**CHAPTER 11**
1047 Words
** The Hunt Begins**
**Elena’s POV**
The silence that followed the gunfight was suffocating. The bodies of the Montessi men lay sprawled across the floor, their weapons discarded, their threat extinguished—for now. But the uneasy feeling in my chest refused to fade.
I stood amidst the wreckage, the gun still warm in my hand. Dante’s intense gaze hadn’t left me, and my father’s expression was unreadable. I felt their judgment, their shock, their questions weighing heavily on me, but I didn’t have time for explanations.
“We need to leave,” I said, breaking the silence.
“Leave?” My father’s voice was sharp, disbelieving. “This place was supposed to be secure. If they found us here—”
“They’ll find us anywhere,” Dante interrupted, his voice low but firm. “She’s right. We can’t stay.”
I could feel my father bristling beside me, his protective instincts warring with his pride. He didn’t trust Dante, not even after they’d fought side by side. But I knew better.
Dante wasn’t the enemy.
The real enemy was still out there, regrouping, plotting, and they wouldn’t stop until we were all dead.
“We’re being hunted,” I said, meeting both of their gazes. “And the longer we wait, the easier it’ll be for them to catch us.”
Dante nodded, his eyes flicking to my father. “We need to move fast. Do you have another safe house?”
Lorenzo hesitated, then shook his head. “Not one they won’t already know about.”
“Then we’re going underground,” Dante said, pulling out his phone.
---
**Dante’s POV**
I dialed Marco, my second-in-command, while keeping an eye on the tension simmering between Elena and Lorenzo. She wasn’t the same sheltered girl I’d first met—she was something else now. Stronger. Fiercer. And it scared the hell out of me.
“Marco,” I said when he picked up. “We need the bunker prepped. Full lockdown, no one in or out without my say-so.”
“Got it,” Marco replied. “ETA?”
“Thirty minutes,” I said, ending the call.
I turned back to Elena and Lorenzo. “We’re going to the bunker. It’s secure, and the Montessi bastards won’t find us there.”
“I’m not trusting my daughter to your care,” Lorenzo snapped, his voice laced with venom.
“She’s already in my care,” I shot back, my patience wearing thin. “Or did you miss the part where she saved your life?”
Elena stepped between us, her hands raised. “Enough! This isn’t the time for your macho posturing. If Dante has a safe place, we’re going. End of discussion.”
Her command left no room for argument.
---
**Elena’s POV**
The car ride to Dante’s bunker was tense, the air thick with unspoken words. My father sat beside me, his jaw clenched, while Dante drove in stony silence. I stared out the window, the passing darkness a reflection of the storm brewing inside me.
Something wasn’t right.
The Montessi family had found us too easily. My father’s safe house was supposed to be impenetrable, known only to a handful of trusted allies. Which meant…
Someone had betrayed us.
I didn’t voice my suspicion yet, but it gnawed at me.
The car slowed as we approached a nondescript warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Dante parked and led us inside, through a hidden entrance that opened into an underground fortress. The bunker was cold and sterile, lined with metal walls and high-tech security systems.
“This is where we’ll stay,” Dante said, his voice cutting through the silence.
My father gave him a skeptical look. “And how do you know it’s safe?”
“Because I built it myself,” Dante replied, his tone clipped.
The tension between them was unbearable, but I couldn’t focus on that now. My mind was racing, piecing together the events of the last few hours.
“Someone gave us up,” I said, my voice firm.
Both men turned to me, surprise flashing across their faces.
“What?” my father asked.
I crossed my arms, my gaze unwavering. “The Montessi family didn’t just stumble onto the safe house. Someone told them where to find us.”
Dante’s jaw tightened. “She’s right. We have a mole.”
---
**Lorenzo’s POV**
The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. Someone in my inner circle—a person I had trusted with my life and my daughter’s—had betrayed us.
I racked my brain, going over every name, every face. Who could it be?
“You’re sure about this?” I asked Elena, my voice low.
She nodded, her expression hard. “It’s the only explanation.”
Dante was already moving, pulling out his phone and issuing orders to his men. “I want everyone vetted. No exceptions. If anyone so much as breathes wrong, I want to know.”
I hated that he was taking control, but I couldn’t deny that he was right.
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**Elena’s POV**
The bunker felt suffocating, the walls closing in as the weight of our situation pressed down on me.
But the worst was yet to come.
As Dante’s men began their investigation, a chilling message arrived on his phone.
A video.
He opened it, his face darkening as he watched. I moved closer, my stomach churning.
The screen showed a man tied to a chair, bloodied and beaten. His face was barely recognizable, but I knew who it was.
“Marco,” Dante whispered, his voice filled with rage.
The camera panned to a masked figure holding a knife. The voice that spoke sent a shiver down my spine.
“Dante Moretti,” the voice said, low and menacing. “You think you can hide her from us? You can’t. She belongs to us now. And if you don’t deliver her by midnight, your precious right hand will pay the price.”
The video ended abruptly, leaving a stunned silence in its wake.
“They’ve got Marco,” Dante said, his voice like steel.
“And they want me,” I added, my voice trembling.
The stakes had never been higher.
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- Writer
