Page 17 of Depths of Desire (The Emerald Dagger Mafia #3)

CHAPTER TWELVE

W hat the hell is wrong with me? I pace the length of the bedroom, my hands balled into fists, my skin still tingling from where Nico touched me—where he kissed me. And where I kissed him back.

He touched my shoulder and I wanted to lean into his strength like a sunflower follows the sun. He spoke calmly, but seductively to me, and I wanted more.

He kissed me, and I burned for him.

I groan and press the heels of my palms against my eyes like I can rub the memory out of existence. But it’s useless. His mouth is still on mine. The feel of his hands. The scent of him—dark spice and sin. It’s all still there, crawling under my skin like a curse. What am I doing?

Kissing Nico is exactly the kind of mistake I don’t get to make.

I’ve spent my entire life learning how to survive in a world run by men with blood on their hands.

Getting involved with one—especially Nico—isn’t just reckless, it’s suicidal.

Once he finds out the truth—well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.

I blow out a breath and roll my shoulders. Focus, Luna. I need to escape quickly. Get set up somewhere and wait for Pippa to call me. I sure as hell hope Royce Dunbar’s yacht is not too far away. I have hours, not days, before this whole world comes crashing down.

Nico’s voice reaches me. I cock my head. I can’t make out what he’s saying. Why is he still up? It’s after midnight. Doesn’t he ever sleep? I creep over and open my door a crack. Nico is going down the stairs and he’s talking on the phone. I close the door again.

Damn him. I try and block out the memory of the kiss one more time.

He’s seductive, sure. Infuriatingly sexy with that smooth arrogance and the kind of jawline that makes rational thought a challenge.

But he's also dangerous. And not just in the whole “he could tear a man’s throat out” kind of way.

All the Valdici men are like that, deadly.

No, Nico Valdici is dangerous because he makes me feel things.

Unsafe things. Things I can't afford to acknowledge, let alone feel.

Hope. That’s what Nico makes me feel. Hope that I won’t have to marry Malrick.

Hope that he’ll step in and save me since my parents won’t.

Hope that maybe someone like him could protect me.

I scoff at my own stupidity. I used to think I could have a normal life somewhere else.

If recent events have taught me anything, it’s that I will never have a normal life.

I need to escape and then disappear. I will be looking over my shoulder my entire life, but it’s better than being married to a vampire.

I let out a sob. There’s no protecting me against Malrick.

He’s not even human. There can be no hope.

There is only reality. I need to run. Once Nico and his brothers find out the truth—that my father is owned by Malrick Comescu, that he’s been feeding him information about the family for years—they’ll kill him.

And maybe me too. And honestly? I wouldn’t even blame them.

I grip the edge of the dresser, my breath coming fast. The old Luna—the girl who still believed in loyalty and blood ties—she’s dead.

If watching my father taught me anything it’s that I am on my own.

Gone is the girl who believed in family.

The woman standing here now? She knows the only person she can count on is herself. And she’s getting the hell out of here.

I cross the room in three quick steps and grab the bag I packed earlier. It’s heavy, but manageable. Clothes. Cash. Passport. Toothbrush. The essentials of a woman who’s on the run from everything she’s ever known. Shit. The phone is in the library.

I slip the straps of the backpack over my shoulders, then cross to the door. I ease it open, my ears straining for any sound. The house is quiet, which is both reassuring and terrifying. If Nico or one of his men come looking, I’m screwed.

I move down the hall, my feet silent on the hardwood.

Into the library. The scent of old books and cedar hits me like a memory.

A small lamp is lit on the desk, creating a small halo of light.

I quickly go to the shelf and pull out the book.

I grab the phone and glance at the screen.

Nothing. No new messages. Fuck. I guess it was too much to hope for that Pippa would’ve reached out already. I tuck it in my pocket.

I put the book back in place and slide out of the library to the staircase.

Down the stairs. Slow. Careful. Every creak of the floorboard feels like a gunshot in the dark.

I stop at the bottom and listen. Nothing.

Carson must have gone to bed. I slip through the kitchen and dining room, out the back door onto the balcony and into the night.

The air hits me like freedom—cool and sharp and bracing. The Mediterranean breeze whips at my hair, and for a moment, just a moment, I feel the kind of clarity that only comes when you’ve got nothing left to lose.

I move fast, staying within the shadows.

I don’t have a plan beyond getting off the property.

Once I’m out, I’ll figure it out. There’s always a way.

There has to be. Cameras are top of my mind since that’s how I got into this mess.

I keep to the trees lining the driveway and try to avoid any cameras I see.

God only knows if I’m successful, but I’m hoping that Nico’s security guys are expecting trouble on the outside of the gates, not inside.

I can’t let Malrick find me. I can’t let my father’s sins become mine.

And I sure as hell can’t let Nico Valdici be my downfall—even if part of me, a very stupid part, wants to run right back upstairs and let him be exactly that.

But I’ve survived all the shit that being the daughter of a top capo in a mafia family brings.

And I’ll survive this, too. Even if it means running for the rest of my life.

The gravel crunches under my boots, suddenly sounding like a canon shot.

I glance down and realize I’m too close to the edge of the driveway.

Stupid . I move back and crouch low behind a hedge halfway down the long, winding driveway.

The gate is maybe fifty yards ahead, but it might as well be a mile.

Floodlights illuminate the entire front of the estate like a goddamn stage.

Two guards stand near the gate—one smoking, the other watching the monitors inside the small guard shack.

Of course there’s a guard shack. I’d forgotten about that, or maybe I’d slept through seeing it.

I scan the driveway, noting the blind spots in the camera coverage, studying where the shadows fall.

I stand behind a tree and watch the cameras.

Some are stationary, but some are rotating.

I realize there’s a rhythm to their movement, a pattern.

I just need to slip through the gaps without being seen.

Easy. Right? Who the fuck am I kidding? I’m sure as hell not Tom Cruise, but this is definitely an impossible mission.

Maybe if I can get outside the gate, then I can get away fast enough that it won’t matter if Nico knows I’m gone.

I snort softly. That’s just another lie I’m telling myself, but what choice do I have?

As soon as he finds out about Malrick, my life is over.

I exhale slowly and move, hugging the tree line.

My pulse hammers in my throat, louder than the breeze in the branches above me.

The backpack is heavy, pulling at my shoulders, but I can’t stop.

Can’t hesitate. If I do, I’m afraid I’ll go back.

All the years of being around killers and I’ve never been more terrified than I am right now.

I press my body flat against a tree trunk, just behind the last camera’s arc.

I’m about to make a break for the final stretch when I feel it.

A weird breeze—almost a vibration of some kind in the air.

It smells like metal and rot. I gag. What the hell?

I look up and see two large creatures descending onto the driveway like they’ve just been dropped out of the sky.

The same two that broke into Nico’s apartment.

Smelly magickal creatures. Fucking brilliant. Just what I need.

My stomach drops. I try, and shrink behind the tree trunk, but the tall one sniffs the air and then lunges toward me—seven feet of muscle, rage, and snarling fangs—and I let out a scream, barely dodging his arms in time. Its hand slices through the air where my head just was.

I try to run but stumble, my knees weak beneath me. Another one appears from the dark, and then a third. Where did he come from? Their eyes glow faintly in the shadows, red-hot and full of hate.

“Fuck,” I whisper, my back hitting the base of a tree. What the hell am I going to do now? I’ve been trained for a lot of things, but fighting magickal creatures is not on the list.

The largest one snarls and takes a step forward. “Malrick wants you alive. You need to come with us,” it says. “Now.”

And then everything goes still. Like the air has been pulled out of the world.

A blur of movement. A low, guttural growl—not from the creatures.

From behind them. Nico is there. He hits the first creature like a wrecking ball, eyes blazing with fury and fangs bared.

Ohmygod. Fangs? Jesus, is Nico a vampire?

All the air has left my lungs. Time stopped.

I can’t seem to focus. Nico is a vampire. What the actual fuck?

A creature grabs my leg, and suddenly I can move. I scream and poke him in the eye with my finger. He roars and lets me go. Nico drives his hand through the thing’s chest and yanks something wet and black out of it before tossing the body aside like garbage. Blood sprays across my face, and I gag.

The second creature doesn’t even get a chance to react before Nico snaps its neck with a sickening crunch. The third tries to run. He doesn’t get far before Nico crashes down on him and smashes his head into the pavement.

I sit there, panting, blood spattered across my face, as Nico gets up and turns toward me. His shirt is soaked, torn at the shoulder, and his knuckles are slick with gore. His eyes lock on mine.

“Going somewhere?” he asks, voice low and deadly.

I swallow hard, my throat burning. “You’re not supposed to be out here.”

He steps closer, slow and deliberate, like a predator scenting weakness. “Neither are you.”

“I had to go.”

“No,” he says sharply, “you have to tell me what the hell is going on.”

I push to my feet, but stumble. My knees don’t want to hold me. Nico reaches out and steadies me. “I thought we had an agreement. I would protect you, and you stay put until we know who is trying to kill us.”

I meet his gaze. “I already know.”