“Let me see him,” I beg.
“First, we need to make up for lost time.”
Is this what brought about all of this chaos? Could Dante really be so petty? He tried to buy me as a sex slave six years ago, and then, when he found at that his brother had taken me for himself, he snapped...
The cruel idiot.
I want to dig my sharp nails into his neck and bathe in his blood, but he needs to get close first. It’s a good thing that it seems like that’s exactly what he wants to do.
“Fine, take me,” I tell him. My arms reach to the ceiling and I don’t hide a single curve on my figure. Dante hesitates. I can see the battle playing out behind his cold eyes. It wouldn’t surprise me if his dick didn’t even work anymore, but he’s been so consumed by envy that he can’t see past me.
“I knew you were a whore... and with your son watching,” he chides. Dante has blocked Oscar from view, but I can hear the baby boy gurgling and moving about in his own little cage.
“Mama?” The tiny voice drifts through the stale air again. My nerves are so tense I can hardly process the tone of Ozzy’s call. Is he scared? Lonely?
I suck in a jittery breath and let Dante crawl my way. His dark eyes impale my body and his slimy tongue scuttles across his dry lips. With each step he takes, the room gets colder. I’m frozen still as he reaches out for me...
32
Angel
I kick through the office vent just in time to see Dante’s slimy fingers wrap around Cat’s shivering shoulder.
There’s no hesitation in me. My switchblade is drawn and cutting through the air before the vent’s metal grill can hit the floor.
Dante whips around and is immediately met by the sharp end of my blade. It digs into his shoulder and he yelps in pain.
Shit. That’s too loud. There are guards just outside.
Without wasting any time, I jump over the desk that stands between us and lunge at my fallen brother. He rolls on the ground, trying to grab his bearings and reach for whatever weapon he has tucked under his belt, but I’m on top of him before he can grab it.
“You!” he accuses, his dark eyes blazing like black fires. Cat’s warmth still lingers on his hands as he desperately tries to push me off of him. I settle him down with a hard punch right between the eyes. The crack cuts through the air...
And a baby starts crying.
“Where is he!?” I ask, looking up at Cat as Dante and I struggle on the floor. Blood pours out of my brother’s nose, but he has a wiry strength to him that makes him harder to deal with than any burly guard.
For a second, Cat doesn’t move. She stands there, frozen with shock. It’s like she didn’t expect me to make it on time. Now is no time for second thoughts, though. “Get Oscar!” I growl, just as Dante manages to connect a wild knee into my stomach. I crumble over and Cat finally snaps back to reality. Her eyes dart across the room and she races forward...
Only to catch herself on one of Dante’s flailing legs. She falls and Dante shouts.
“Guards!”
Fuck.
Dante has a tight grip around my forearm, and I can’t quite tear my hands up to his neck quick enough to shut him up forever. Instead, I have to grab his shirt around the chest and pound him into the ground.
“Fuck you!” he hisses as his knee just narrowly misses my gut again. “Guards!”
This time, there’s no mistaking that his voice got through those thick office doors. I hear heavy feet rushing our way and I rip my eyes off of Dante for long enough to see Cat picking Oscar up out of some kind of box embedded in the far wall.
“Through the vent, up to the roof!” I shout. “Then go west! But first...” with my one free hand, I reach for the flare gun holstered on my belt. When it’s out, I throw it towards Cat. “When you get on the roof fire it into the air!”
Just as I finish, Dante sweeps under my arm and I’m forced off of him. My back hits the ground with a crack and the office doors swing open.
Dante struggles free from my grip, but I kick at his leg and he stumbles forward, falling in front of the opening doors. For a split-second, his body blocks the oncoming guards. It’s enough to give Cat the window she needs to grab the flare gun and whisk Oscar into the vent. It also gives me enough time to draw my own gun.
Dante scrambles back onto his feet and his guards finally burst through the heavy doors. I greet each of them with a round of armor-piercing bullets. The big goons stumble through the doorway and are lifeless by the time they hit the carpet inside.