what might be happening to her. I can’t believe this is happening again. I should have killed him when I had the chance. If they’ve hurt her in any way, they’ll be wishing for death by the time I’m done with them.
“I’m guessing you know where to go?”
“Yes, head east.” I continue giving Ivan directions until we arrive at Christian’s private mansion. It’s not as heavily guarded as Xander’s place, but it does have its own security. Luckily, I know that security system well, and if I’m lucky, he was stupid enough not to change my code to get in.
“Is there a back way in?” Ivan asks.
“No, but you can pull up to the gate and try to enter my code. It’s 891384.”
Ivan drives up to the code pad and punches in the numbers. I hold my breath as he pushes the enter button, and I don’t breathe until the green light blinks, and the gate starts to creak open. I suck in a ragged breath as Ivan drives through the gate and toward the house.
“I can’t believe he didn’t change the code.” Ivan shakes his head.
I snort and say, “I can. He’s too confident, and that’s exactly what’s going to get him killed… tonight.” I half expect Ivan to tell me not to do it, that Xander wants to bring him in and torture him, but to my surprise, he only nods as if he was expecting me to say that.
“Xander told me to kill him if you didn’t want to do it in front of Dove. I know you don’t trust him yet, but I can tell you, he’s nothing like Matteo. He actually loves his family, and now that Dove is a part of that, he’ll spare her any type of pain that he can,” Ivan says as we pull up in front of the mansion.
“Then let’s go inside, get her, and kill the bastard who’s trying to hurt her,” I say while opening my door with my gun in my hand.
As soon as we’re out of the car, a handful of Christian’s men pour out of the house, guns raised. I stay close to the car, using it as a shield while I raise my own gun and start shooting. The first bullet hits my target right between the eyes, his body crumbling to the ground. The second one hits another guy in the arm, but Ivan gets him in the side of the head without even blinking. The other two men retreat into the house but fail to close the door. Idiots. Not that a closed door is going to stop me from getting to Dove. I’ll rip this fucking place down to the floorboards to find her.
More shots are fired, some by us, some by Christian’s men, but everybody is keeping themselves covered. I know I need to act fast; I don’t have time for a fucking standoff with these idiots. Taking the risk because a bullet to the chest is nothing compared to the pain Dove will endure if we wait any longer, I push off the car and spring up to the front of the house. A guard sticks his head out the door in a failed attempt to survey the area. Without thinking twice, I lift my gun and pull the trigger while running toward him.
He falls back against the door and then crumbles down to the ground just as I get to the door. The last guard lunges for me, fear trickling into his features as if he knows the fate he’s about to be delivered. Expecting it, I greet him with a punch to the chest, knocking the air from his lungs. A gasp slips from his lips, and before he can recover, I press the muzzle of my gun to his stomach and pull the trigger. Like a tiger, I move through the foyer and toward the kitchen.
A scream pierces the air and bounces off the walls of the house, and like a beacon, I’m drawn to it. Dove needs me, she fucking needs me, and I’ll be damned if I fail her again. Turning, I walk back toward the hall, where I hear a whimper instead of a scream this time. I’ll rip his heart out of his chest if he hurts her.
Uncontrolled, and like an animal hunting its prey, I move deeper into the hall. I can sense Ivan behind me, his movements mimic mine, but he doesn’t intervene or try and stop me.