Page 75 of Keeping My Captive

I close my eyes, savoring his words. “Promise?” I ask, opening my eyes once again.

His dark gaze burns into mine as he says, “Yes.”

Then, I hear his gun clatter to the floor beside us as he drops it. Nothing will stop them from taking me away from him now. And just the thought of being taken from Mateo and never seeing him again has me panicking. I know this is the way it has to be, but I hate it.

I always wondered what I would do in this kind of situation when I made up this sort of scenario in my head. Would I run away screaming from Mateo, or would I run towards him, never wanting him to let me go? What would I choose?

And as a set of hands grabs me, hauling me away from Mateo, I know exactly what choice I would make.I would choose him. I will always choose him.

“Don’t hurt him!” I call out as I watch four FBI agents descend upon him, knocking him to the ground with force. I watch one kick him with his boot, and it sets me off. Fighting against the agent holding me, I scream, “Leave him alone!”

I wrestle with the man who has his arms wrapped around me in a vice grip. I fight him like a wild animal as I have an overwhelming need to get to Mateo, to protect him somehow. “Let me go!” I scream. “Let me go!” We wrestle, and he suddenly twists me at an awkward angle. I cry out when I feel my shoulder popping out of its socket. The man immediately loosens his grip, and I stand there with my arm dangling by my side, gritting my teeth from the intense pain.

When I find Mateo’s darkened gaze, I can see the switch being flipped. One moment, he’s calm, accepting his fate. And the next, he’s seeing red.

“Get the fuck off of her!” Mateo roars, stalking towards us.

The agents swarm him then, tackling him down to the ground, and I watch in horror as he fights them. Two of the men fall to the ground with bloody noses and a third is cradling a broken arm. And then Mateo is coming for me again, his face bloody, his shirt torn, his visible tattoos flexing as his muscles tense with rage. His steps are determined, his gaze unwavering.

And that’s when the first shot rings out. It’s almost deafening, and I gasp when I see Mateo jolt from the force of the bullet hitting him. Crimson blooms through the hole in his shirt, and yet he’s still standing. His eyes meet mine, and I can see the resolve inside of them. Gritting his teeth in pain, he steps towards me again. He’s willing to die to get to me, to protect me.

“No!” I scream just as I see another agent raise his gun and shoot.

This time I see Mateo’s shoulder tearing open from the bullet. He staggers backwards, but doesn’t fall.

“Mateo, stop!” I cry out. “Please!” He’s going to get killed trying to come for me.

But he doesn’t stop. He takes another step, and then another.

A third shot rings out, and this one causes Mateo to crumble to the ground. He roars like a feral animal, but his gaze never leaves mine. He’s willing to take bullets for me. He’s willing to die for me.

“Please!” I beg him with tears rolling down my face. “Please stop.”

I can see a myriad of emotions in his piercing gaze as he studies my face. He’s probably wondering if I want him to stop because I want to be rescued or if I’m telling him to stop because of my feelings for him. I wish I could tell him it’s because…I’m in love with him. Lord help me, but I love him with every part of my heart and soul.

I finally manage to pull out of the agent’s grip and run to Mateo. He’s broken and bloody, but he manages to grab me and hold me.

“Are you okay?” he asks before drawing in a rough breath between his teeth.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. He’s been shot three times, and he’s asking ifI’mokay? Before I can even answer, I’m suddenly being picked up and dragged away from him. I scream, kick and fight while calling out his name.

The last thing I see before I’m taken out the door is Mateo’s eyes slowly rolling into the back of his head before he collapses to the floor in a pool of his own blood.

CHAPTER57

Aria

“THIS IS GOING to hurt,” Nico tells me before he grips my arm, pulls and effectively pops my shoulder back into place.

I cry out before gritting my teeth. It definitely feels better than what it did, but it still throbs painfully. Tenderly, my brother wraps a makeshift sling around my arm as I sit in stunned silence. We’re in a blacked-out SUV cruising down the highway at a high rate of speed, trees and houses blurring in my peripheral vision, on our way to the nearest hospital, according to Nico.

“We’re just going to get you checked out,” he had told me earlier.

But I know what’s really going to happen there. They’re going run a bunch of tests on me, both physically and mentally. They’re going to think I’m traumatized from being held captive. I saw the look on my brother’s face when I first got in the SUV. He thinks I’m broken, damaged psychologically.

Maybe I am.

I’m still trying to process everything that just happened.

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