I straightened my shoulders and pushed Giana farther behind me. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

His sharp grin was dazzling, and my stomach flipped with terror. “I thought you might be more difficult this time.”

He moved faster than I could comprehend. He’d strolled toward me with such slow, casual confidence that I wasn’t remotely prepared when he struck. His long fingers ensnared my wrist, and he pulled me toward him. Before I could claw at his eyes with my free hand, he twisted my arm behind my back and applied upward pressure. My shoulder screamed in protest, and I dropped to my knees with a ragged cry to alleviate the ache. Something sharp pricked the side of my neck, and warmth oozed into my bloodstream.

Giana’s horror-stricken face wavered above me. “Leave her alone!”

“No one harms Giana, either.” Dante’s voice seemed farther away now, but the cold command in his tone still chilled my insides.

I tried to push to my feet, but my limbs were so heavy, and he hadn’t let up the immobilizing pressure on my arm. It didn’t cause me any pain as long as I didn’t struggle. Dante wasn’t truly hurting me, but he had me pinned down on my knees.

“Luca will kill you for this.” My warning was slow and slurred, my tongue too thick in my mouth.

Drugged. Dante had injected me with something insidious. I couldn’t even try to fight him off when he shifted his hold on me. He lifted me up in his arms, and I floated on a warm cloud.

“No,” Dante responded smoothly, his voice a low rumble through the haze that blanketed my mind. “Luca won’t kill me. But I welcome him to try.”

There was no way I’d be able to fight off the man who held me so easily against his powerful body. Stubborn to the core, I tried anyway. I thrashed in his arms, but my limbs barely twitched. My eyelids were so heavy, and I couldn’t gather my thoughts to rail at him properly.

“Go to sleep now, little bird. When you wake up, we’ll be home.”

Home. He wasn’t talking about my father’s house or the estate where I’d spent my first week of married life with Luca. Dante was taking me home with him, where I would be completely at his mercy. He would lock me in a cage and use me to lure Luca to him.

Fear followed me down into darkness, lingering long after my eyes drifted closed against my will.

12. Dante

Chapter 12

Dante

Ilooked down at my lovely prize, content to wait for her to wake up. She’d slept the whole journey to my fortified estate in Upstate New York, so she should come around soon. Then, I could fully revel in my triumph over Luca, the bastard.