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At the thought, that cold fury settles over me again, blocking out all rational thought. I look into his eyes and see the fear that has replaced his victorious smirk of a moment before, and the room narrows down to him and me.
I forget that Mila and Darcy are still watching. I forget that usually, I’m a calm and rational man. I forget everything except the fact that Egor has threatened and hurt what I love, and that thread of self-control that I cling to snaps.
I feel almost outside of my body as I start to hit him. My fists meet flesh and bone, again and again, feeling it cave and crumple under the weight of my punches, hot blood coating my hands. I hear his cries turn to moans, to whimpers, to silence, and I still keep hitting him. It feels as if it won’t be enough until he’s become unrecognizable, a mass of flesh where a man once was.
“Lorenzo! Lorenzo?—”
Dimly, I hear Mila’s voice. Panting, I go still, Egor’s bloodied shirt clenched in my fist as I look down at his featureless face, my shoulders heaving. “He’s dead, Lorenzo,” I hear Mila whisper from behind me. “He’s dead.”
I look up and see her at the edge of the bed, hovering between wanting to come to me and being unable to with the cast on her foot. Numbly, I let Egor’s body fall to the floor with a heavy thud, and I straighten, feeling as if I’m staring at Mila in a daze.
Next to her, Darcy is curled into a ball, her arms around her legs, shaking and sobbing. Mila reaches out, putting a hand on her arm, still looking at me. “Lorenzo,” she repeats softly, and it snaps me out of the fog.
“Shit,” I breathe. “Are you alright? What about Darcy?—”
Darcy jerks as if startled, looking up at me with wet brown eyes. “What the hell?” she whispers, still trembling. “What the hell?—”
“You’re safe now.” I swallow hard. “I need to make a call, get someone to come and take care of this—but you’re safe. No one else will try to hurt you.”
“How do you know?” Darcy’s voice is weak and shaky, but there’s a thread of anger in it, too. “What is all of this, Mila?—”
“I can explain.” Mila’s voice is shaky, too. “But first, I need to see Niki.”
“I need to get you all out of here.” I turn towards Mila, crossing the space between us as I reach for her, pulling her into my arms. “The cleaners will come and take care of this, but I need to get you safe.” I smooth my hand over her hair, feeling the tension in her, the need to get to her brother—but I don’t want to let her go. “Here. I’ll help you. Darcy, I’ll get you home too?—”
Her mouth presses into a thin line. “I’ll get myself home. I don’t need any help from—whatever this is?—”
“Darcy, please.” Mila turns towards her, her eyes still wet. “Lorenzo can help. I promise. He’s not like—like the man I was with before. He’ll help us. I swear. I’ll explain everything later, but just please—trust me? He’ll get us out of here, and then I tell you everything. Please.”
There’s suspicion in Darcy’s eyes—I can’t blame her—but she finally nods. “Alright,” she murmurs, letting out a shaky breath. “Let’s get out of here.”
She slides off of the bed next to Mila, skirting around Egor’s dead body with a wary look on her face. She helps me get Mila up, both of us supporting her so that she can hobble down the hall to Niki’s room. The door is closed, and we can hear soft crying on the other side. My chest clenches with emotion, and I can feel how difficult it is for Mila to not be able to run to him.
I push the door open, and Niki looks up immediately. His gaze flicks over the three of us, his face tear-streaked, and then he bolts off of the bed, running for both Mila and Darcy. He flings himself between the two of them, nearly knocking Mila backward, but I have enough of a hold on her that she doesn’t fall or have to put weight on her foot.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Mila whispers, stroking his hair. “We’re safe now. Lorenzo helped us. He made the scary man go away. And now we’re going to go somewhere safer, okay?”
Niki tenses, looking up at Mila, and she glances at me. I mouth my apartment, and she nods.
“We’re going to go to a tower where we’re safe from the scary man and anyone like him. He’s gone now, but we need to make sure no one else can come. Okay? Lorenzo is going to hide us like—” she searches for something to say, pressing her lips together. “Like Professor X keeps all of those kids safe in your cartoons. Okay? We’re going to go somewhere as safe as his school.”
Niki frowns, pressing his head against Mila’s hip, but he finally nods. She lets out a breath, reaching for his hand. “When Lorenzo is sure all the scary men are gone, we can leave,” she promises. “But for now, we’re going to go there.”
He looks at Darcy, who frowns. I let out a breath. “Would it help if Darcy stayed, too?” I ask quietly, and Mila gives a small nod.
“If she wants to.”
Darcy’s lips press together, but she lets out a slow breath, and nods. “For tonight,” she relents. “Until you’re sure it’s over. To help take care of you and Niki.”
My driver is still waiting down at the curb. Darcy has recovered enough to help Niki, and I pick up Mila, carrying her down the stairs to the waiting SUV. “Give me a minute,” I tell her and Darcy as I help the three of them into the back, stepping away long enough to call the cleaner on a burner phone. When I’m finished, I get into the car next to Mila, my hand wrapped around hers as the driver pulls away from the curb and heads towards my apartment.
There are other calls that need to be made, things that need to be handled. Dante needs to know what happened, and there will be a conversation between him and the Bratva pakhan, after this. But the only thing on my mind at this moment is getting Mila safely behind my own locked doors. Her, and her brother, and her friend.
It feels like a blur. I get them all into my apartment, showing Darcy to a guest bedroom with an adjoining shower. She thanks me numbly, disappearing behind the door, and I turn to Mila.
“Bring Niki,” I tell her. “We’ll get him situated. I can sleep in one of the guest rooms so the two of you can have my bed.”
Mila looks at me, a haze of confusion on her face. “I—don’t you want—” She bites her lip, and I can’t quite tell if she’s unsure whether I want to sleep next to her, or whether she really thinks I would demand sex after all of this.
