Page 54 of Captive Vows
Then I was there. Clutching her into my arms, I shielded her and blocked her. She tucked against me immediately. Her slender, smaller frame fit against me. As I spun us, still firing at the Cartel assassins who’d trespassed this opportunity, I killed another.
Ivan and the guards were right there with me. They scaled the stage and surrounded me. Practiced training had them forming a solid wall and unit around me, around me and Gabriella.
My chest heaved and my throat burned. Going from a hard run in panic to stopping short as the backup kept us safe, I stared down the men who dared to take something of mine.
“Go. Go, Uncle. Go.” Ivan dismissed me with a hard look. Both hands stayed on his gun as he ordered the men to check the ones who’d been shot.
It wasn’t his place to tell me what to do, but this wasn’t the first time I’d been in the line of fire with him. The priority would be to secure my safety, and at this moment, that meant transporting Gabriella out of here as well.
I didn’t linger. I didn’t wait. Those answers would come later.
Tucking Gabriella into my embrace, I kept my arms around her and steered her to dash off the stage with me. She moved with me, meeting my stride. No argument would come from her now as she fled.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. This wasn’t how her audition was supposed to conclude, my whisking her off stage and rushing to safety.
Having to respond to violence like this and giving her a firsthand view of what kind of a ruthless monster I was shouldn’t have happened. Not like this.
But there was no rewind button. There was no redo option. It was done.
She was safe. I got her. The Dubinin men would protect us both.
Yet, with every step of the way to get her back into my car and on the way home, I scolded myself. I damned myself for being so eager to please her and make her happy. I kicked myself for focusing so hard on earning a fucking smile from her that I risked her safety like this.
I never should have risked bringing her out of my secure home. Not before knowing with more confidence that she’d never be a target.
20
GABRIELLA
It’s okay.
I’m okay.
Luka didn’t let go of me once. Not as we ran toward his sleek black car. Not as the Dubinin men flanked us. The sight of the guns in their hands should’ve scared me. Feeling the cool metal of Luka’s firearm against me as we bolted out of the theater should’ve terrified me.
They’re gone.
Those thugs are not coming after you.
They’re not chasing us.
I jerked to look past Luka before we got in the backseat, having to see with my own eyes that those armed men weren’t chasing us out here.
They’re not coming.
You got away.
We got away.
As I slid into the backseat, I had to cling to that fact the most.
I wasn’t alone.
This was not like when Tony tried to rape me in the apartment I shared with my dad. This was not another episode of random street violence.
I wasnotalone. The smoky, masculine scent of Luka reminded me of his presence when all my other senses were skewed. Frantic, panicked, and scared, I couldn’t think straight at all as the door was closed on us.
Darkness followed.
