Page 26 of Auctioned Innocence (Bonds of Betrayal #3)

This is what I’ve been craving since that night in the motel—her body against mine, her hands in my hair, the way she fits perfectly in my arms like she was made for me.

But that kiss was desperate, interrupted, stolen in a moment of terror.

This is different.

This is choice.

This is Sofia choosing me despite everything, despite the danger, despite Marco’s inevitable fury.

Her lips are soft, perfect, everything I’ve imagined and more.

When she opens for me, when her tongue meets mine, I groan against her mouth like a man dying.

She kisses me back with the same fierce intensity she showed in the fight—no hesitation, no holding back.

Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me closer, deeper, until there’s no space left between us.

I can feel her heart racing against my chest, matching the frantic rhythm of my own.

This is what I’ve wanted for years.

This heat, this passion, this perfect woman in my arms kissing me like the world is ending.

Because maybe it is.

Maybe we’re both going to die in the next few hours, and this is all we get.

I press her harder against the stone wall, my hands mapping the curves of her body through her clothes.

She arches into me, and the soft sound she makes breaks what’s left of my control.

I want to strip her bare right here, want to claim her in ways that would horrify her brother, want to?—

My phone rings.

We freeze, breathing hard against each other’s mouths.

The ringtone cuts through the silence like a blade—Mario’s emergency line.

The one Marco doesn’t know about, the one that reminds me who I really work for when everything else falls apart.

Reality crashes back down around us. Bodies on the floor. Blood on the walls. Somewhere out there, more enemies hunt us.

“Answer it,” Sofia whispers against my lips, but her hands don’t leave my chest nor push me away.

I keep her pinned against the wall with my body as I answer, unable to step away.

Unable to break the contact that feels like the only real thing in a world gone insane.

“Report,” I say, hoping my voice doesn’t crack.

Mario’s voice comes through, tight with tension and something that sounds like barely controlled fury. “Marco’s been shot.”

The world seems to slow, freezing the blood in my veins.

Sofia must read the shock on my face because her hands tighten on my shirt, her eyes going wide with fear that mirrors my own.

“How bad?” I force the words out through a throat that’s suddenly tight.

“He’ll live,” Mario says quickly, and I feel Sofia’s body sag with relief against me. “He’s alive, but Jesus, Dante, it was close. Too fucking close. Shoulder, but the shooter knew what he was doing.”

Sofia’s breathing steadies, though tears still track down her cheeks.

Not life-threatening, but still her brother.

Still someone trying to kill the people we love.

“Where is he now?” I ask, my free hand stroking her hair in comfort.

“New safe house upstate. Private doctor, full security detail.” Mario’s voice is tight now. “But Dante, he found something. Something big enough that they tried to silence him for it.”

“We need extraction,” I tell Mario. “The cabin’s compromised. Bodies everywhere.”

“Working on it. I’ve got a team en route, but they’re forty minutes out. Can you hold position?”

I look around at the destroyed cabin, the bodies scattered across the floor.

Forty minutes feels like a lifetime when we’re this exposed.

“We’ll manage,” I say. “Just get here fast.”

“Copy that. Stay sharp.”

The line goes dead. I slide the phone back into my pocket and turn to Sofia, who’s wiping blood from the cut on her cheek.

“Forty minutes,” I tell her. “We need to secure the perimeter, make sure?—”

The remaining windows explode inward.

Not from gunfire this time—from more flash-bang grenades that turn the world into a nightmare of white light and deafening noise.

I’m reaching for Sofia when the concussion hits, sending me staggering backward as my vision dissolves into strobing chaos.

“Sofia!” I shout, but I can’t hear my own voice over the ringing in my ears.

Dark figures pour through the shattered windows like smoke.

I fire blind, my shots going wide as disorientation overwhelms my senses.

These aren’t the same attackers from before—these are fresh, coordinated, and they know exactly what they’re doing.

A boot connects with my ribs, sending me crashing into the stone fireplace.

Pain explodes through my injured shoulder as I hit the ground, my weapon skittering across the blood-slicked floor.

Through the chaos, I see Sofia fighting like a wildcat.

She’s taken down one attacker, is grappling with a second, her movements fluid and deadly despite the disorientation.

But there are too many of them.

“Get your hands off me!” she screams, her voice cutting through the chaos.

I lunge toward her, but something hard slams into the back of my skull.

Stars explode across my vision as I go down, tasting blood. Through blurred sight, I watch three men overwhelm Sofia, zip-tying her hands behind her back as she struggles against them.

“Dante! Oh god, Dante!” Her voice cracks, high and panicked. “Please, please be okay?—”

I force myself up, fear overriding the agony in my head and shoulder.

My hands close around a piece of broken glass, the edges cutting into my palm as I slash at the nearest attacker.

He shouts, stumbling backward with blood streaming down his face.

But it’s not enough.

A taser hits me in my chest, electricity locking every muscle in my body.

I convulse, unable to control my movements as they swarm over me.

“No!” Sofia’s scream is pure anguish as they drag her toward the destroyed window. “Let him go! I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt him!”

I try to speak, to tell her not to bargain for my life, but the electricity has stolen my voice.

All I can do is watch as they manhandle the woman I love, her face streaked with tears and blood.

A masked man crouches beside me as his men secure my restraints. “Nothing personal, Mr. Moretti. Just business.”

“I’ll kill you,” I manage to rasp out through gritted teeth. “All of you.”

His laugh is muffled by the disguise. “You’ll try.”

They haul me to my feet, and I get one last look at Sofia.

Her wild eyes find mine across the chaos, and I see the same thing I felt in that moment before I first kissed her—absolute trust.

Even now, even terrified and bound, she believes I’ll find a way to save us both.

“Dante!” she calls out as they force her through the window. “Don’t you dare give up on me!”

“Never,” I shout back, struggling against the hands holding me. “I’ll find you! I’ll?—”

Something hard crashes into the base of my skull.

The world tilts sideways, Sofia’s scream echoing in my ears as darkness rushes up to claim me.

The last thing I see is her face, streaked with tears before everything goes black.