The Red Sight Over His Chest

The red dot rested over Dante's heart. I had seen it before. In my first life, I shoved him aside and took the shot through my back. I still remembered the concrete against my cheek and the taste of blood in my mouth. Dante stayed on his feet. He went straight to Chloe. She had a scratch on her arm. He gathered her against him as if one more touch would break her and shouted, "Get her out!" Two guards hauled me toward the loading bay while blood soaked my shirt. I could still see Dante over one man's shoulder. He checked Chloe's arm, covered her head with his hand, and gave the final order without looking over. "Seal the exit. No one gets out." The blast killed me and the six-week-old child he never knew I carried. Now the warehouse stood around me again: stacked crates, smoke under the rafters, Chloe pressed against Dante's side. The red dot waited in the same place. I stepped back. The rifle cracked. Dante staggered as the round went through his shoulder. Blood spread under his coat, but he stayed upright. Men shouted and overturned tables. Chloe screamed. "Get Chloe out of here!" Dante caught her with his good arm and covered her with his body. Then he looked toward the crates where I had been standing. "Sienna, where's the fallback route?" Of course he called for me now. I had planned every exit from the warehouse, along with the routes his drivers used and the codes his men carried. Smoke rolled through the empty space. Dante stared into it for a second too long. Chloe grabbed his coat and sobbed against his chest. He turned away from the crates. "Seal it," he ordered. "Blow the entrance. Now." His men pulled Chloe outside. Dante went with them. The explosive timer started beeping. I put a hand over my stomach. *Not this time.* Dante's blood had left a dark patch on the floor. I slipped the platinum band from my finger. It was the only sign of our marriage I had ever been allowed to wear, and even that had to stay hidden from his world. I dropped it into his blood. Our wedding had been secret; the divorce could be, too. Then I crossed behind the last row of crates and found the maintenance hatch. I had added the tunnel to the warehouse plans years ago, before Dante taught me how useful a private exit could be. The hatch shut over my head with twelve seconds left on the timer. (Dante's POV) The ambulance doors slammed. The medic pressed gauze to my shoulder, and pain drove down my arm. "Hold still, Don Moretti." I knocked his hand aside. "Where is she?" Marco leaned in from the rear doors. "Ms. Chloe is safe. She's in the other vehicle." "I asked about Sienna. Did anyone see her come out?" He glanced at the guards behind him. "No, Boss. We sealed the exit on your order. We thought she was with you." The warehouse burned in the ambulance mirror. Sienna was too smart to die in there. She had planned its routes herself and knew doors my men had never seen. She had slipped away and left the ring to scare me. By morning she would be waiting for an apology, pleased with the trouble she had caused. I laughed once and settled back against the metal wall. Let her wait. I would freeze her accounts and cut off every resource she used. A few days without my protection would send her home. Cold and penniless, she would remember where she belonged. She always came back. The ambulance pulled away. I kept watching the fire until the warehouse disappeared from the mirror.