Page 71

Rachel

“Is Daddy coming?” Bee asked me as I tucked her into her bed for the night.

I had grabbed her from Jenna and bundled her into the car, speeding off before anyone could question me, and before Dante had time to recover from his gunshot wound.

It was only a minor wound to his leg. I hadn’t aimed to kill. I had aimed to injure, that was all. And he had survived far worse.

But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t fucking kill me with his bare hands if I let him come near me before he had the chance to calm down.

“Not yet,” I replied softly, brushing the hair off her forehead. We would be sharing a bed tonight, but there was a separate living area in this cabin, so I was planning on leaving her to sleep for a while, and drowning my sorrows with a nice glass of water.

Damn pregnancy.

“Is Daddy okay?”

“Of course he is, sweetheart! Look,” I said, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“You know things have been a bit… scary around the club lately?” she nodded her response.

“Well, Daddy is going to take care of those scary things. But me and you, we’re going to have a nice long holiday together.

We don’t need to be around all of that. We can have lie ins, we can watch rubbish TV, and eat all the junk food we want without nanny shouting at us. How does that sound?”

“Good.”

“Just good?” I teased her. “I think it sounds brilliant! We’ll have lots of fun together, Bee. I promise.”

“But I can go back to Daddy soon?”

I paused before I answered. “When things are safer, we’ll go back,” I replied, avoiding committing to a time scale .

“Okay,” she yawned, pulling the covers up.

“Get some sleep. I’ll be right out here if you need me,” I said, gesturing to the door before I kissed her cheek and made my way out of the door.

I kept my hand on it, closing it as softly as I could, and breathed a sigh of relief.

I had got away with it!

“Rachel,” came a soft, deadly voice from behind me. If someone’s soul could leave their body, I swear mine did just that.

I jumped with fright, slapping a hand over my mouth to suppress my scream and spun around, just in time to see Vienna pocketing the key to the door.

The main men were all there.

Shark, Hacksaw and Vienna blocking the only exit. And Dante stood slightly in front of them, glaring at me.

Dante.

“What are you—”

“Doing here?” Dante finished with a sneer.

“I think that’s perfectly fucking obvious.

I’m bringing back what belongs to me. I swear to fucking God, Rachel.

You want to consider yourself a very lucky lady, because the only reason I’m not snapping your neck right now is because of how much you love Bee.

But that doesn’t mean you’re not going to pay for what you did. ”

“I—”

“Oh, I wouldn’t,” he said with a hollow laugh.

“I really wouldn’t speak right now if I were you.

You’ve kidnapped my daughter, you’ve shot me, and you’ve done all this just weeks after my dad died.

For your own sake, I really would stay quiet right now, Rachel, before I forget my promise not to hurt you. ”

Oh no. No, no, no.

The familiar rage entered my body, forcing me to throw my head back with defiance.

Don’t, Rachel. Don’t make this worse.

But it was too late. I was never one to back down in the face of a challenge.

“So do it,” I dared him. “Do your fucking worst.”