Entangled with the Mafia Don novel Chapter 72

Davina's POV

The world was a chaotic symphony of screaming engines and crashing waves. The transition from the dying freighter to the interceptor boat was a violent blur of motion, but through the spray and the darkness, I felt only one thing: Ezra. His arms were iron bands around me, his body a shield against the freezing Atlantic wind. As the boat surged away from the sinking Ivory Queen, the roar of the twin-turbo engines felt like it was vibrating inside my own bones.

I was shivering so violently that my teeth ached, the wet silk of that cursed dress clinging to me like a skin made of ice. Ezra had draped his heavy wool coat over my shoulders, and I buried my face into the lapel, inhaling the scent of him—expensive tobacco, cold rain, and the metallic tang of gunpowder. It was the scent of my survival.

"Lexi," I rasped, the word barely catching in my throat. I clutched the damp fabric of his shirt, my fingers cramping. "Ezra, please... tell me. Lexi. Did they... is she—?"

Ezra pulled me tighter, his hand cupping the back of my head, forcing me into the heat of his neck. "She’s safe, Davina," he said, his voice a low, gravelly vibration that anchored my spinning world. "Andrea is with her. She’s at the safe house, guarded by the best men I have. She’s sleeping. I promise you, on my life, she is untouched."

A sob broke out of me then—a jagged, ugly sound of pure, unadulterated relief. The tension that had held my spine rigid since the basement finally snapped, leaving me limp in his arms. She was safe. My sister was out of the dark.

"Thank you," I whispered, the tears finally scalding my cold cheeks. "Thank you for coming for us."

"I told you," he murmured, his lips brushing my temple. "I will always come for you."

The boat hit the swells with bone-jarring force, leaping over the water toward the faint, amber glow of a private pier in the distance. As we approached the dock, the world seemed to settle into an eerie, heavy silence, broken only by the rhythmic slosh of the tide. Ezra didn't wait for the boat to be fully tied. He stood, lifting me in one fluid motion, cradling me against his chest as if I were the most precious cargo he had ever carried.

He stepped onto the wooden planks of the pier, his boots thundering with a rhythmic, steady finality. A black SUV waited at the end of the path, its headlights slicing through the misty drizzle like the eyes of a great beast. I leaned my head against his shoulder, watching the way the light caught the hard, beautiful line of his jaw. I allowed myself a single, fleeting thought: It’s over. We’re going to live.

But the air suddenly turned foul.

A shadow detached itself from the side of the vehicle, stepping into the harsh glare of the headlamps. My heart didn't just stop; it plummeted into a cold, dark void.

Tatiana Sokolova.

She looked like a ghost of the woman I’d met in the cellar. Her hair was a wild, matted halo of blonde, her face a pale mask of aristocratic ruin. But it was her eyes that terrified me—they were bloodshot, shimmering with a manic, jagged grief that told me she already knew about Ivan. She wasn't here to negotiate. She was here to end the world.

"You took him from me," she hissed, her voice a thin, venomous thread that cut through the sound of the rain. She raised a silver-plated revolver, her hand steady with the cold resolve of a woman who had nothing left to lose. "My brother. My family. You think you can just walk into the light with your little pet and leave me in the ash?"

Ezra’s body went rigid, a low growl vibrating in his chest. He began to pivot, moving with that terrifyingly smooth speed, pushing me behind the bulk of his shoulder. "Get in the car, Davina! NOW!"

It wasn't a shout; it was a primal, gut-wrenching roar of agony. I felt the ground disappear. I felt his arms catch me, but they felt miles away. I was falling into a deep, warm ocean.

I looked up at him, and the sight broke what was left of my heart. The Dom, the monster, the man who I hated. The man who I fell in love with. The man who sacrificed everything for me. The one who feared nothing—he looked terrified. He was shaking, his hands frantically pressing against my chest, trying to stop the heat from leaking out.

"No, no, no," he choked out, his voice thick with a desperate, sobbing rhythm. "Look at me! Davina, stay with me! Open your eyes! That's an order! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

I tried to breathe, but my lungs felt like they were filling with lead. I wanted to tell him it was okay. I wanted to tell him that I’d do it a thousand times over just to see him standing. I reached up, my fingers brushing his cheek, leaving a smear of something warm and dark on his skin.

"Ezra..." I whispered, but no sound came out. Only a soft, red bubble.

The light of the SUV’s headlamps began to blur, turning into a halo, then a pinprick, then nothing. The sound of the rain faded. The sound of Ezra’s screaming faded.

Everything faded into an endless darkness.