“No,” she whispered. “No.” She clutched the banister and slowly sank down. “No!”

Sofia lifted her head, looking at Ines then at Pietro and Samuel. Her young face fell. Samuel staggered toward his mother and pulled her to her feet. She clutched him desperately and sobbed.

The guards disappeared into other parts of the house to give us privacy and to escape Danilo’s open wrath.

My eyes met Dante’s but his expression was a mask of control. It must be bad if he acted like that.

Glass smashed.

I jumped then realized Danilo had flung his glass against the wall. He gripped the edge of the table tightly, rage burning on his face.

Dante cleared his throat but nothing penetrated Danilo’s fog of despair.

Pietro led Sofia upstairs while Samuel helped Ines. I approached Dante, touching his shoulder. He gave me a strained smile. It made me ache all over. “I’ll bring Leonas to bed and then check on Anna. Why don’t you go ahead and catch some sleep?”

I nodded, even though I didn’t feel tired in the slightest.

Dante headed up the stairs with Leonas.

I slanted a look at Danilo who was still bent over the table and considered going to him to offer him words of assurance but he appeared like a man who preferred to deal with his sorrow alone. He straightened and noticed me. “This isn’t the wedding night I imagined.” The words rang with despair and fury alike. He was a man fighting for composure. I wasn’t sure what to tell him and I had a feeling he didn’t want me to say anything. Suddenly, his expression smoothed. He strode toward me. “Tell Dante, I’ll head out to my family’s mansion. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to continue our search.”

He didn’t wait for my reply, just left, even leaving the door ajar. I closed it then leaned against it, trying to hold on to my composure. I pushed off the door and went upstairs. The hallway was dark except for the light squeezing out under the door to our bedroom. I opened it.

Dante sat on the edge of the bed, his arms propped up on his thighs, looking a little stunned and… guilty.

I stopped beside him and touched his shoulder. “This isn’t your fault.”

Dante shook his head, his mask slipping back into place. I hated that he felt the need to do so but it also told me that his inner turmoil was so strong that he wanted to protect me from it. “I’m Capo. This is my territory and it’s my duty to protect my people, my family. Serafina should have been safe.”

“Nobody could have foreseen this, not even you. It’s dishonorable to attack a wedding. Remo Falcone plays by his own rules.”

“He’ll try to force me into his game,” Dante said quietly, but an undercurrent of fury swung in his voice.

“What do you think does he want with Serafina?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m not sure about his motives.”

He was lying and that was more of an answer than his actual words. Good God, the rumors of the Camorra sent a chill over every woman’s back. “You’ll save her in time.”

Dante pushed to his feet, his eyes almost wild. “Will I? In time for what? It could be too late as we speak. For all we know, Serafina’s defiled body has already been dropped off so we’ll find it. Do you even realize what kind of horrors Remo Falcone is capable of, Val?”

I stared, my heart beating in my throat.

He gripped my arms in a too hard grasp. His anger wasn’t directed at me but Good Lord, it hit me like a hurricane, leaving me disoriented and shaken. “I am a monster, but even I haven’t done half the depraved acts the Falcones are capable of. Remo revels in torture as if it was his fucking drug of choice. And his crazy brother is a psychopath in the true sense of the word. He doesn’t feel anything. He can cut you up and have a pleasant conversation with you while he does it. He could maul women and children without a spike in his fucking pulse rate. Serafina is at the mercy of men like that, Val.”

My lips parted for words of consolation that would have done nothing and so Dante didn’t allow them to pass. He jerked me against him and kissed me brutally.

His kiss was harsh, angry and desperate at once.

I answered his kiss even if I wasn’t aroused. This wasn’t about lust. He tore at my jeans until they pooled at my feet with my panties, and I stumbled out of them.

He pushed me down on the bed and climbed on top of me, parting my legs. Two of his fingers slid into me, testing my readiness. His zipper hissed and then he filled me in a hard thrust. I arched up in discomfort. Dante blinked down at me, and his guilt blazed up in the dark fog of his anger. I crossed my legs over his lower back and pulled him down on me, raking my fingers over his back. I wanted to show him that this was okay.

His lips pressed down on mine again and he began to thrust into me, hard and fast, his moves fueled by his anguish, which seemed to cloak us both.

The pain was good, it was welcome.

This wasn’t the lustful pain I’d come to enjoy. This was pain, pure and simple, a drop of physical discomfort and an ocean of emotional hurt. My body fought against both but I surrendered until the tears I’d held back all day finally burst forth.

Dante stilled on top of me. He hadn’t come. I doubted he’d felt any pleasure. His face sank down against my throat and he shuddered as he began to soften inside of me. He didn’t cry, never had in all the time I’d known him. “What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to lead us out of this, Dante. I trust in you and no matter what you decide, I’ll be at your side. I’ll always be there.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I listened to Danilo’s recount of today’s search efforts. We’d spent the night in the safehouse and would stay here for a couple of days—until we found Serafina or until we decided it made more sense to return to either Minneapolis or Chicago.

“I think we have to take into consideration that Serafina is already in Las Vegas or another city in Camorra territory. I doubt they’ll keep her close to our borders though.”

“Let’s obliterate their Kansas properties. Kill the fucking Underboss there and every of his Captains,” Danilo said fiercely. He was young. He was driven by wounded pride and the utter need to protect what was his. I understood him too well, but a brutal attack on one of Remo’s Underbosses would be too risky with Serafina in his hands.

“It’s too risky. Once we have Serafina back, we’ll have our revenge.”

Danilo straightened and began pacing the room.

Samuel sagged in his chair, looking exhausted and desperate but I could see the same hunger for attack in his eyes as I saw in Danilo’s. They weren’t that different.

Pietro was more restrained. His worry for his daughter wasn’t any less acute than theirs, but he knew how dangerous Remo was and that he wouldn’t give us Serafina back because we began killing his Underbosses. He’d send her to us, piece by piece.

Val appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. The children and the women had spent the day in the garden, waiting and worrying. “We can eat.”

Pietro and I got up. Samuel didn’t move and Danilo only shook his head and glared out of the window. “We have to do something.”

“Danilo,” I said imploringly. “If we attack driven by anger and fear, Remo will not only kill Serafina, but also many of our men.”