Page 82 of Taking His Heart

“If you shoot me, you shoot her too,” he says, stepping backwards.

An explosion goes off behind me. Throwing my body to the ground. I look up. My ears are ringing. But I see Daniella. Lying still on the road.

Dragging myself up, I stumble over to her. Hernández is out cold next to her with a hole right through the middle of his head.

“Daniella.” I scoop her into my arms, and she stares up at me.

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“You’re okay.” I run my eyes over her body. I don’t see any marks.

Elias comes over to me with a knife. He quickly cuts the binds on her wrists. “No. No, no!” Daniella cries out, her glare focused on the destruction behind me. “No!”

“Shh, it’s okay.” I hold her against my chest as Aunt Lailani kicks the asshole’s body over, a gun still in her hand. “You shot at him. You could have fucking hit her,” I growl.

“Don’t insult me, CJ.” My aunt rolls her eyes.

I know she’s the best. I know she never misses, but there’s always a first time for everything. She shouldn’t have fucking taken the shot when Daniella was so close.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The flames of my childhood home flicker through my watery vision. My entire family was in that house, everyone except my parents.

“I need to get them.” I push myself to my feet, but CJ holds me back.

“Stop. It’s okay,” he says.

“It’s not okay. Why didn’t you just walk away? You should have left me. I could have talked him out of this. Now they’re all gone. Rosie, Aurelio.” I choke on my siblings’ names. “I have to get them out.”

I try to wriggle free of CJ’s hold. He just holds tighter.

“They’re not in there. They already got out, Daniella. They’re safe.”

“What?” I pause.

“They got out,” he says.

I search his eyes. CJ has never lied to me before… that I know of.

“They’re not in there?” I ask him.

“No, your Uncle Santo found the explosives and got everyone out of the house in time.”

“We need to move,” Elias says.

CJ bends and picks me up, bridal-style. “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” he says, although I’m not sure if he’s trying to convince me or himself.

Either way, it’s not okay. My childhood home is in flames. The sound of sirens approaching gets louder as CJ walks with me in his arms down the street.

He shifts my weight, then reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone before he hands it to me. “Here,” he says.

I look at the screen. There’s a call from my dad. “Daddy?” I say, putting the phone to my ear with a sob in my throat.

“Daniella, thank fucking god. You okay, baby girl?” Dad asks.

“Where are you? I needed you. I need you, Daddy.” I haven’t called my dad that in a really long time…

“I’m going to meet you at Uncle Marcel’s. CJ is going to take you, Daniella. You’re safe now,” he says.