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I was hunting my brother this entire time, and I never even suspected.
Viktor’s heavy fist on my door announces his arrival, and Alina yelps, her eyes growing wide as she instinctually tucks herself against my bruised side. Then the handle turns, and her shoulders relax as her brother steps across the threshold.
“What the hell happened?” he demands, eyeing Sascha’s lifeless form as well as the empty chair and cut rope beside him.
Two more men step into the flat, the last one closing the door behind him.
“He broke in. Tied me to a chair. Held a knife to my throat,” Alina says, taking charge. “Mishka saved my life. Again.”
Viktor frowns, approaching the dead body as he carefully steps around the coagulating pool of blood. And when he sees Sascha’s scarred face, his eyes snap up to Alina’s. Fire ignites in them, a hatred that says he would have given anything to be the one to put a bullet in my brother’s head.
I would have given almost anything not to.
Anything but Alina.
“Please, Viktor,” she says, her voice dipping sadly as she fully faces my brother’s body for the first time. “I want you to bury him. Somewhere nice, with a beautiful headstone.”
My chest tightens, my heart throbbing painfully against my ribs. I look at Alina with fresh eyes because I know she’s asking for me. She wants the man who did nothing but torment and terrify her to have an honorable burial because she knows I love him. And she loves me.
“What?” Viktor snaps, straightening as he eyes his sister like she’s gone crazy. “You think this scum of the earth deserves anything better than becoming fish food?”
“He’s Mishka’s brother. Mishka killed someone dear to him to protect me. I want him to be able to visit Sascha whenever he wants. So, promise me you’ll bury him properly.”
Viktor looks like he might just go unhinged at the request. But after a long pause, he grunts. “Fine. I promise,” he grumbles, turning his attention back to Sascha.
Stepping from the safety of my arms, Alina closes the distance between her and Viktor. She presses a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah. You sure know how to be a pain,” he says with audible exasperation, but he digs into his pants pocket and pulls out a house key. “Here, take this. It’s the key to my penthouse. You both look like shit, so you can clean up there and sleep in the spare bedroom for the night if you want. I’ll oversee the cleanup and come home when I’m done.”
Never have I been more grateful for my soon-to-be brother-in-law than I am right now.
Alina actually smiles as she gives her brother a tight hug. Despite his gruff demeanor, he returns it, squeezing her shoulders. For a fleeting moment, I catch the relief on his face. He might not like to show it, but it matters to Viktor that his sister is safe.
He releases her, and to my astonishment, Alina steps closer to Sascha’s lifeless body. Reaching out a tentative hand, she places it on his muscular shoulder. The gesture is so genuine, so heartfelt that it puts a thick knot in my throat.
She didn’t have to say a word for me to know she was wishing his soul the peace in death that he couldn’t find in life.
“Ready?” she whispers as she returns to me and takes my hand.
Not trusting my voice, I nod, and I give my brother one last look before I follow her out the door.
I drive us in my ancient 4Runner to her brother’s penthouse overlooking the Boston Common. With Alina’s hand in mine, a comfortable silence fills the air.
We ride the elevator up to the top floor, and the hint of a smile curls my lips as the doors open onto the luxurious space. This is where I carried Alina the first night I knew my attraction to her wasn’t something I could ignore.
It was her twenty-first birthday, and after one too many glasses of champagne, she passed out in the limo. Rather than wake her, I offered to bring her up to her brother’s penthouse.
God, she was beautiful that night. All fire and sass, trying to get my attention when I was trying my damnedest to stay away from her. She’s as irresistible now as she was then, and though it was only about three months ago, it feels like a lifetime.
So much has changed since then.
Alina’s eyes cast up to mine, the hint of a grin making her lips twitch, and I know she’s thinking about that same night.
I lift her hand, pressing the back of her palm to my lips. “Let’s take a shower,” I suggest.
I’m ready to wash the events of tonight from my body. I would scrub my brain as well if I could, but a shower will have to suffice.
Alina follows me willingly into the guest bedroom where she slept the night of her twenty-first birthday, and we both peel our clothes off as soon as I shut the door behind us.
