he seems hesitant about something. Coming closer, he says lowly, “I need to tell you something private, boss.”

“What is it?” The look on his face is something I’ve never seen before. Emotion. Benito is always so stoic, it’s hard to remember that he’s an actual person and not a fucking robot. And, shit, I don’t think my heart can take any more devastating news.

“Your wife requested a pregnancy test this morning. She wanted discretion, and I gave that to her. But I thought you should know.”

Pregnancy test? Verona is pregnant?

My legs suddenly give out, and I stumble into a nearby chair.

“I didn’t see the test results,” Benito informs me.

But I already know the result. I can feel it down in my dark fucking soul. Verona is pregnant. She hasn’t had her period in a while, and I would know since I haven’t been able to stop myself from being inside of her every waking moment.

She’s pregnant with our baby. And Dante has them.

Clenching my fists, I rise and look at Benito. “We need to go. Now!” I demand.

He motions to several men in the room, and all of us run out of the bunker and to the SUVs in the garage so fast that it’s a blur. All I can focus on is my wife and getting to her as quickly as possible.

Horrible thoughts barrage me as we fly out of the driveway and down the road. Verona didn’t want to leave, and I made her go. I forced her to leave with Dante, the very man who killed both of our mothers.

If anything happens to Verona or the baby, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.

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