Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

He put out his hand to push me back a little so I was closer to Vaughn just as Vaughn reached for my arm. I instinctively turned to Vaughn because I knew we needed to get out of there. There was just something about the way Stylianos and his man were looking at us that spoke volumes.

It was a trap.

My heart was in my throat as Vaughn disregarded the “rules” and grabbed my hand in his, then pulled me toward him as he turned to head for the door. But it slammed shut from the inside before we could reach it. I couldn’t see the figure in the shadows, but there was no mistaking the gun that emerged from the darkness. I felt Luca at my back, but I knew I was no longer safe.

None of us were.

Between Luca and Vaughn, I couldn’t make out much, but it didn’t matter because everything changed the second the deadly voice from the shadows spoke.

“Get your fucking hands off my brother.”

Dante.

Chapter 25

Vaughn

“Dante,” Aleks croaked from behind me. His fingers squeezed mine, but I refused to release him.

Not until I figured out what the fuck was going on.

But it looked like Dante wasn’t even going to give me an opportunity to ask questions because he walked straight up to me and put his gun to my head.

“Dante, don’t!” Aleks cried.

“Take him,” Dante said softly. I heard rather than saw the other two men in the room approach us. Luca went after the long-haired one but my brother was outmatched… not something that happened often. Not to mention the big fucker was armed and after punching Luca, he put his gun to his forehead. When the black-haired man reached for Aleks, I ignored the gun aimed at me and hit the guy.

“Keep your fucking hands off him!” I snarled.

“Dante, stop this!” Aleks said as he tried to push past me to get to his brother. But I held him firm.

Dante’s expression softened only the littlest bit when his eyes met Aleks’s. “Confie em mim, irmãozinho,” he murmured.

I had no clue what he’d said to Aleks, but he quieted.

“Let him go,” Dante said to me. “He’ll be safe with Cole and Mace.” He motioned to the other men.

I had no clue what the fuck was going on, but I’d seen enough to know this man would never betray his brother. “Go with him,” I told Aleks.

“No,” Aleks whispered.

I turned and said, “It’ll be all right, Aleks.”

But Aleks ignored me and as soon as I released him, he squirmed away from the dark-haired man and hurried to his brother. “Dante, please don’t do this. It was my choice to go with him. This… I can explain all this.”

Before Dante could respond, the door opened and several men entered. I only recognized one of them.

Magnus.

Dante’s fiancé.

“Magnus,” Aleks said softly, then he walked into the other man’s arms. “Tell him to stop. It’s all a mistake.”

All of the men with Magnus were armed but one, and they moved into a circle around us. I hoped like hell King and Con were on their way into the building because Luca and I were sorely outnumbered.

“It’ll be okay, Aleks,” Magnus said softly.

Aleks began to cry as frustration consumed him. But when he tried to come back to me, Magnus gently grabbed his arm. Dante lowered his gun long enough to approach his brother. He wiped at Aleks’s tears, but when his eyes fell on the collar, I could practically feel the rage rolling off him.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Aleks sobbed. I could see he was completely overwhelmed. Dante leaned down and whispered something to him, then clasped his face as he kissed his temple. Then his hand was reaching behind Aleks’s neck and with one flick of his finger, the collar’s clasp clicked open. Dante gently pulled it from his brother’s neck, then turned to me.

He put the gun back to my head and I heard Aleks whimper.

“Look at me, not him,” Dante snapped when I looked at Aleks.

“Fuck you, Dante,” I said. “You’re scaring him.”

Dante actually flinched at that, then his anger was back in full-force. He threw the collar at my feet. “You know why you’re still breathing?” he asked. “Do you know why I didn’t kill you the second you entered this room?”

“Dante,” Aleks whispered.

“Because of him,” he said as he pointed at Aleks. “Because I heard something in his fucking voice in his calls that I haven’t heard since he was a little boy. And the only reason I had the sense to actually listen to my brother’s voice and what he wasn’t saying was that man right there,” he said as he pointed at Magnus. “But that” – he pointed at the collar – “and this” – he took a photo from his pocket and tossed it next to the collar – “is making it really hard not to put a bullet in your head.”