Page 129 of Anti-Heroes in Love Duet
He just wasn’t my family anymore.
I watched his eyes dart to Dante and the way his fingers flickered over the trigger.
And I did it.
I shot him.
Pop.
The bullet went wide, taking him through the upper right chest.
“Elena,” he gasped, his mouth a mimicry of his bleeding wound. “What—”
Pop. Pop.
I fired again, close enough that even though I had no idea what I was doing, the bullets found their way into Seamus’s chest. The gun kicked fiercely in my hands with each shot, bruising my hands, but I didn’t feel it.
I only felt bone-deep relief as Seamus crumpled to the floor, the gun falling from his hand.
I sobbed as I tried to get closer to Dante but couldn’t because of my tied feet.
“Hey, settle,amica,” Frankie soothed, suddenly at my side.
He touched my shoulder as he moved on to check Seamus, collecting his gun before he returned to hand me another knife. Hands shaking, I sawed through the zip ties around my bloody ankles and then scrambled over the bloody ground to Dante.
His eyes were closed, breath feathering faintly through his mouth. I looked up at Frankie frantically, but he ignored me as he cut open Dante’s black sweater and revealed the Teflon beneath.
Two bullets were grouped in the center of his chest, flat as disks.
Frankie removed the Velcro straps and lifted the vest from his chest.
A second later, Dante sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Oh my God.” I didn’t think I’d ever cried so much in my life. “Dante, you idiot. What are you doing here saving me?”
Dante blinked up at me, then looked at Frankie for a second before laughing, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he did. “Only you would be mad at me for saving you, my fighter,” he teased, the nickname my father had used somehow poetry from Dante’s lips.
And then his hand fisted in my hair, and he pulled me down to kiss me.
Hauling me halfway over his body even though it had to hurt, he kissed me like he hadn’t taken a breath since the last time he saw me, and he was dying for fresh air.
I kissed him right back, pouring every single inch of me into that embrace. There were no words for the relief and gratitude and love flowing through me, so I fed them to him with my lips.
“We gotta go,” Frankie grunted from beside us. “You can do that in the car.”
I pulled away and reached out to squeeze his arm. “Thank you, Frankie.”
His smile was tight but genuine. “Jaco said the police scanner picked up the disturbance. They’ll be here in minutes.”
Dante nodded, grimacing again as he got to his feet, reaching for me the second he did. He untangled me from his side and took his gun from Frankie before stalking over to Seamus. I didn’t know if he was dead. Honestly, I hadn’t cared.
The only thing I needed was for Dante to be okay.
Still, I gasped as Dante stared down at my father and shot off three rounds into his skull. When he looked at me, his eyes glistened like an oil slick.
I didn’t ask him if Seamus had already been dead or if he’d killed him.
I understand that was part of the reason he’d done that.
