Page 75 of Dare To Free Us

I knew what she was thinking. I just promised I’d find a way out and now I looked all the more incapable of stepping away with how eagerly I sprang into action.

“Arianna,” I said, pushing my guns into their holsters. “This changes nothing. I’m coming back.”

She nodded a little too enthusiastically, as if she meant to reassure herself rather than me. She knew what was about to happen. Things were going to get bloody and she was terrified I wasn’t going to make it back to her. For a moment I feared the same. There was no telling what we would be walking into.

Climbing on the bed I took Arianna in my arms, pulling her up onto her knees to meet me, and kissed her with ravenous passion. Plunging my tongue in her mouth I ripped the sheet away and took a moment to feel her soft skin in my hands. She kissed me back just as hard, desperately trying to hold on. Cupping her ass I crushed her slight frame to my front and gripped her hair in my fist.

Pulling back I put my face in hers. “Stay in the house. Don’t go anywhere unless the men tell you to. Get dressed and have a bag ready.” If the Irish decided to hit the house I needed her to be ready to move. Although it was a long shot. My house was heavily guarded and reinforced to ensure it would take a small army to breach it.

“Ma … Matteo,” she stammered. Her golden eyes looked ready to jump out of her head. I knew she wouldn’t ask me to stay but could see the pleading in her eyes. Her fear was doing a good job at churning my stomach.

I kissed her again and hopped off the bed. If I looked at her any longer I’d lose what little focus I was hanging onto. Leaving the room I didn’t look back as I powered down the hall to the stairs.

A group of men waited at the bottom with Nico, most already dressed in military style fatigues and armed to the teeth. Steven stood off to one side, Chris and Leo were in the middle surrounded by men my uncle had sent. “Steven, I want you to stay at the house with Arianna. Chris, Leo, you take the other two vehicles.” Turning to Nico I said, “Tell me everything,” as I headed for the front door. The men followed and once we were outside, expertly divided themselves into the three SUVs.

Before the doors slammed closed my driver punched the gas and we were pealing out of the entry way, leaving black marks on the pavement. “Talk,” I ordered Nico, who’d gotten in beside me.

“The men called a while ago, said they’d seen some bikers driving up and down the street, checking it out. I tried to call you but you were dealing with shit…”

I glared at him.

“I mean, Arianna. Then the bikers parked across the street and the men got the feeling they’d been made. I was already on my way over when they called to say more had shown up.”

“How many?”

“At least a dozen, but more could have shown up by now.”

“Call them. Find out.” We needed to know what we were up against. While Nico fished out his phone and dialed I reached in the back for weapons. I strapped a few knives to my person and added some gun clips to my pockets, then settled an AR in my lap.

Nico pulled the phone from his ear with a scowl and dialed again. “What is it?” I demanded.

Nico’s nervous face jumped to mine. “No one is answering. I’ve tried all the numbers.”

Shit, we’re too late.

Guilt took hold of me with gnashing teeth, sinking deep. I promised Vasilisa I would keep her safe and now she was probably already gone. I imagined her frightened and pleading as someone dragged her from the house crying. Just like she did when we took her. Only this time she knew exactly what was going to happen. She’d be used and sold off like breeding stock for the sake of money and power. The one thing she feared the most.

Then her threat hammered into my skull.I will not go back.Now her young face flashed in my mind, lifeless and pale as blood drained from her wrists.

Fuck!I hammered a fist into the seat in front of me. “How the fuck did they find the house?” I roared.

“I have no idea, Matteo.”

The rest of the ride my body strung tighter and tighter with every mile. We weren’t too far away but it was enough to have the anger heating my flesh until I was sweating.

Fucking MC.I’d kill every one of those leather wearing fuckers if they hurt her. She was my responsibility, and now my failure.

I pictured a happy little girl in my mind, one that shared her mothers beautiful smile, rare eyes and long dark hair. Her face beamed at me with a trust that twisted my heart. Pure trust that I would care for her and protect her. It was a misplaced trust. Of course I would give my life to protect her, but my world threatened more than just her safety. It threatened any potential she had to be seen as anything more than a commodity. The idea that men would look at my daughter and see nothing more than a contract enraged me.

The thought made my promise to Arianna rise to blanket everything else. After all this shit was over, getting out before my child retained a single memory of the mafia would be my priority.

Our SUV skidded around the corner, pulling me from my daydreaming. At the moment I was still Don. I needed to take back my world and put it to rights so the people who depended on me wouldn’t be left in a pile of shit. And if I was going to make it though the next faze of this war without getting murdered, I needed to focus.

As we approached the house I scanned the street and saw it was mostly empty. My heart sank. We were too late. Our vehicle and one more continued around back while the third stopped in the front.

Without a word we hopped out and moved in unison to the back door that stood cracked open. With guns held at the ready we moved up the steps and breached the door. Nico went first and I followed behind him. We stepped into the house, my jaw ground together as I stepped over a fallen soldier, his blood pooling around him. Nico moved down the hall with several men as I made a right into the living room. Two more men sat on the couch, bullet holes in their chests, sightless eyes pointed to the ceiling.

Moving to the kitchen I saw Seth face down at the table, the hole in the back of his head the size of a silver dollar. His blood pooled on the table, spilling over the side. This time the feeling of true loss hit me. Seth had been a good soldier, dedicated for many years.

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