“We lost them,” he mutters to the driver. “Drive faster, we need to be out of here before they send more.”
“Who are they? Who is coming after us?” I manage to say as Maxim helps me back on my seat.
“I have no idea, but I'm going to find out. Are you alright?” He scans me for injuries.
“I'm fine. What about my family?”
Maxim doesn't respond to my question as his phone starts ringing and he answers, firing off in rapid Russian, I can barely make out anything he's saying to whoever is on the other line.
He remains on the phone until we reach a private airstrip. A jet is waiting on the tarmac, engines already running. It was the jet that brought Maxim and I to the island this morning. Maxim pulls me out of the car and rushes me up the stairs into the plane.
“Maxim, please,” I beg as soon as we’re inside, tears streaming down my face. “My family, I can’t just leave without knowing they’re safe!”
He cups my face with both hands, forcing me to look at him. “Your brothers will protect them. They’re already moving. I’ve got men heading to extract them right now. We have to move before more of those guys arrive. I need to keep you safe. Don't worry, your family is safe.”
I search his eyes, desperate for truth. “You swear?”
“I swear,” he says firmly. “Your family is my family now. I won’t let anything happen to them.”
The plane starts moving. I collapse into one of the leather seats, trembling. Maxim sits beside me, pulling me against his side. I let him, too exhausted and scared to fight it.
As the jet lifts into the sky, I close my eyes and pray that everyone I love makes it out alive.
Because if they don’t… I don’t know what I’ll do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Maxim
Those motherfuckers tried to come for my wife.
The audacity, crashing my wedding, opening fire on my guests, trying to take what’s mine.
My blood is still boiling as we step into the mansion. Calina’s voice pulls me out of the red haze.
“Maxim… what’s happening? What are we going to do?”
She was silent all through the plane and car ride back home. I guess the shock is fading now.
I stop in the foyer and turn to her. She’s still in her wedding dress, the elegant white fabric now smudged with sand and a few drops of blood. Not hers, thank fuck.
“I'm heading out, but you need to stay here,” I tell her, voice hard. “Do not leave the house under any circumstances. It’s heavily guarded. You’ll be safe.”
She stares at me, then shakes her head. “So you expect me to just sit here while I don’t even know if my family made it out safely? My sister, my brothers, Kira, Irina—I need to know they’re okay!”
I step closer, gripping her shoulders. “I already called. They’re safe. Your brothers got them out. But right now, you come first. I can't let you leave this premises and I don’t care if you hate me for it. You’re my wife now, and I protect what’s mine.”
Her eyes widen at the word “wife,” but she doesn’t pull away. For a second I see something flicker across her face, surprise, maybe even a hint of warmth, before she masks it.
I lean in, pressing a hard kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back. Stay inside.”
I turn and walk away before she can argue more. Behind me, I hear her frustrated exhale, but she doesn’t follow. Good girl.
This isnothow I planned to spend my wedding night.
I'm supposed to be upstairs right now, peeling that beautiful white dress off her body, tasting every inch of my wife, making her scream my name until she can’t think straight.
Instead, I’m heading back out to hunt the bastards who thought it was smart to attack my wedding.
