Page 40 of Little Nightmare

Momentarily stunned, I grabbed her by the elbow to pull her to the side, she used that same sharp elbow to jab me in the stomach. “Stop messing around, he’ll kill you.”

I pulled her again. “Well, I won’t let him kill you.”

"Stop!” She threw her left hand back just as I stepped closer. Her fist came into direct contact with my dick.

Collapsing against the counter I yelled out a string of curses and bent over. “Son of a bitch. Are you wearing rings?”

Raven held up her left hand, showing off an impressive display of four rings, including a massive one symbolizing the Alfero family that I’m pretty sure my cock just shook hands with. Perfect. “Sorry, Daddy says they can be weapons, so I always put them on when going to war.”

Dante briefly smiled. “That’s my girl.”

She grinned.

I was still hunched over dying.

And a gun was still pointed at me.

Dante moved the gun up and down, from my cock to my face and back to my cock again. “I’m going to ask you one question, and I’m going to need an honest answer. Your life depends on it.”

"Yes, sir.” I stood to my full height and crossed my arms. “What’s the question?”

He pointed the gun toward the ceiling. “Did you sleep with my daughter?”

I wasn’t an idiot, so I didn’t say, by sleep do you mean spooning or lying down and closing our eyes in the same bed or did we sleep together as in did I cuddle her extremely hard only for her to accidentally fall on my dick.

I gulped and took a deep breath. “We slept together.”

It wasn’t a lie, and to Dante, sleeping with her in the same bed was just as bad as touching her. There was no gray area for him; there never would be. It was always black and white because even if nothing happened, in his mind, it either eventually would or already had before he caught us.

He had no clue.

“You.” He seemed satisfied with my answer as he lowered the gun. “Raven.”

She licked her full lips then chewed the bottom one. She put her hands behind her and twisted them together in what I could only assume was anxiety, but she kept her chin level, her gaze completely unfazed. A certain talent every mafia kid had to learn in order to at least attempt to win arguments with their parents or when staring down the barrel of a gun.

“Yes?” she finally answered.

Dante held up the unused pregnancy test. “Is this for you? And don’t lie. I’ll find out no matter what.”

She took a deep breath. “Yes. It’s for me.”

Both Ivan and Dante looked in my direction. Ivan looked confused because he knew as much as I did that I wasn’t sleeping with Raven nor was I her biggest fan. If anything, he’d be less surprised if I said I ran her over with my car than that I screwed her.

Dante threw the test onto the floor, stomped on it, and then fucking shot it with his gun twice before pointing it yet again in my direction. Ah, back at square one, couldn’t say I was surprised. “YOU!”

Me. Apparently I was at fault. But I knew it wasn’t me. I wasn’t a part of this. Louis was, however, and he wasn’t here to defend himself, he wasn’t here to say it was because he loved her that he stripped her naked and tasted what he swore to never touch.

I hated him even more in that minute, not for taking what I wanted—she was beautiful and terrifying in both the best and worst ways—no, it was because part of it felt wrong.

He was there to protect her from evil, not bring more chaos into her already chaotic life.

Plus, she was young, too young to be thinking about kids. Was he just an irresponsible dick or was it more sinister? And how did a person even ask that question to someone already vulnerable and hurting? Someone like Raven looked tough, but that didn’t take away her humanness.

I was about to explain that I’d never touched her, that I’d kept my vow not just to her father but to every one of the bosses, when I saw it, a subtle shake of her hand followed by the slight wobble of her lower lip.

Shit.

Don’t do it. Don’t fucking do it.

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