Page 107 of Beautiful Desire

“Melinda? Are you okay? What happened? What’s wrong?” I ask, trying to remain calm.

The sound of blood pumping through my body almost drowns out the sound of her voice. My hands shake as a cold sweat breaks out over my entire body and an uneasy feeling swirls in my stomach.

Faintly, I can hear Melinda’s sobs as she cries down the phone. “They’ve taken her, Elle. Someone’s taken Lily.”

The phone slips out of my hand as I process her words.

Someone’s taken Lily.

Tears stream down my face at a rapid pace. Someone took mybaby. Bile rises in my throat. My breaths turn ragged as I try to fill my lungs with oxygen, but it’s no use. I feel like I’m suffocating.

Who would do this?

My feet automatically move, taking me in the direction of Dom’s office.

Bursting through the door, I find him sitting at his desk, no longer on the phone.

“Lily’s been kidnapped,” I blurt out in a loud sob.

His brows crease in confusion at my words. The sounds of my heart-wrenching sobs fill the room as I fall to the floor. Pain sears through my chest; I feel like my heart has been ripped out.

Dom falls to the ground beside me, taking hold of me. “Hey, calm down, fiore. What’s going on?”

His words do nothing to calm me. I can’t breathe. I need to get to her. I need my baby.

“Lily’s been kidnapped,” I say on a broken breath.

Through my tear-filled eyes, I see the confusion on his face while his thumbs try to wipe away the river of tears that won’t stop falling.

“Who’s Lily, fiore?”

Loud sobs continue to wrack my body.

Taking one final deep breath as best as I can, I tell him, “Our daughter.”

I feel his body tense as my words sink in. He pulls me in tight to his chest, and if it’s possible, I cry harder.

As he pulls away from me, our eyes locks, and I faintly hear him say, “Ourdaughter?”

Unable to speak, I nod in response, trying to swallow the bile I feel continuing to rise.

CHAPTER32

DOM

Holdingher tightly to my chest, I hear her words play on repeat in my head.

Our daughter.

I’m a father?

Wehave a daughter.

My heart hammers hard against my chest, and my lungs feel like someone is squeezing them tight.

I have a daughter.

Letting go of Elle, I take a step back. I need to think about the bomb she just dropped on me, and I can’t do that with her floral scent enveloping my nose.

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