Bought Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Dane
Natalia screams. I’d know the sound of her voice anywhere in the world and even though I know that we should be moving slowly so that we can sneak up on whoever the hell is here, I break into a run without thinking.
I won’t let them hurt her. Something’s wrong and even though I’m angry at her for leaving the building, I want to save her. She belongs to me, more now than she ever did before, and there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let something bad happen to her.
“Dane!” Lorenzo’s voice reaches my ears but I don’t slow down or look back and a moment later I hear footsteps behind me as the other men race to catch up.
The new construction is confusing. It’s almost impossible to see through the vertical posts placed where the walls will be, but I don’t need to see very far to know that I’m going in the right direction. I heard Natalia scream and nothing is going to keep me from getting to her.
A moment later, I slow down. My heart slams hard in my chest and the five men with me all appear at my sides. “There,” I say, pointing. “Through the wood you can see movement. We need to split up. Bonannos, you guys go around the left and keep an eye out for Natalia. Everyone else can die.”
The three of them disappear, melting away like they’re ghosts, and I turn to my brother and cousin. “We have to hurry. She’s hurt, or will be. I save her. I kill whoever has her, you understand? But they all die.”
“You got it.” Johnny keeps his voice low and the three of us all nod before we move through the building. Even though we’re no longer running, we’re still moving quickly, still focused on what’s ahead of us. We all have our guns out and as we get closer, I see what’s happening.
They’re trying to force Natalia to the floor. Her father stands off to the side, a grim look on his face, his hands at his sides like he isn’t sure if he should help her, and I take the shot.
The asshole needs to die.
The sound is loud, even with my silencer, and everyone freezes. From here I can just see Natalia’s face, and she turns to look in my direction, tears streaming down her cheeks, her mouth open in fright. Helms and the mayor pull at her, trying to get her down to the ground.
There’s not a chance in hell that either of them are going to be allowed to walk away from this. They’re trying to hurt her and I’m going to kill them.
For a moment, silence hangs heavy in the air, almost like we’re all caught in a snow globe. The only person moving is Natalia and she fights against the men trying to pull her to the floor.
Then all hell breaks loose.
I never saw them pull their guns, but suddenly the air is ripped apart with the sound of gunfire. Lorenzo, Johnny, and I all fan out, the three of us taking our shots and making sure to protect ourselves from behind pieces of the construction.
They might think that they have a chance to get out of this, but they’re all sitting ducks. As soon as Salvatore, Marcelo, and Trevor all start firing, too, it’s done. We’re going to win this, going to take them down without any casualties.
I have to get to Natalia. Still taking shots every time that I can, I inch closer, my eyes locked on her face. She’s all that matters, the only thing that I have to do right now. I have to get to her, make sure that she’s safe. If they hurt her somehow then this will all have been for nothing and I refuse to let that be the case.
“Natalia!” I scream, my voice loud over the sound of the bullets. “Stay down!”
She’s flat on the floor, her hands over her head, doing her best to make herself as small as possible. Helms crouches over her, his eyes wide and feral as he takes shots at all of us. We’re getting closer to him and he has to know that he doesn’t have much longer to survive.
A piece of shit like him won’t last too much longer, and I’m not surprised when he finally stands, turning to try to run for it. I step forward, planting my feet, and take my shot.
It tears through his back, sending him spinning away and knocks him to the ground. Eyeballing him as I walk closer to Natalia, I’m glad to see that he doesn’t try to get back up.
He’s done.
Shots are still being fired around me. Steve and Mark tear off into the building, but I hear Johnny let out a whoop as he gives chase. The Bonannos burst into my vision and Trevor shoots the young man in the head while Marcelo puts the woman on her knees before shooting her.
I see all of this. I’m aware of all of it happening, but the only thing that matters to me is getting to Natalia. When I put my gun back in my holster, I drop to her side, reaching out and carefully turning her over.
At first, she resists. She doesn’t want to turn under my touch, but I refuse to let her lay here on the floor and I scoop her up, pulling her to my body.
She screams, her hands and feet launching out. “No! You can’t hurt me! I won’t let you!” Her nails catch on my cheek and sink into my skin, but instead of dropping her, I pull her closer.
“Natalia, you’re safe,” I say, my voice loud enough to snap her out of it. “You have to breathe, darling. I promise you, you’re safe.”
Her eyes fly open, wide and swimming with tears, and when she sees me looking at her, she sags in my arms, sucking in a breath. “Oh, my god, Dane,” she whispers, fighting to get down.
I put her down, letting her find her feet before I let go of her. She’s unsteady at first, and wobbles, but then straightens up and stares at me. Part of me fully expects her to run. It was what she was doing before I had to come rescue her. She hasn’t wanted to marry me from the moment she found out about the contract, but she doesn’t turn away from me.
She falls into my arms, huge sobs ripping through her body. “I’m so sorry,” she says, her voice muffled from how her face is smashed up against my chest. “I ran and I shouldn’t have! I was changing my mind when they took me. This entire time I was hoping that you were going to come for me, but I didn’t know if you would.”
Her shoulders shake as she cries and I wrap my arms around her, protecting her. Nothing will ever hurt her again. I won’t let it. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, no matter what that may be.
“Natalia,” I say after a moment, pulling back so that I can look at her. “Look at me.”
She does, dragging her eyes up my body to my face before she sucks in a breath. “I hurt you, I’m so sorry.” Her voice is small but I shake my head.
I don’t care about that.
“You ran on your own?” I need to know the truth. Need to know that what I suspect is true. “It was your own choice?”
Tears well up in her eyes again but she doesn’t let them fall. Natalia is braver and tougher than most people that I know and I admire her for the way she sucks in a breath and gives me a nod.
“I ran,” she admits. “I blocked the door so that I could escape, but then I couldn’t go through with it. I realized...” her voice trails off and she sniffs before speaking again. When she does, her voice is stronger. “I realized that I wanted you and that it was stupid to run from what I wanted.”
That’s all I needed to hear. It doesn’t matter to me that she was going to run away from me or that she almost escaped. I don’t give a shit that she thought that it was a good idea or was afraid of what type of a life the two of us were going to have together. All I care about is her. Having her. Keeping her. Making sure that she belongs to me.
Those thoughts run through my mind and I kiss her, my mouth crashing hard into hers. For just a moment she stills under my kisses, then responds, reaching up to fork her hands through my hair.
I grab her ass, pulling her closer to me. “Did they hurt you?” I finally ask, pulling back a bit so that I can look at her. I have to know what they did to my girl. Have to know what she went through.
She gives her head a little shake. “No, you stopped them. They were going to check to see if I was still a virgin.”
Rage courses through me and I turn from her, looking for something to take my anger out on. Her father and the lawyer are dead, but I hear Lorenzo laughing as he pushes the mayor and his brother into the place where we’re standing.
