Page 124 of In My Heart
“You kidnapped me. Rafe will rip your head from your shoulders with his bare hands,” I threatened with utter confidence.
“Your father kidnapped you.” He glanced at me then, a small, cold smile filling his face. “But I look forward to the war he caused in doing so, immensely.”
“We both know he’s much more your father than mine. He raised you in his image, clearly. Monsters breed monsters, right?”
“I’m a much bigger monster than Grigor, little girl. You’ll see soon enough.” With those words he looked away, eyes focussed straight ahead again and I was left wondering what he meant?
Were those words just to scare me? It made sense, but something felt off. I felt like there was a bigger point to what he’d just said, something almost tangible that I couldn’t quite get a hold of.
I turned to look behind me again. Across the chapel, Grigor Adamian watched me with terrifying pride. I hoped like hell it was more Daniel he was watching. I didn’t want a damned thing from that monster.
He started to approach and I refused to turn away and show weakness. I set my eyes on him and watched him with every iota of hate I felt toward him.
“You secure your family legacy with this marriage today,” he told me as he stopped too close for my liking.
“This is not my family. You are nothing to me!” I told him vehemently.
“You said it yourself. We are blood. You could make a place for yourself at Daniel’s side.”
“I’d rather die!” I stated.
A flicker of irritation crossed his face, almost something parental. Like I was disappointing him, and I enjoyed every bit of it. My bitterness and anger were soaking up just how much I was not what he hoped me to be; how much of a disappointment I was to him.
“Then you probably will,” he sighed.
“So be it, but Rafe will make sure every fucker who was a part of this, dies bloody too.”
“So weak, just like that fool brother of yours,” he scoffed.
“Fuck. You.” I said it slowly, emphasizing every syllable, meaning it. I turned my back on him, determined those would be the final words he ever heard from me.
My chest tightened painfully at thoughts of Rafe though. Of Cal, Arran, and Dario. They’d be at full panic stations, searching for me I was sure. They’d be so angry with me for going. If I died there, those would be the last emotions they felt for me, and I hated that thought. I hated what an idiot I had been to do that to them. To Dante. To my damn self!
Rafe. God, he was injured. The stress I had caused him. The way I knew he would throw himself into trying to find me. It would all make his injuries so much worse. Tears threatened and I blinked furiously not to let them fall. It was too late to regret. I was there and trapped. I’d messed everything up and I couldn’t fix it in that moment.
I looked for Dante. He was off to the side of the altar, his hands bound in rope. He was laid on his side, motionless, his eyes closed. The only reassurance I had was the movement of his badly wounded chest. He was alive. For now.
“What are we waiting for?” Adamian called from somewhere behind me. I was just relieved he had moved far away from me.
“Are we ready, sir?” The priest asked, looking to Daniel.
Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but it was cut off. A crash exploded somewhere beyond the chapel walls. I cried out, ducking and covering my head on instinct. The old walls around me seemed to rattle and dust fell from the ceiling all around me.
The armed men started to scramble. moving to the entrance. Daniel shoved past me, as he turned around, but then gunfire erupted everywhere, all around me. The priest ran to the back of the building and I ducked lower.
Shouting followed, men moving and panicking. Daniel was calling orders above me but I had my hands over my ears to drown out the relentless thundering of shots.
Every soldier in the room had moved at once, their weapons raised as more shots drowned out everything all around.
I caught sight of Grigor, and he was sat in a pew, smiling. He looked demented.
“You were right. They came,” he called as his eyes met mine. I didn’t so much hear the words, as read his lips.
My pulse lurched as I realised he was likely right. This was Rafe. His men. My family.
It was as if my thoughts called to them. The chapel doors burst open hard enough to slam against the walls at that moment, and Dio entered first with blood splattered across his throat, gun in hand, expression vicious enough to make half the room freeze. Arran was beside him, firing before he’d fully crossed the doorway.
My heart skipped a beat at just the sight of them. They’d come for me.
