“Dante has a baby,” Gina said, making her husband laugh loudly until Anna spoke.
“Dante does not have a baby!” she all but roared. “I have a baby and he has kidnapped us both.”
From halfway up the stairs, I stopped and turned. “You are welcome. Now get your ass up here and stop with the dramatics.”
She glared but had the good sense to follow me.
I spoke to one of the housekeeping staff. “Can you find a crib and have it brought to my room, please?”
She nodded and scurried off, presumably to find a crib.
Running to catch up with me, Anna eventually came alongside me. “I am not leaving my baby alone in your room.”
Turning as we reached the top of the stairs, I pointed down the hallway to my left. “End of the corridor. My rooms, and you’re right, you won’t be leaving the baby alone with me because you’ll be there with us.”
CHAPTERFOUR
ANNA
He had to be kidding me. Dante had murdered my brother, he’d admitted that, hadn’t he? I cursed myself for even considering that I knew that was going to happen, had to happen, but felt responsible for it, for not preventing it. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the current issue. He had rescued me tonight, although I wondered if the need to be rescued wasn’t down to him and his family in the first place. But without him I couldn’t say with certainty that Amina and I would have gotten out of the club in one piece. I was grateful and had accepted that being away from him and his home would have left me and my child vulnerable, so had accepted his offer, although it was more a demand that I return home with him. What I hadn’t imagined was the expectation to sleep in his room and he made it sound like it would be with him! I knew this huge house was more like an apartment complex and that everyone in the family had their own accommodation within the main house, but it also had guest rooms, cottages, and homes in the grounds, and that is where I had expected to stay. When I had thought that I’d need divine intervention to escape my hellish home, I hadn’t expected that to come in the form of Dante.
Following in his wake, I moved through the door he had opened and found a luxurious living area where he was already moving cushions from the sofa to the floor in order to settle Amina who was still smiling and gurgling at him adoringly. Me and my daughter needed words because one thing I had vowed when she had been born was that she would not end up embroiled with these men in this world. Looked like my plan might be flawed as she began to giggle as Dante tickled her belly before preparing to leave her and turned his attention to me.
“A word, now!”
He was already leaving the room, opening another door and directing me to enter before him. The sound of the door gently closing was almost deafening, or perhaps that was the blood rushing through my veins as he moved closer until I was pressed firmly against the wall, or even the realisation that I was in his bedroom.
“Dante, please.” I had no idea what I was begging for, but I was suddenly scared to be alone with him. “I’m sorry, don’t hurt me.”
He stopped immediately and stepped back. “What did you say to me?”
“Don’t hurt me.” The first of my tears threatened to break as he bent his knees and lifted my chin so we were eye to eye.
“Anna, I would never hurt you, not like your voice and fear in your eyes mean. I need you to stay here, both of you. Let me protect you, yes?”
I nodded, unable to risk speaking. Dante didn’t need to know what was driving my fear, not now, not ever. “Sorry,” I managed to squeak out and if that didn’t cause a deeper frown to crease his brow.
“Don’t be, not for letting me know when you’re scared or if you need something from me, or for me to stop.”
“Okay.”
He leaned in, his large hand pushing my hair back, tucking it behind my ear before drawing his thumb across my cheek, down across my neck until he was cupping it, pulling me in closely. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me, maybe hoped he was, which was confusing to say the least as only seconds before I had been petrified of what he might do.
“I’ll send Gina up with some things for Amina, okay?” He was so close I could feel his warm breath moving across the top of my head, my hair standing on end as a shudder coursed through me. “If you need anything for either of you, ask.” His final word was more of a command than a question and then his lips fell to my forehead where he landed the gentlest of kisses.
A kiss that I thought might make me cry. Or perhaps it wasn’t the kiss itself but the tender touch, a touch I hadn’t known for a long time, not since the last time Dante had touched me.
Pulling me into the living area where my daughter lay in the position he had left her in, I watched as he moved to stand over her. “Hey, bella ragazza.” He bent down and picked her up and if she didn’t offer him the biggest of grins before burying herself in his neck. “Oh, are you tired still? Come on, take care of Mama, and I’ll be back soon, okay?” He handed her to me and left us alone.
Amina cried as the door closed while I wondered what the hell was going on, not in the criminal underground, but in my head and possibly my heart.
Dante probably hadn’t even got to the bottom of the stairs when there was a knock on the door. Opening it, I was greeted by Gina and Jay, both of whom I had met a couple of times before things turned to shit with Aldo.
“Hi, Anna, how you doing?” Gina held her own daughter on her hip, her baby reaching towards my own.
“Do you want to come in, I know that it’s late but it looks like the babies have made friends.”
“This house never sleeps though, does it? And my daughter, much like her father, seems to thrive on being awake when she should be sleeping.”
