Page 76 of Savage Love

“Are you hurt?” It’s a nonsensical question, but we don’t have time to think things through. I don’t know what the state of what’s happening downstairs is, and I need to get her out of here.

“Not as badly as I could be,” she whispers. “I just want to go home. And Isabella—” She pulls back, looking at me with naked fear on her face. “They have Isabella. In another room—you need to get her—”

“Niall is here,” I tell her gently. “And Liam and the others. They’ll get to Isabella.”

“They’re alive?” Relief washes over her face. “Diego told us about the explosives he planted—he made it sound like you were all going to be dead—”

I’ve rarely in my life wanted to kill a man all over again, but at that moment, I wish I could bring him back so I could repeat it. “They’re alive,” I promise her. “But we have to get you out of here.”

I can still hear gunshots downstairs, but fewer of them. I grab the sheet from the bed, wrapping Elena in it before gathering her into my arms, holding her against my chest with one arm as I hold my gun in the other. “Just hold onto me,” I whisper to her. “And we’ll be out of here in no time at all.”

I hope it’s true. I hope everything I’ve said to her is true, that this time I won’t fail. I hold her close, moving down the hallway slowly, and I flatten myself against the wall as I see someone come out of one of the rooms—only to realize a moment later that it’s Niall, with Isabella close behind him.

“Isabella!” Elena gasps her name, and Isabella twists to face us, a relief like nothing I’ve ever seen washing over her face.

“Oh god, you’re alive.” She breaks free of Niall, rushing towards us, and Elena turns her head to look at her.

“I’m fine, Issi. I just want to get out of here. Are you—”

“I’m okay.” Isabella swallows hard. “Diego wouldn’t let them touch me since he wanted to sell me. I want to go home too.” She looks at Niall. “What’s the plan?”

“We stormed the place,” Niall says, looking at me. “There might be a few guards left, but we’ve almost cleared them out. We can go. Max went to get the car. Diego?”

“He’s dead. I killed him myself.”

“Good.” There’s a satisfaction in Niall’s voice that mirrors what I feel, too. “Let’s get them home.”

Elena curls against me, her head against my shoulder, and I know at that moment that there’s nothing more in the world that I want than to be home with her.

Sheis my home. No matter where we are—on a lonely beach or in a Rio motel, or in the house we chose together.

I’ve fought against it too long, but that wasn’t the war I needed to win. Now I’ve been given a chance to make that right.

I won’t squander it twice.

I can’t make it down the stairs fast enough. Niall and Isabella are behind me, Niall still on guard for anyone else who might be left, and I find Liam, Jacob, and Nico on the first floor, bodies scattered.

“We’re going to run a check on the house,” Liam says. “Make sure everyone here is dead. We’re not leaving anyone to go back or try to use whatever knowledge they have to infiltrate us.” He nods at Jacob. “Jacob will call for a second car. You four go with Max—get Elena and Isabella home. They don’t need to be here a second longer.”

The part of me that’s done this sort of work for long years feels like I should stay, clean up with Liam and the others, ensure their safety and watch their backs. But I’m not leaving Elena, and I’m not making her stay in this house. I want her in a bed, safe and sound, where a doctor can look at her and tell us both that she’ll be alright.

I need that as much as she does.

“Just go,” Liam tells me firmly. “We’ve got this. There’s more backup outside, combing the grounds. We’ll check in with Connor when it’s done.” He looks at me, at Elena curled against my chest, very close to passing out. “Be with your wife.”

I can’t find it in myself to argue. Because right now, that’s the only thing I want to do.

Elena

Isleep for a long time.

I don’t know how long passes exactly, not until Levin tells me that I slept for almost two days. The doctor made a house call, coming to check on me and reassure us both that the baby was safe and that, other than my bruising and exhaustion, I’d suffered no ill effects. She told us there was no need for extended bed rest—I needed sleep, and once I got it, to trust myself and how I felt.

I managed to stay awake long enough to find out that Aisling was safe at the estate with Ana and Saoirse, and that everyone survived the explosion. Isabella filled Niall in on the photos Diego had shown us, and Liam had immediately contacted our parents, saying that there’d been no intelligence that there was an attack on the Santiago compound and that they had enough men there that there should have been.

As it turned out, there never had been an attack. The photos were staged, bodies made to look as if they’d been mutilated and murdered without enough identifying features for us to know better, intentionally meant to prey on our terror. It made me furious, and I was glad to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Diego was dead. That I’d seen him die with his own eyes.

I managed a shower to get the blood off, with Levin helping me, and then I fell into bed. Into a deep, thankfully dreamless sleep, until I wake up in a haze, apparently nearly two full days later, to see Levin sitting on the other side of me.

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