Parks came to a stop in front of Dante, his big body blocking my view of Aleks, so I wasn’t sure if the young man had closed his eyes or not, but it didn’t matter because my attention was only on Dante. His beautiful eyes held mine as he whispered, “I’m sorry.” He shook his head and I saw a tear trickle out of his uninjured eye. “I love you, Magnus.”
I shook my head in disbelief that this was really happening, but I held his gaze. “I love you too, baby.”
Just as the gun discharged, I saw Park’s arm jerk wildly and I heard a grunt of pain and watched in horror as Dante fell backwards. I shouted his name, but then saw him moving as he rolled to his side. Blood was flowing from a gash on his upper arm.
I jerked my eyes to Parks and saw him gasping like a fish as he reached behind his back with his free arm. When he shifted out of the way, I saw Aleks standing several feet away, a look of dismay on his tear-stained face. Parks turned to face Aleks and I suddenly understood what was happening. Aleks had plunged a gold letter opener into Parks’s back just before he’d pulled the trigger. The action had caused Parks to swing wide and miss his shot, hitting Dante in the arm instead of the head like he’d been planning.
Time slowed down as the two men standing over me and Dante looked on in stunned silence as Parks swung out with his gun hand, hitting Aleks in the face and knocking him to the ground. I realized the injury to his back wasn’t critical enough to slow Parks down and as he pointed the gun at Aleks, I leapt to my feet, hoping I could somehow throw myself against Parks and deflect his aim. But I knew I wouldn’t have enough time as I head-butted the man behind me holding me down and used his body as leverage to climb to my feet. The sound of bone cracking above my head registered briefly as I broke the man’s nose and I saw the other guy lunge at me only to fall as Dante swept his legs out in front of the man, but it didn’t matter because Parks and Aleks were too far away.
“No!” I screamed at the same time Dante yelled Aleks’s name. A gunshot rang out and I fell to my knees. But it wasn’t blood from Aleks that sprayed all over the desk at Aleks’s back. It was Parks’s. He pitched forward onto the desk, his gun falling to the floor as blood poured from a gaping hole in his neck. Aleks was huddled in a ball on the floor, but he appeared unhurt. I looked behind me to see Parks’s fourth man, presumably the one he’d referred to as Vaughn, still holding his gun pointed at Parks. Before Parks’s body crumpled to the floor, Vaughn turned the gun on the two men who’d been holding me and Dante and put bullets through both their brains.
The man, who I figured was in his early thirties, strode into the room and headed straight for Aleks. He was heavily built with dark hair. His face was pulled into a mask of anger, but when he reached down to pull Aleks to his feet, his touch was gentle. I watched as his fingers skimmed the mark on Aleks’s face where Parks had hit him and I was shocked when he carefully pulled Aleks away from the man’s lifeless body before putting another bullet into him, this time into his head.
“Dante,” Aleks said hoarsely as he tugged free of Vaughn and rushed to Dante’s side. Dante was still on his back and his eyes had shut at some point.
Vaughn pulled a knife from his boot and headed towards me. I wasn’t surprised when he cut through the ties on my hands and feet because it was clear that even though he was in Parks’s employ, he’d sided with Aleks. “There’s one more,” I said as I remembered the man Parks had sent to look for Vaughn, my brain still addled from knocking my head against my captor’s face.
“I took care of him,” was all Vaughn said.
I scrambled to Dante’s side and cradled his head against me. “Dante, baby, wake up.”
Vaughn cut Dante’s hands and feet free and then dropped down next to Aleks to examine the wound on Dante’s arm. “He’s lost a lot of blood.” Vaughn straightened enough to rip a strip off the bottom of his T-shirt. He tied it around Dante’s arm.
“Let’s go, we need to move.”
“Dante,” Aleks said again as he stroked his brother’s face with shaking fingers.
“Aleks,” Vaughn said gently as he pushed Aleks back. “You guys need to go. Can you help get your brother out of here?”
Aleks studied the man for a moment before nodding. Some unnamed emotion passed between the pair, but I didn’t have time to consider it as Vaughn helped me get Dante upright. “Can you carry him?” Vaughn asked me and I nodded. He helped me get Dante over my shoulder.
“Aleks, take them to the garage. You know which car is mine, right?”
“Y….yes,” Aleks stuttered. His fingers were wrapped around Vaughn’s arm.
To me, Vaughn said, “Take my car to get to yours, then use the gas in the trunk to torch it. Then get out of here…out of the city. I know he needs a hospital, but they’ll question you about what happened to him.”
I nodded in understanding and began walking. “Who are you?” I asked as we neared the front door.
“Nobody,” was all he said. “Remember that.”
I managed another nod, but with Dante’s dead weight, I needed to keep moving. I hurried down the stairs leading towards the driveway and cast a glance over my shoulder at Aleks who suddenly threw himself into Vaughn’s arms. The older man held him for several long beats and then released him and urged him on his way.
Aleks rushed past me. “It’s this way,” he said as we made our way towards the six-car detached garage. There was an older model sedan parked next to it that Aleks pointed to. “This one.”
“Open the back door.”
Aleks did as I told him and climbed in. He held Dante’s head as I eased him onto the seat.
“Keep pressure on his wound,” I urged Aleks. The young man was frighteningly pale and clearly distraught, but he managed to do as I said. His luminous eyes, so much like Dante’s, lifted to meet mine.
“He’s not going to die, is he?” he whispered.
“Your brother is far too stubborn to die,” I said softly which had Aleks nodding in agreement.
I hurried to the driver’s side and got in. The keys were already in the ignition and the car started up without protest. The gate at the end of the driveway was open and it took just minutes to get to the rental car which we’d left near the woods we’d used to access the property earlier in the day. Aleks and I quickly worked to maneuver Dante into the back seat and I used the interior lights of the car to check his wound. Thankfully the bleeding had slowed.
“Magnus,” Dante whispered, his voice sounding parched. His eyes opened marginally, but that in itself was a weight off my shoulders.
