Page 75 of Forsaken Promises

“DOMINICO!” I scream, my throat straining from the force. “DOM! HELP ME!”

I race toward the door at the end of the hallway, freedom beckoning me. Just a few more steps, just a few more seconds, and I’ll be back in the arms of the man I love.

But just as my fingers brush against the cool metal of the door handle, I’m yanked back into a hard body.

“No!” I shriek, fighting against him. “Let me go!”

Luca’s face is contorted into a mask of rage. His eyes are wild as blood pours down his broken nose, his teeth stained red as he snarls at me in fury.

“You littlebitch,” he hisses, painfully digging his fingers again into my skin. “Do you really think you can run from me? You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here.”

He drags me back down the hallway, his grip on me unyielding, his stride quickening. We’re moving faster than before, and soon, we are at the same spot we were when I headbutted him.

I struggle against him again, trying to use every bit of my weight to knock him off kilter. Some of my father’s self-defense training is kicking in, and I try to find a way to hit him where it hurts.

But it’s no use. Luca has learned his lesson, and he will not allow me anywhere near his face or his groin.

And then, over the pounding of my own heart and the ragged gasps of my breath, I hear it. The sound of footsteps that aren’t Luca’s, of a voice shouting my name.

It’s Dom.

“Dom!” I scream again, my voice raw. “Dom, I’m here! Help me!”

But Luca slaps a hand over my mouth to shut me up, his fingers pressing against my lips with a bruising force.

I savagely bite down on his hand, my teeth sinking into the meat of his palm.

But Luca doesn’t even flinch. He just tightens his grip on me again and drags me out into the night onto the roof of his villa. The cool, crisp air is a shock to my lungs after the stale, suffocating confines of the hallway and the gunfire filled chapel. The whir of helicopter blades fills my ears, the downdraft whipping my hair and dress into a frenzy.

Luca’s men are waiting for us, their faces hard and their guns at the ready. They flank us as Luca hauls me toward the waiting chopper, their eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of pursuit. Fear rears its ugly head in me.

I can’t get in that helicopter. I’ll never return if I do.

I throw myself away from Luca, doing my best to get away from him, to do anything but get in the chopper. I would rather throw myself off the roof than be taken away by Luca.

“Get back here,” Luca growls, snatching me into his arms and carrying me back toward the helicopter.

“No!” I scream, trying to fight again, but it’s too late. Luca’s arms are like bands of steel around me. I can’t even move.

It’s hopeless.

BANG!

Luca whirls around, and that’s when I see him.

Dom.

He bursts through the door, his eyes blazing and his face streaked with blood and grime. His shirt is torn, the fabric dark and wet with what I can only pray is someone else’s blood.

But even through the haze of pain and exhaustion that clouds his features, even through the blood and the sweat and the dirt… he’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Our eyes meet across the distance, a moment of perfect, shining clarity amid the chaos and the madness. And in that instant, I know that everything will be alright, that no matter what happens, no matter what Luca tries to do… Dom will never let him take me.

But then I realize that Dom has come alone. None of his men have followed him.

And then it hits me. Dom plans on fighting Luca and his men by himself.

“Dom, no!” I cry out, my stomach clenching with fear.

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