Page 83 of The Don's Forbidden Obsession

The sound of gunfire continued to splinter the air with its screeching pops. Panic ensued and I grappled with my senses, instinctively ducking and tugging away from Luca’s grasp. The adrenaline coursed through my veins as bullets whizzed past us.

It was chaos.

Luca grabbed my shirt and yanked me down to the ground as his arm whirled around with a ferocity that made my blood run cold.

He unloaded rounds of bullets, his jaw clenched in hatred.

His instincts were kicking in.

Until searing agony surged through my body.

“Luca!” I wailed, a bullet had just torn through my flesh, finding its mark in my arm.

Time seemed to slow, and the world around me blurred into a haze. Another primal scream ripped from my throat as I got shot a second time, just inches away. It was a guttural cry of anguish and shock.

The pain was immediate and almost overwhelming, coursing through my body like an inferno. I gasped for air as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Nausea twisted in the pit of my stomach.

“Annabelle!” Luca screamed as he scooped me up in his arms.

* * *

I clung tightlyto him as we sprinted away, our heartbeats drumming in unison. The streets blurred as he continued to pound pavement. It was all a dizzy whirlwind and my arm throbbed in agony.

He set me down blocks away, lurching over, his breath ragged. The alleyway we were in was foreign, but it was a respite from what just happened and what I knew was to come.

His eyes met mine.

“Thank you,” I whispered raspily, clutching my bleeding arm.

His eyes softened and he grabbed me by the wrist. “Something isn’t right,” he panted. “They shot you.”

He was right.

Somethingwasn’tright.

There was no way my dad would have done anything to jeopardize my life.

As I gazed into his eyes, I felt a depth to him that I wasn’t sure I could comprehend.

There was something here between us.

We were no longer two people caught in a web of circumstances.

We were partners. At least, as much as we could be given that circumstance.

“Let’s get you to a doctor,” he sighed, pulling me close, his breathing finally normal.

I shook my head and leaned in, our lips meeting in a breathy kiss. Our bodies pressed together in an intimate embrace. The adrenaline coursing through our veins began to ebb and the fact that I hadn’t died seemed to do something to stir a rush down south.

I held onto him, my fingers clutching onto the fabric of his shirt so tightly that it could have been my lifeline. What we had just gone through jolted through the air.

Tears suddenly welled in my eyes as I became overwhelmed with emotion.

His eyes, filled with tenderness and unwavering devotion, met mine. “It’ll be OK,” he replied, his voice filled with emotion. “We’ll get you back to normal.”

I leaned my forehead against his, reveling in the warmth of his hot breath against my skin. I leaned upward, my lips finding his once again. I could tell that this hadn’t gone to plan.

I could tell that everything was even more confusing now than it had been before.

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