Page 82 of Dare To Free Us
I thrashed so hard my chair bounced off the floor. Anger burned my insides as failure to protect my wife ripped my heart from my chest. A pair of strong hands settled on my shoulders, restricting my movements.
“Touch me, Nico,” Vasilisa said, pulling him into the back of her and putting his hand down her pants. Nico began to work her center as she watched Arianna be assaulted.Sick, twisted bitch.
Shura looked over at me as he reached down and gently placed a hand on the back of Arianna’s head, threading his fingers into her long hair. As she was sobbing, I died inside. I started screaming against the tape all the things I would do to him.
Shura smiled, then looked down at Arianna. “Open,” he said, as he pulled her face towards his cock.
Something broke inside me. Luca once described his darkness as a beast. One he held secure in its cage until he let it out to play, or on occasion broke free to show his worst sense of bloody rage.
Mine I always thought of as a perfect sphere. One that sat at the very center of me and held strong against everything that beat against it. It never changed and never moved, always the same. I controlled it, it did not control me. Until I watched Arianna’s soul break. That sphere suddenly burst into a festering cloud that grew and shook, demanding I feed it with the blood and pain of my enemy. It filled my body, making me pulse with a level of hatred I’d never felt before.
Arianna’s head was pulled forward, her lips parted.No!I screamed loud and long against the tape.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three men to the right fell to the floor. The room froze as everyone tried to figure out what was happening. Suddenly men rushed around the corner and from the hall opposite the living room, Steven and three others used the wall for cover from return fire.
Everyone now had a gun and was scrambling for cover. Nico and Vasilisa jumped behind the couch. Shura reached for Arianna but she skittered away as a bullet grazed his arm stopping his advance.
She scurried out of gunfire but was now trapped on the other side of the room with Shura and the rest of them. Her head popped up to find me but no sooner had we made eye contact when a man lunged for her. Kicking out with her legs she was able to hold off his assault but had no choice other than turn and run in the opposite direction. My heart sank as I watched her disappear down a dark hall. A moment later a flash of red hair followed.
Run!
Suddenly the world tipped backwards. I braced for the impact my head was going to have with the floor but it never came, now I was being dragged backwards. Someone had taken ahold of my chair and was pulling me to safety as other men laid cover fire. Shots rang out and men yelled, filling the room with deafening sounds.
The chair made an awful screech across the hardwood until we rounded a corner and the front legs hit the floor with a thump that radiated through my pain ridden body. I grunted, wishing for a way to set it aside until later. I had killing to do and my woman to save, I didn’t need the weakness or distraction of injuries.
“Sorry, Boss.” A voice came from behind me, and I realized it was Vinny who pulled me to safety. I couldn’t answer because my mouth was still tapped. Big hands worked on the cuffs as bullets continued to send wood splinters and drywall into the air.
Once my hands were free I peeled the tape off my face, wincing at the effect it had on my swollen lip. My body begged me not to move, and when I leaned forward to stand, bile climbed my throat as pain flashed like lighting through my system, making me lightheaded. A gun was being shoved into my hand before I could even stand up. I was forced to wipe my bloody hands on my pants before the gun felt secure in my grip.
“You ok, Matteo? That looks bad,” Vinny asked, now standing beside me, pressed to the wall.
“I’ll be fine. Arianna is on the other side of the house. We have to get to her. How did you know?” I took deep breaths and tried to ignore the lava burning across my chest and the fire eating at my wrists.
Vinny turned away and fired three shots into the living room. Then jerked his head at Steven across the doorway with a dark look on his face. “Steven went to your mother’s room after he was told he would not be escorting Arianna, but…” His voice trailed off with a frown.
“But what?” I growled, flinching as a bullet sent splinters of wood towards our faces.
“Maria was already dead. They tried to take him out. Steven went through the house and killed everyone. Then he called me and anyone he knew with absolute certainty would still be loyal to come get you and Arianna. I’m sorry, Matteo.”
Red-hot furry burned my skin. The fucker was going to die. I felt loss and anger in equal measure, but the anger was the only thing that would help me at the moment. There would be time to grieve later. I had to get Arianna back without letting the image of my murdered mother take my focus. Shoving her death aside felt like I’d personally slapped her corpse and I felt sick, but there was nothing for it.
“Let’s get my wife back,” I growled.
“Absolutely,” Vinny answered, baring his teeth with the want to cause damage. That salt and pepper beard was enough to fool you but Vinny could wipe the floor with just about anyone.
Shots continued to fire but it would take too long for it to be over if we continued. “Ready for some close interaction?”
Vinny eyed my chest. “You sure you’re up for that?”
“Yes.” I gritted my teeth, feeling my energy slowly seeping down my chest in the form of blood. I wasn’t at full strength, but nothing would hold me back from getting revenge. I took hold of my fury and let it sink deep until it dulled some of the pain. “Shura is mine. Take Nico alive if possible. If not, make his end painful.”
Vinny’s vicious smile flashed bright. “With pleasure.”
“Steven!” I yelled across the way, his head turned. “Cover us!” He nodded and put up three fingers for a count. Vinny and I both started counting in our heads.
Three. Two. One.