“How the fuck do we get out of here!?”
Dmitry’s wild eyes bore holes into his shadow soldiers. No one has an answer for him. We’ve arrived at a clearing in the tunnels. An open circle that has eight different paths out of it. This obviously wasn’t part of the plan.
I’m worried that the Russian is ready to take his anger out on me again. Luckily, his phone rings and he lashes into the receiver instead.
“Where the fuck are you?”
The voice on the other end of the line is muffled, but when Dmitry’s eyes fall on me, I can guess who it is. Father.
He must be done with Aiden.
My heart shrivels up into a black corpse and I want to collapse into the rusty tunnel floor. But I’m not even allowed to do that. Two pairs of frigid hands hold onto me with grips so tight my hands are starting to turn blue.
Dmitry argues with Father, his voice echoing through the high-ceiling underground pathway like thunder. “You incompetent fool. I should have left you to rot in prison. This was your idea. How do you not know any other way out of here!?”
The fact that we’re lost does little to mend my broken heart. I’d rather die down here than be Dmitry’s slave bride. Even a timely rescue seems bleak if Aiden’s dead.
Slowly, I begin to hear father’s voice more clearly. He stumbles towards us through the tunnel we just came through, bleeding from the shoulder. His face is ghostly. But a new life rushes into me at the sight.
He’s been shot. Does that mean….
“We need to get moving!” Father orders “They’re coming!”
Dmitry lunges through his circle of shadows and grabs my wounded father around the throat. “And which way do we go D’Ignoti? You were supposed to be the fucking tunnel expert.”
“I only heard about these tunnels from her,” my coward of a father squeals, pointing an accusatory finger my way.
Dmitry throws him aside and comes to strangle me next. His long sharp nails dig into the tender parts of my neck as he lifts me up into the air. “Which way is out?” he hisses.
In the distance, I can hear an approaching commotion reverberating through the tunnels. Someone must have broken through Father’s defenses. Did they manage to shoot him before he shot Aiden? It’s impossible to tell. But I know I’ll find out soon, if I can just hold on a little longer…
“I’m giving you five seconds, bitch,” Dmitry spits. His fowl breath makes me flinch even more than the sight of his gun does. “Then I’m blowing your fucking head off.” He points the barrel between my eyes and my breaths go ragged with fear.
If Aiden is still alive, then I don’t want to die.
“You still need her, Dmitry!” Father chokes. I know it’s not emotion choking him up, though. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him nursing his red throat. He’s only thinking about me as an asset. A pawn that’s still needed if he’s going to have a part in the Black Delphi’s new world order.
“I don’t need anybody,” Dmitry reacts, turning his gun on my father. “Actually, that’s not true. I do need one of you. But only one. Who do you think I should choose, Ciro? You or her?”
Hot-blooded frustration and fury must be blocking the two men’s ears, because they clearly don’t hear just how quickly the distant commotion is approaching. All I can think of is how badly I need to keep them distracted. I need to buy a little more time, just like Aiden did.
“You need me more than you need her,” Father snaps. He crawls back onto his feet, hand hugging his wounded shoulder.
Dmitry’s cruel smile finds me again. So does his gun. “Very well. Any last requests?” he taunts.
“Make him do it,” I croak. As evil as Father is, I’m counting on the hope that he might hesitate to shoot me for just a little longer than Dmitry would. That’s what I need. Just a little bit longer.
The Russian’s dark beady eyes light up at my suggestion. “What a wonderful idea. Maybe I should keep you around after all. What a wife you could make…”
Father interrupts Dmitry’s second thoughts with the click of his safety. A new barrel shakes in my face as Dmitry withdraws his gun and steps aside.
“I’ll do it,” Father grumbles.
Dmitry stares at us with a ruthless wonder. “Maybe if you were still a virgin, I would have chosen you over him,” he shrugs at me. “But that ship has sailed. I really only need one D’Ignoti to make it out of here alive. Only one to control my spot amongst the Italians. Ciro, you have my permission to make the choice.”
Father presses his gun into my temple and I bite back my fear and my sorrow. This is the only family I’ve ever known. This is the man who raised me, who kept me locked away and said it was for my own protection. He lied. I was never anything more than a tool for him to bargain with.
The bastard. I hate him so much. He betrayed me and broke my heart.
In these dying moments, Aiden’s words of warning come back to haunt me. My father never deserved my trust or my love. I want to make him pay.
“Who said we fucked?” I blurt out.
I just need to stall for one more second. Every second I’m alive, there’s hope. Hope for life. Hope for love. Hope for revenge.
The cold steel digs deeper into my skin. “I saw the way you looked at him,” Father growls. “Don’t lie, Elisa. You fucked him and you loved it. Admit it. You fucking whore!”
Now it’s my turn to show a cruel smile. “You’re right. I did. We fucked and it was amazing. I fucking hate you. And I fucking love him.”
If those are my last words, then so be it. I’ve done all I can do.
“I knew it,” Father mumbles. “You fell for a savage, and now you’ll pay for it.”
With a deep breath, he prepares to end my life.
… But then a roar interrupts his focus.
Father’s gun eases against my temple for only a split second as he turns to identify the primal sound. That’s all the room Aiden needs to burst out of the shadows and tackle him to the floor.
I drop to my knees and Father howls in pain as his wounded shoulder is crushed against the hard cement below. Aiden looks like a wild beast as he tears at the man who gave me life.
Dmitry’s shadows don’t have a chance to pull him off before Aiden’s back up arrives.
Nolan and Mr. McCabe lunge into the opening, guns drawn. Dmitry’s soldiers struggle to fight them off, but the Irishmen are possessed and as more backup arrives, the tides turn in their favor. Close range gunshots roar through the tunnels, until it feels like my eardrums might burst.
Then, a cold harsh hand grabs me by the hair and pulls. I scream as the battle shrinks away behind us. “Aiden!”
His stormy green eyes catch mine through the chaos. But the distraction is to his detriment. I see father grab his fallen gun and point it directly at Aiden’s chest.
But even through all of his injuries, my beast is too quick and strong for the old man. With a single brutal movement, Aiden snaps my father’s arm at the elbow and turns the gun on him.
I only see the flash of the muzzle before I’m yanked around the corner and back into the darkness.
