22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Gianna

"He's the father of my baby!" I cry out, panting with emotion.

I see my brother's head snap back a little as if he's taken a blow. He stares at me in shock. It's like he's forgotten he's holding a knife to Dom's throat.

"Oh my God," William says, loathing dripping from his voice. He glares down at Dom and presses the knife against his throat more firmly. I gasp as I see a trickle of blood run down Dom's neck.

"You bastard," William hisses at Dom. "You not only sullied my sister, you've made her useless to me. I can't marry her to anyone with power now that she's carrying your illegitimate baby. No one on earth in our line of work wants to share a house with your spawn. For all they know, it will kill everyone while they sleep."

Something about his word strikes Dom as funny, and he starts laughing loudly despite the knife pressed to his throat.

I cringe as more blood pours down onto his shirt, worried that he's losing his mind.

"This from the man who is willing to sell helpless people into prostitution and laced drugs to innocent victims. That's rich, Will," Dom laughs. He closes his eyes and shakes his head a little.

"What are you going to do now, Will?" I make myself ask. I need to know what his game is so that I can try to think of a way to stop him.

"First of all," Will says nastily. "This." He whips the knife up to Dom's cheek and slices it. Blood wells to the surface of his skin as Dom hisses in pain.

Will grabs Dom's thick hair and pulls hard, tipping him out of the chair and sending him sprawling onto the ground. I shout with surprise, and struggle to get up.

"And then," Will goes on, stalking over to me, "I'm going to do this," he spits. I know Will so well that I can see the thought cross his face before he takes action. With a scream, I wrap my slender arms around my belly moments before he kicks me with all of the force that he can muster.

The kick takes me in the ribs, and I hear a loud crack. Pain shoots throughout my side, and I feel paralyzed. I manage to grip my belly as he kicks me hard three more times. I hear another loud snap as my forearm breaks and I scream with pain.

"Gianna!" Dom bellows, rushing toward me.

"Stay down, you fucking piece of trash," Will says aggressively. He pulls his gun out of its holster and crashes it down over Dom's head. Dom drops like a stone to the ground beside me.

"Dom! Dom!" I shout, terrified that Will has killed him.

"Both of you disgust me," William says to me, leaning over to spit in our direction. "I need some time to think about what I want to do next. Do me a favor, and don't die without my permission."

I watch Will grab the bottle of whiskey off the table and slam the door, and then I wriggle over to Dom, wincing at the sharp pains wracking my body. I don't think that my brother hurt the baby, but my body has been through a lot.

I know that the shock of my injuries alone could cause me to miscarry. I sob quietly as I stare at Dom.

He's lying as still as a statue on the ground, his handsome face lovely in repose. I don't even know if he's alive. I look down at his chest, willing it to rise and fall, and nearly faint with relief when I see that he is, in fact, breathing.

My brother hit him so hard, though. What if he doesn't wake up?

"Oh my God," I breathe out. "Oh, what are we going to do?"

I close my eyes and reach inside myself, looking for calm that I don't feel. Suddenly, Diva's face comes to mind. I think of her quiet affection and support of me, and I feel a little less terrified. I might never see her again, but there are good people in this world. Surely, Dom told someone that he was coming here to try and rescue me.

Maybe things aren't hopeless after all.

"Dom," I say to the man I love. "Dom, I love you. You have to wake up. Please wake up."

I hear footsteps outside the door and cringe back a little. Oh, please don't be my brother already, I think. I don't care if I have to plead to God, all the angels in heaven, or my dead grandmother for help.

I just need enough time without William in the room for Dom to wake up. We need to make a plan.

As if some benevolent force has heard my prayers, Dom stirs and groans. I see his eyes moving behind his eyelids, and I push myself closer to him. I kiss his lips, thinking of Cinderella .

If only kisses were really made of magic and could heal our wounds. It would be even better if a kiss would open a portal and whisk us out of here.

"Ugh," Dom mutters, his eyes fluttering open. "How long was I out?"

"Just a few minutes," I tell him. "I'm so sorry, Dom. I didn't know."

"He fooled us all, baby," Dom says, sitting up with a wince and looking down at me. "He broke your arm."

I nod and then grimace. "And a rib or two."

"Is the baby, okay?" Dom asks.

I sigh. "I think so," I say. I feel myself start crying again. "But Dom, I think he's going to kill me. I wasn't going to tell him because he hates you so much."

Dom pulls a face and runs a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm so sorry. God, I'm so sorry."

"No use crying over spilled milk," I say, cradling my broken arm against my body. Dom slides over to me and cautiously pulls me over to him.

"Why didn't you tell me about the baby?" he says to me.

I sigh, then squeak at the pain the motion causes in my ribs. "I didn't want to distract you….and I didn't know if you'd be…happy about it."

"Oh, my love," Dom says with a big sigh. "That's my fault. I didn't tell you anything about how I felt about anything, I suppose."

"It's okay," I whisper, but it's not really. I start sobbing, both with emotion and the pain that the emotion is causing me.

"Gianna," Dom says to me. "I need to tell you something. Can you look at me?"

I sniff and look up at him. He's blurry due to the tears in my eyes.

"Gianna Bianchi, I have loved you since the first moment that you walked up to me in the club. I have loved you for weeks without even realizing it. You make my days and my nights so much better, so much less lonely….so complete. I am thrilled beyond words that you are pregnant with my child. I only wish that I was going to be here to meet them when they are born."

I start sobbing harder. I manage to say, "I love you too. So much that it hurts me to think of being away from you. Don't leave me, Dom."

"I don't know that I can keep that promise," he says to me. His voice sounds thick, as if he's holding back tears as well. "What I can tell you is that I let Vince know where we are, and he's on his way. He's not that close, so we need to think of ways to keep your brother busy and buy us some time. I don't think it will help me, but it might help you to escape."

"Okay," I say with another snotty sniffle. "What's the plan?"

"I'm going to offer myself up to him," Dom says, and I immediately shake my head.

"No!" I cry out.

He places a finger to his lips. "Hush, hear me out," he says to me. "The way I want to offer myself up to him will help stall for time."

"Dom, I just want us to be together. We could run away. He's terrible. You can just kill him, and we can escape," I plead.

Dom smiles at me sadly. "He's not alone here," he says to me. Just because we haven't seen them doesn't mean that they aren't here. If I attack him, they'll pour in here and kill us without a second thought. He isn't friends with the nicest people, as you know. I can't count on being able to bribe them as most of them probably hate me for killing their friends for years."

I nod slowly, processing what he has said. I realize he's probably right. I would trade myself for him in a heartbeat, but I can't with the baby.

I have to think about our child first and foremost. I wish that I thought I could guess what my brother was up to, but I just have no idea who The Cobra is.

Until a couple of hours ago, I would have said that I knew my brother better than anyone else on earth. Now, however, I don't think I can reasonably hazard a guess about what his plan is.

"I love you," I tell him.

"I love you too," he says back and kisses me tenderly. "I need you to trust me, okay?"

"Okay," I say back, feeling like a small, helpless child.

"No matter what I decide to do from here, I need you to just play along. It's the best chance you and the baby will have to survive, okay? When they let you go, you need to use the burner phone in the car that's parked outside and call Vince. His number will be the last missed call. Tell him what's going on. Then you need to drive away. Go as far away as you can. Leave the tracking function on my phone running so Vince can find you. Make sure you wait to go to a hospital until you know that you aren't being tailed."

He presses the keys to a vehicle into my hands. I stare at them as if I've never seen car keys before.

"I hate this," I say. "I hate my brother."

"I do, too," he agrees.