Page 192 of Sins of the Orchid

I don’t want to die.

CHAPTER75

Santino

My lips curved into a smile reading Amore’s message. I couldn’t wait to fuck my wife. I’d order her to strip the second she walked through the door. And then, I’d ensure she followed through with her promise.

Tension and the need to feel her again rushed through my bloodstream. She was my heroine. I’d never get enough of her. I didn’t like her going to work, not until we’d eliminated this threat with George Anderson. But Amore was a stubborn heiress, determined to do what she had been raised to do. To lead her empire.

I admired her for it. I loved her for it. Though it clashed with my need to protect her.

In all honesty, I wanted to take her away, keep our honeymoon going. Just the two of us, in our own bubble, where nobody could get to her. Where nobody could hurt her.

It was the worst possible feeling, this vulnerability for someone, the fear of losing what you loved. I swore a long time ago, I wouldn’t allow a weakness into my life. No women that could touch my heart. I saw firsthand what it did to my father. But how was I to know she would have been a kid that would attach herself to me, need my protection, and then grow up to be a gorgeous woman that would take my heart.

My cell phone rang, and I picked it up, expecting it to be Amore. “Yeah?”

“Santi, they got her.” DeAngelo’s voice shattered my world.

A deathly stillness came over me. My gaze locked on the front door, expecting Amore to walk through it any moment, despite the news I just got.

Lead and cold settled in my stomach, unlike any other I had ever felt before.

“Santi, you there?” Anger crept beneath my skin, fueling the rage… and fear. Fucking fear for a red-haired woman that was mine. “Goddamnit, Santi.”

I had to swallow down the burning rage, the cold fear. Swallow it all so I could focus. Bring her home.

“What do you know?”

“I was waiting for her in the garage. When she didn’t show, I went to search for her. She is nowhere to be found.”

Amore tended to get sidetracked when working. It could be that she just found her way back to her work lab and lost track of time.

“I’ll call her,” I told him.

“Don’t bother. Her bag and her stuff was sprawled all over the pavement in front of the building.”

Fuck. I didn’t get a heads up. Why? The worry for her rattled me to my bones. There wasn’t much that I was scared of in this life.

Losing Amore was a bone chilling fear clawing at me. “I have to make a call,” I told him and hung up.

I scrolled through my phone book and stopped at the name that could break me if he didn’t come through. I pressed the call number, each ring costing me years of my life.

“Yeah.”

“Does he have her?” My voice was cold and hard.

“Yeah.” Heartbeat. “Location share.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. The call ended.

I glanced at the screen and the location sharing acceptance button flashed.

It was a no brainer. Accept.

CHAPTER76

Amore