“We will.” He glances at me. “After we get Emmanuel back. I meant what I said. I’m going to destroy them all.”
“And Shufen?”
“She will be safe. I promise.” His voice softens slightly as he reaches over to take my hand in his. “She helped as much as she could. That counts for something in my book.”
I lean back in my seat, reassured by the warmth of his hand in mine. “So, what do we do now? We know Emmanuel is alive, we know what my father has planned, but we still don’t know where he is.”
“We force him to show his hand.”
“How?”
“By giving them what they want. I agreed to the marriage. Now we set a date and start making arrangements. They’ll have to bring Emmanuel to the exchange. They know I won’t go through with it unless I see him alive and unharmed.”
“And then?”
“And then I take him back. By force if necessary,” he says as he pulls through the mansion gates. “I’m going to need every man I’ve got and a solid plan —”
“Let me help.”
“No.”
“Basili —”
“No, Chloe.” He pulls the car into the garage, the very place he’d been so gentle with me just days before, turning on me now with a gaze of steel. “This is going to be dangerous. Violent. I can’t bedistracted by having to protect you. I’m not putting you in the line of fire.”
“He’s my father —”
“And he hates you. Which is exactly why you’re staying out of the way this time. If something goes wrong, if he gets his hands on you…” He reaches over and cups my face. “I won’t lose you, too. I can’t.”
“You can’t do this alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll have Omero, Raffaello, my men, every resource at my disposal to back me up.” His thumb strokes my cheek as he speaks. “But you’re staying here, safe and sound, where I know nothing can happen to you.”
For the first time, I see a combination of fear and desperation in his eyes. He’s already had Emmanuel taken from him, not once but twice. He can’t handle the thought of losing us both.
“Okay,” I concede. “I’ll stay here.”
“Chloe, you have to promise me,” he insists.
“I promise.”
It’s a lie, and we both probably know it, but right now, it’s what he needs to hear.
He leans across the small space to press a kiss to my forehead. “I’m going to get him back, tesoro. Whatever it takes, I will bring him home again.”
“I know. I believe in you.”
We both take a deep breath, closing our eyes and just savoring the moment together for a few minutes. Basili moves first, opening his door.
“Come on. I need you naked, in my bed, in my arms,” he says as he opens my door, extending his hand to pull me out of the car and into his arms. “Tomorrow, we have a war to plan.”
Chapter Nineteen
Basili
“Alright, everyone clear on their positions and instructions?”
I look around the table at the men assembled. Omero stands to my right, Raffaello on the left with Marco, Giovanni, Luca, Matteo, and a dozen others. All seasoned soldiers, all ready to die to bring my son home if necessary.
