Page 21 of Healed

I swallowed, though my throat felt like it had been lined with broken glass. “I know. But will she see it the same way?”

“Probably not,” Dante answered after a beat. “But she’ll forgive you.”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked, turning to face him.

“Because I forgave Rachel,” he shrugged back. “She may not have killed Kitty directly, but she handed her those pills. She lay by her side and watched as my mother committed suicide. And sure, that’s a simplified version of what happened, but at its core, that’s what took place. And I forgave her. Just like Gabriella will forgive you.”

“I suppose,” I murmured.

“We can tell Gabriella I did it if you want?” Dante offered. “She doesn’t need to know. I don’t care if she hates me.”

“Thanks, but…” I sighed heavily. “She needs to know the truth. Lying to each other is part of the reason we’re in this fucked up situation.”

“Speaking of which,” Dante said, looking around the room. “What the fuck happened in this club?”

“Nico,” I said simply. “I don’t know all the details, but from what we’ve learned from Riley, and then what Michelle told me tonight… it’s not great, Dante. In fact, it’s fucking disgusting to even think about.”

“How much was done to Gabriella?” he asked.

“A lot.”

Dante paused, scanning my face as though he were assessing my response. “You know there’s nothing we can do tonight, right?”

“I—”

“No, Vienna. We came for you, we got you, we’re leaving. I’m not willing to lose another brother or my old lady because we pushed our luck and overstayed a welcome we were never given.”

“He’s still out there.”

“Yep, and if our brothers haven’t found him by now, that means the worm has completely fucked off and hidden. And from what we know about Nico, it’s not surprising that he’d leave his club to deal with his mistakes. I wasn’t lying to you when I said the other charters are arriving tomorrow. We go home, we regroup, we lick our wounds—you in particular—and then we strike again.”

I knew he was right. I knew the second the adrenaline wore off and my body had a chance to catch up with everything that had been inflicted upon it, I was going to be a hell of a lot sorer than I was now. I knew that. I knew I was pushing myself to the extremes, and I was in a dangerous place, but that didn’t take away the sting of allowing that bastard to breathe a second longer than he deserved.

“We’ll sort it, Vienna. We will.”

“I know,” I nodded, accepting defeat.

“Now come on,” Dante said, nodding towards the entrance. “Let’s get out of here before you bleed out all over my boots.”

“I’m touched by your concern for your footwear.”

“I’m serious, Vienna.”

“So am I. Those boots are hideous.”

His glare should have killed me on the spot. Honestly, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.

“Your beard is horrible.”

I gasped.

“Dante… I have been stabbed, kicked, beaten, burned and thrown into a fucking basement. But that? That hurt. I think we need to schedule a meeting with Doctor Ashleigh. This has marked a point of no return in our relationship, I think. In fact—”

“Vienna?”

“Yeah?”

“Your woman is outside. Maybe we should get her home and pick this up later?”