Page 13

Chapter Thirteen

Dante

T he pain in my side has gone numb which I know means I’m fucked. I’ve already lost a lot of blood and I keep losing more. If Matteo doesn’t hurry up and get me to a fucking doctor, I’m screwed.

The part that confuses me is why is Nadia still beside me? Why didn’t she leave?

She had multiple chances to go. Yet, she didn’t.

I can feel her beside me but I can’t open my eyes to look at her face, to understand what she’s thinking. Why she made the decision she made.

“Drive faster,” she says to Matteo. Is that worry in her voice? Worry that I’m going to die?

She should be celebrating my death. It would free her of all her problems.

Matteo speeds through stoplights until he reaches the private residence of Sampson, the forensic pathologist who got me the finger of the dead girl.

He’s not a doctor in the traditional sense but he’s had medical training. I’m currently blackmailing him into working with me. I have no one else to help.

Matteo helps me out of the car and up to the apartment building. It’s a shoddy place. Doesn’t look clean but beggars can’t be choosers right now.

Nadia follows right behind.

My head slumps back onto my shoulder as I look over at her. “What are you still doing here? ”

“Are you angry with me? I thought you’d be happy I stayed.”

Matteo buzzes on the intercom until Sampson answers. “It’s Matteo. Dante’s hurt. Let us up.”

Sampson grumbles under his breath but he buzzes us up anyway. There’s no fucking elevator in this place so Matteo has to practically carry me up the stairs.

Sampson is waiting by his open apartment door and urgently motions us inside. “Quickly. Before anyone sees you.”

Matteo deposits me onto the couch.

“No,” Sampson groans. “Don’t get blood on my white couch.”

Matteo shrugs. “Too late. Fix him.”

“I don’t even know what happened.”

“He was stabbed,” Nadia explains. “In the side. There.”

With a sigh, Sampson peels back the bloody fabric on my wound and inspects it. “Fuck. The cut looks small but you’re bleeding out bad. There’s a good chance you hit an artery inside. Or maybe even an organ. I don’t have the equipment to fix you up.”

“Can you stop the bleeding for now?” Nadia asks. “Until we can get Dante to a doctor.”

Sampson hesitates before nodding. “I can stop it. But if you want him to get better, he really does need professional medical training.”

“That’s fine,” Matteo mutters. “Just stop the bleeding for now.”

Sampson packs my wound with gauze. It hurts like a motherfucker.

“Is there nothing you can give me?” I ask.

“Do you want to be unconscious? A man like you seems to always want to be alert.”

“I don’t fucking care right now. Just give me some fucking pain meds.”

With another annoyed sigh, Sampson retrieves a bottle from a locked cabinet and tosses it at me. “There. Take only one. You don’t want to fucking overdose.” He turns to Matteo. “Now get him to a hospital. That’s all I can do.”

Matteo grabs Sampson by the shirt, making Sampson squeak in terror. “If you tell anyone we were here…” The threat is clear. That’s what makes Matteo a good right hand man. He’s loyal and knows how to instill fear into anyone.

“I won’t. I swear.”

“Then let’s go,” Matteo grumbles, helping me back up. Nadia continues to watch with a worried, little expression on her face. I have the urge to tell her that she’s cute.

But I still don’t understand why she’s worried at all. It can’t be for me. I’m her enemy. I’m the man who kidnapped her. She should despise me .

Matteo helps me back into the car. I’m still weak but now that Sampson helped stop the blood from leaving my body, I can think a little bit clearer.

Without a word, Nadia gets into the back beside me. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m dying.”

She’s silent the whole way to the hospital.

“The doctors are going to ask what happened,” I warn. “You need to be prepared to answer their questions.”

“I got you, boss,” Matteo says, helping me out of the car.

“I wasn’t talking about you.” I give Nadia a pointed look. “Just let Matteo do the talking.”

Her only response is to nod.

“We need help here,” Matteo calls out as we enter the ER.

Multiple nurses come running over and get me onto a gurney.

“What happened?” one of them asks.

“He was stabbed. I stuffed the wound with gauze. I’m not sure how bad he is,” Matteo explains.

“What’s his name?”

“Dante.”

“Dante what?”

“Moretti,” Matteo says like he doesn’t want to say it at all.

“Ok. You two stay out here,” she says to Matteo and Nadia before rushing over to my side. Another nurse closes a curtain, blocking Nadia and Matteo’s view of me.

The last thing I see is Nadia’s eyes. They’re full of worry.

For me.

Nadia

Matteo and I remain in the waiting room while the doctors look over Dante. They took him into surgery a few minutes ago .

“You could leave, you know,” Matteo says, watching me pace back and forth. My masquerade mask is long gone but my red dress draws the attention of other people.

I quickly sit back down. “I’m not going to leave. I want to know if Dante will be all right.”

“Why do you care? You hate him.”

I touch my neck where he held a knife to it earlier. Dante was willing to kill me to save himself. But I have to believe he was just bluffing to get himself out of that situation. Otherwise, I just helped save a man who would never save me.

“Dante may think of me as his enemy. He hates my family. But I never hated him. I feared him, yes. I don’t want to be hurt because of him. But things are not black and white for me. I don’t hate Dante because of his last name or because he’s Italian. I’m not my father.”

“But you do hate him.”

“I do,” I say, sighing. “But I also… don’t. Like I said, I need to convince Dante to stop his war on Erik. It’s only going to lead to more people getting hurt. That’s the last thing I want.”

“So you sacrificed yourself to save those you love, not because you love Dante.”

“Correct.” I can’t meet Matteo in the eye though. His gaze bores into the side of my face. “I’m going to get a snack. Can I have some money?” I just need space from Matteo. It’s like he can read my expressions too well.

After he hands me a couple of bills, I head to the nearest vending machine and get myself a bag of chips. It does nothing to help calm the worry in my stomach.

While I am doing this to save those I love, I am also doing this because I just don’t want Dante to die and that is something I could never admit to Matteo.

When I come back to him, I find Matteo is lost in thought. Is he worried for his boss? Does he see that as an opportunity to take power?

Two police officers enter the ER and walk up to the nurses station. A nurse points in my direction.

“Uh, Matteo?” I whisper, nodding to the officers. He stands to attention.

“We heard you brought in Dante Moretti to the hospital. Is that correct?” A male officer asks. The other one is female.

“Yes. He got stabbed and we had to save his life.”

“Did you know this man before he got stabbed? Do you work with him, perhaps? ”

“No. My girlfriend and I found him on the side of the road and we wanted to help.” Matteo gives me a pointed look. Play along, it says. “I’ve never met him before.”

The female officer frowns. “But you told the nurse his name.”

“Because he told me in the car. He told us that he was stabbed. I tried to fix his wound before taking him here. We don’t know what happened.”

“And you,” the male officer says to me, making me almost jump ten feet into the air. My father told me the police were to be avoided at all costs. “Can you corroborate what he’s saying?”

“Yes,” I whisper. “Everything my… boyfriend said is true.”

The officers share a look. “Well, we’ll be back with more questions. Don’t go anywhere.” They walk away.

“Matteo, what do we do?”

“We don’t panic. The moment Dante is out of surgery, we get him out of here.”

As if on cue, the doctor who took Dante into surgery, comes over to us. “So, Dante is fine. He had a small nick on one of his arteries but we clamped it. He’ll survive. You can go see him if you want.”

“Thank you.” Matteo and I head straight for Dante’s room until Matteo stops. “Those officers are following us. Don’t look back. Why don’t you go in to talk to Dante and I’ll stay out here in case they have any more questions. I’m a better liar than you.”

Talk to Dante? Alone? Even though he’s seen me naked, I feel much more vulnerable right in this moment.

I step inside the room and find Dante on the bed, eyes closed, an oxygen tube attached to his nose. He looks so vulnerable. I feel my heart starting to crack a little around him.

Without even thinking about it, I touch his hand. His eyes flutter open.

“Nadia? What are you still doing here?”

I snatch my hand back. “Are you mad that I stayed? Because if you really want me to go, then I’ll go. I’ll return to my sister.”

“No.” He grabs my hand. “I don’t want you to leave. I’m just confused. Why did you help me?”

“I don’t really know. I just did.”

He’s silent for a moment. “Well, I’m glad you did. You saved me. That was pretty stupid of you though. Now I can use you against your family. You should have left when you had the chance.”

“I still can. Matteo won’t stop me. ”

“Bullshit. He’s my second. He’ll keep you here.”

“No, he won’t. I don’t think he wants all this fighting, Dante. That’s what I wanted to talk with you about. I want you to end this war.”

He blinks before laughing. The sound is harsh. I try not to take it personally. “Why would I do that? I’m winning. I wanted you to come to me willingly and you just showed me that you want me alive. You helped save me. My plan is working.”

“No,” I say hotly. “I only saved you because I wanted to convince you to stop this war. But I see now that that was a mistake. You can’t stop me from leaving from your hospital bed. I don’t even think you could get up if you wanted to.”

Case in point, he tries to sit up and ends up flopping right back onto the bed. “Son of a bitch. I’m going to kill that Ivan fucker for stabbing me in the first place.”

“No. Put aside your vengeance. End this war.”

“Never, baby. Haven’t you been paying attention? I will never give up until I’ve won. I am going to destroy Erik and everyone he cares about.”

“How can you have so much hate in your heart?” I whisper.

Before Dante can answer, Matteo hurries into the room. “The police are on their way. We need to get you out of here now.”

“He can’t even sit up,” I say.

“Unless you want to get questioned by the police, we have to go.” Matteo helps Dante get out of the bed, even though he’s grunting and groaning. I’ve never heard him sound so much in pain before. It’s sort of refreshing knowing he’s just a man underneath all the darkness.

Matteo practically carries Dante out of the room from the way Dante is leaning heavily against him.

I poke my head out and see the two officers heading our way. “Won’t this look even more suspicious?”

“Yes but it’s better if they can’t talk with us. They didn’t get our names from before,” Matteo explains as we walk down the hallway. “They don’t know where Dante lives. The less police know about what we do, the better.”

I glance back and see that the officers have turned into the room. They quickly come out, confused frowns on their faces. Then they look down the hallway and spot us.

“Um, Matteo, they’re coming our way.”

He looks back and curses. “Ok, Dante. Can you move faster? ”

“I can fucking try.” Gritting his teeth, Dante manages to pick up his speed. It’s impressive for how hurt he is.

One simple stab wound almost took him down. Ivan just plunged us deeper into war in his efforts to end Dante’s life. I know Ivan just wanted to save his daughter Elena from possibly getting hurt but now I don’t know how to stop Dante.

How can I convince him to end this war?

It dawns on me as I hurry down the hallway, making me almost lose my footing. I have to give myself to Dante completely. It might not stop him but if he truly cared for me, then maybe he’ll care enough to end this war.

“Stop!” the male officer says, running after us.

Matteo shoves the officer back once he gets too close. “Keep moving.”

I grab Dante’s other arm and help him along, walking as fast as I can. Matteo punches the officer and it knocks him out cold.

The female officer yells at Matteo to surrender but Matteo only grabs her and wraps his arm around her neck, making her go unconscious too.

“I didn’t want to have to do that,” he mutters, coming back to us.

“Now we need to get out of here faster,” Dante grunts. The hallway we’re in is empty but it won’t take long for a doctor to find those officers.

By going with Dante instead of Erik, I have now put myself into a life of crime. I have sided with the enemy even though all I’m trying to do is get him to stop the vengeance in his heart.

We manage to make it out of the hospital and back to the car.

Matteo drives us to a parking garage where we steal another car and then to another parking garage to steal another car before arriving back at the ranch house.

“Get inside,” he tells me and Dante. “I’ll get rid of this car.”

I help Dante inside the house and to the couch, where he lands with a groan. “Sorry.’

He squints up at me. “You don’t sound sorry at all.”

“Maybe I’m not.”

“Are you mad at me? You could have left me, Nadia. You had your chance. You only have yourself to blame for being here.”

His words make me more angry than I’ve ever been in my entire life and before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face. Dante looks up at me with a stunned expression .

“The only reason I’m in this position is because you kidnapped me. Because you wanted to start a war. I am not to be blamed for that. I only came back with you because I wanted to get you to stop this war.”

“And I’m not going to.”

“Why not? You almost died. Don’t you just want to live and be happy?”

His eyes narrow. “How can I be happy? I have no one. No family. No loved ones. The only thing I have to fill my heart with is vengeance.”

“You could fill it with love,” I say softly, sounding foolish to my own ears.

Dante’s eyes soften too. “Love? For who? You? You don’t love me. You never will.”

Slowly, I sit down beside him. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“I didn’t only go with you to try and convince you to stop this war. I also…”

“What?” he asks more softly. His fingers skim my cheek. “What is it, baby?”

“I didn’t want to see you die. I had to know that you were ok.”

His eyes widen. “You are so innocent. By making sure I survived, you’ve ensured the ruin of your family.”

“No. Because you don’t have to do that. You can stop. You can put aside the hate in your heart.”

“And what? Let you go? As a gesture of good will? Erik will still come after me to kill me. It’s either you stay with me forever and I kill your family or you return to your family and Erik kills me. This is how it ends.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“It has to. I wanted you to care for me,” he admits. “I wanted to get you to fall in love with me.”

“I’m not in love with you.”

“Maybe not yet. But you did just help save my life.”

“So you could do good with it.”

“Oh, baby. Why would you think I could do good with my life? Me? The man who fucking kidnapped you.”

I flinch at his words. I don’t need the reminder. “I know I may seem na?ve and foolish. But this is the only way I can think to help. If I went back to Erik, he’d lock me up for my own safety. I’d have to get married to Viktor.”

“I thought you wanted to marry Viktor. ”

“It was an arranged marriage. I was going to marry him because that was what was expected of me, not because I loved him. I barely know him. He’s a stranger to me in so many ways. Ironically, I know you better than I know him. And if I were to return, my father would try to hurt me again. I don’t want any of that.”

“You want to be with me?”

“No.”

He huffs, letting his head fall back on the couch. “Then which is it?”

“I don’t know what I want. I just know that I’m drawn to you. I know that I didn’t want you to die despite what you’ve done. I just know that if I were to return to my old life, I’m not sure I’d be any happier than I am now. But by choosing to return with you, I am choosing to take action. I am choosing to do good.”

“I like that you think you can change me.” He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “It makes me believe I can really change.”

“You can.”

“I can’t, baby.” His hand falls away, leaving me cold. “Not until I’ve gotten my revenge. And right now, Ivan Romanov just moved up to first place on my list. I have to go kill him for stabbing me.”

“He has a daughter. She’s eighteen. She’s too young to lose her father.”

“I lost my parents when I was only fifteen. My father got drunk and went on a bender and was found in an alleyway and then my mother couldn’t handle the pain of it, so she killed herself.”

I gasp. Never has Dante told me something so vulnerable about himself. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you have known?”

“But just because you lost your parents young doesn’t mean you should take away the parent of someone else.”

“If that person happened to stab me, then yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Arguing with Dante is pointless. He’s not going to change his mind. But maybe there’s a different tactic I can try.

“What were your parents like?”

He blinks, clearly surprised by the change in conversation topic. “Like I said, my father was a drunk. A deadbeat. He didn’t love me or his wife. He couldn’t fucking stand us.”

“Sounds similar to my father,” I whisper. “He hates me and Anya.”

“Guess we have something in common then. ”

“And your mother?”

“She was a scared woman. She was tired. She just let him yell at her. But she loved him. It was like they were magnets. No matter how fucked up they were, they always loved each other. I know my dad didn’t mean to die. He just couldn’t stop his drinking. But my mother took her own life, leaving me behind. I fucking hate her for it.”

“What happened to you… after they died?”

He gazes at me for a long, silent moment. “I was put into the system. I was only fifteen after all. But I never did stay in any one home for very long. I ended up getting involved in a gang and that’s how I met Antonio De Luca. He was running the Mafia back in the day. I think he found me amusing. Took me under his wing. Showed me what to do in this life. And when he died and it was time for someone new to take over, I did.” His eyes are wistful before they harden. “Until Erik tried to kill me and left me for dead and I had to work my way up from the bottom again.”

There’s so much pain and anger and sadness in Dante’s voice. It makes me want to hold him. Comfort him.

“I lost my mom when I was seven. It was the hardest point in my life. I felt unmoored. Thankfully, Anya raised me. She took over as my mother figure even though she was just ten herself. Just a kid.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he asks. “Aren’t you worried I’ll use this information against you?”

“You just told me your life story. So no, I’m not worried you’ll use my life story against me. I just wanted you to know that I understand your pain. I understand your betrayal. My father betrayed me when he hurt me and Anya every day of our lives.”

“So you understand. The need to get revenge on him.”

“No. I may hate my father but ever since I moved in with Erik and Anya, I haven’t given my father a lot of thought. He’s just not worth it.”

Dante scoffs softly. “So, you’re saying that my hate for Erik is just not worth it. That I should put it aside.”

“I’m not saying that. Not exactly. I’m just saying that there’s another way to live your life. One that doesn’t have to involve torture and pain and blood. One that doesn’t lead to you getting stabbed by a man who just wants to protect his daughter.”

“Those are all good points. But I’m not you, Nadia. I’m not a good person. And once I’m feeling better, I’m going after Ivan Romanov and I’m going to kill him. If you can’t accept that about me, then you never should have helped me. ”

“I hate you,” I whisper.

“Then why did you save me?”

Dante is in my head, making me feel conflicted. I don’t know what’s up from down anymore.

“I’ll just leave then and warn Ivan that you’re coming for him.”

“You’re not leaving. Not now that I have you back here.”

“You’re too weak to stop me.” I rush for the front door but right as I reach it, Matteo gets back home.

“What’s going on here?” he asks, looking between me and Dante.

“Get her back in her room. And lock the door.”

Matteo sighs but he doesn’t object and grabs my arm, forcing me back into the bedroom. “I am sorry, Nadia.”

“Don’t do this.”

“Dante will never change, I’m afraid.” Matteo shuts the door behind him as he leaves.

I hear the click of the lock and know that I’m stuck once more.