Page 37 of Dare To Free Us

I stilled, mostly because I had no energy left but also because I was desperate to hear him out and have it be true. Tears soaked my cheeks in a combination of rage and anguish.

Matteo held me tight as we both took deep breaths. His heart beat hard against my back and I prayed that it still belonged to me.

“I swear to God, Arianna, I am not cheating on you,” he panted in my ear.

“Then why are you keeping this girl a secret? Why didn’t you tell me when I asked?” I was still yelling because I’d lost control over the volume of my voice. My gaze skipped around the car, coming to rest on the rear-view mirror. Matteo’s driver was watching us. “What are you looking at?” He averted his gaze quickly.

“Arianna,” Matteo ground out, while giving me a calm-the-fuck-down squeeze. “It is not what you think. Things are happening that I felt the need to hide form you. I was trying to protect you from worrying.”

“Well, that ship has sailed. Tell me now.”

There was a long silence that made the tears come fast and hard.

Matteo sighed heavily. “Ok…”

BAM!

Metal crunched and tires screeched as the whole world got tossed sideways when something big struck the side of our SUV. My whole body was thrown one way then the other almost launching me back across the car. Pain rocketed though my head. Glass shards shot though the air, scattering across the space with small twinkling sounds. If it wasn’t for Matteo being seat-belted in and holding me I probably would have ended up smashing into the opposite door where the impact had come from.

The ringing in my ears was deafening. My sides hurt like the devil making me wince when I breathed. Muffled voices and small popping sounds swirled in my head as my vision continued to be blurry.

Then strong hands took ahold of my face. The person looked familiar, even though I couldn’t see him very well.Matteo?He was talking to me but it was muffled, like we were both underwater. Red smears appeared on the side of his head.

Is that blood? Why is there blood?

Matteo cradled me and pulled me from the dim lighting inside the car. Sunlight stung my eyes. Instead of moving away from the wreckage Matteo pushed me down beside the door. The pops got louder and I realized they were gunshots. This was no accident.

Matteo had pulled a gun and was firing back across the hood at someone. My fuzzy gaze slowly looked around to see our second vehicle stopped and men firing at the unknown enemy as well. Bullets pinged off metal but my brain was still too foggy to even flinch at the sound.

Reaching up I touched the left side of my head that pounded furiously. My fingertips came away bloody.I’m bleeding.

Then I reached for my stomach in a panic.The baby!My sides still hurt enough to make my breathing painful. I swept my hands over myself and prayed that everything was ok.

Oh my God, what if all the trauma hurt the baby?Panic stole what little was left of my breath. I couldn’t take in air as raw unequivocal fear took over me.

My baby!My precious, helpless child might be gone.

“Arianna, breathe!” Matteo yelled next to me. Then he had ahold of my arms, trying to get me to focus on him. “You have to calm down.”

But I couldn’t calm down. I couldn’t even take a full breath. My vision swam as I held my stomach. The sounds of sirens barely registered as the world turned black around the edges that were creeping in fast.

“Arianna! Stay awake!”

Matteo desperate voice was the last thing I heard as the darkness stole me away from the chaos.

And my last thought was, I failed as a mother.

I failed to protect the gift of life that had been given to me. And if we both survived, their safety would be my soul mission in life.

7

MATTEO

The machine next to Arianna’s bed beeped constantly, and if it wasn’t for the fact it was announcing her heartbeat I would have smashed the thing to pieces.

I’d come so close, so close to losing her. My chest rattled with another strangled breath. I squeezed Arianna’s hand again and kissed her knuckles. She’d been asleep for hours. My back and ass hurt from sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair for so long but I refused to leave her side.

Arianna suffered a concussion from her head hitting the window and bruised ribs from me hugging her tight when the impact happened. It was an instant reaction that I was glad for but at the same time felt terrible. Arianna was tiny compared to me and I’d literally almost crushed her.

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