| DANTE'S POV |
The second Antonio's finger tightened, I fired.
The recoil snapped up my arm, clean and sharp. His skull jerked back. Blood sprayed across the marble floor.
He dropped without a sound, like a fucking puppet with his strings cut.
Amalia's scream echoed throughout the hall.
I didn't look at the body. I didn't need to. Dead men are dead. I had killed too many for it to mean anything.
My eyes were on her.
The faint bruise on her neck made me want to fire another shot at that bastard Antonio.
Maybe I should have snapped his neck with my bare hands.
"Get her," I barked.
One of my men Luca was already moving, yanking her away from Antonio's body. She was shaking so hard she could barely stand, her wedding dress was smeared with dust and blood that wasn't hers. Her blue eyes were wild, like she couldn't tell if she was safe yet.
She wasn't.
Not here.
Not anywhere near me.
"Take her to the east safe house," I ordered. "Now. No detours. No stops. If you see anything off, you change routes. You don't tell anyone. You don't answer anyone. Do you understand?"
"Yes boss!"
Luca moved at once wrapping a coat around her shoulders, covering the torn silk and her bare skin. She looked back at me as he started pulling her away.
That look—
It wasn't fear anymore.
It was something worse.
Like she thought I was abandoning her.
I ignored the unfamiliar feeling in my chest.
"Move," I snapped, forcing my voice cold again.
He dragged her out through the side exit as my men sealed the room. Glass crunched under boots. The air still smelled like gunpowder and Antonio laid there with a hole in his head.
What a bloody wedding.
Everything was ruined, blood was spilled on the floor where vows were supposed to mean something.
Today was supposed to be a celebratory day but then again there was barely anything to celebrate in this line of work.
I walked over Antonio's body and kicked his gun away.
"Clean this mess," I said. "I want every single man he brought here dead or in chains."
"Yes, boss."
I bent and searched his jacket.
I found a phone, wallet and a second burner.
Interesting.
I unlocked it.
One message sat on the screen.
The wedding just began, Make sure you kill the woman.
My jaw tightened.
So that was it.
Besides wanting me dead today, someone else wanted Amalia dead.
I straightened slowly.
"Track Luca's car," I told Dario.
He was already typing. "Signal's on, boss. He's moving. Heading east."
Good.
I need to be by her side now.
I walked out of the destroyed hall, stepping over shattered glass and white roses soaked red. This wasn't a random hit. Antonio had been working with someone else. Someone who had wanted Amalia gone.
But who?
I needed to know.
Whoever it was had just declared war.
Five minutes passed.
Maybe Ten
Then Dario frowned.
"Boss… the signal's stuttering."
"What?"
"It's still there, but it's jumping. Like it's being masked."
I grabbed the tablet from him.
The dot representing Luca's car flickered, skipping across streets too fast to be real.
"Call him."
Dario dialed.
No answer.
"Again."
Still nothing.
My hand curled into a fist.
"Pull traffic cams," I said. "I want eyes on that car."
Screens popped up. Street after street. Then—
"There," Dario said.
A black SUV was parked down a side road.
"That's Luca," I said. "Zoom."
The camera sharpened.
And my blood went cold.
The back door was open.
Empty.
"Where the hell is she?" Dario whispered.
I was already dialing Luca.
This time he picked up.
"Boss," he said, breathing hard.
"Where is my wife?"
There was a long pause.
"Luca," I said quietly, "you have three seconds to answer before I assume you betrayed me."
"She's gone," he said. "One of Antonio's men—h-he was dressed as security. He hit us at the red light. Fired at us…. We lost her in less than ten seconds."
Fuck.
"Alive?"
"I—I think so. He dragged her into another car."
"Did you see his face?"
"No."
I ended the call.
For a moment, everything went silent. My mind was a mess and only one thought echoed.
They took her.
Someone had the fucking audacity to take my wife.
Not for money.
Not for ransom.
For what?
Leverage? Revenge? Blood?
I knew I couldn't trust Amalia.
I never had.
She was smart and too observant. She'd walked into this marriage knowing it was a deal, not a fairy tale. That made her dangerous in her own way.
For all I know she might have plotted all this as a chance to escape.
But even though I had my doubts…she was still mine until the contract ended.
And I did not lose what belonged to me.
"Lock down the city," I said. "Every road, every port, every airport. If a woman in a wedding dress sneezes, I want to know."
"Yes, boss."
I walked toward my car, already loading my gun.
Whoever touched her had made the worst mistake of their life.
I didn't care if she hated me. I didn't care if she was plotting something behind my back. I didn't even care if she was using me.
She was under my protection.
And I was not a man who failed at protecting what was his.
Somewhere in this city, Amalia was in another man's hands.
And I was going to make sure he regretted it.