Page 197 of Barinov

That voice. That fucking voice of hers cracks something open in me.

I slam my mouth into hers. The kiss is messy and desperate, tasting like salt and seventy-five days of hell. She gasps against my lips and clutches me harder. I stagger backward, putting as much distance as I can between us and Luca’s body cooling on the floor as possible.

“I love you, malyshka,” I breathe against her lips as I carry her out of the hellhole and down the limestone stairs. “I love you so fucking much.”

“Sweetheart!”

Bella jerks in my arms.

Cade’s running full speed across the lawn and crashes into us. He wraps his arms around us, pinning our girl between our heartbeats.

Bella sobs the second she feels him, one hand tangling in my hair while the other grabs blindly for Cade. I carefully slide our girl down into his arms.

“Cade,” she cries, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” Cade says, cradling the back of her head as tears spill down all of our faces.

“Bella!” Roman’s low voice echos off the stone as he approaches.

Her head snaps toward him. “Dad!”

Cade sets her down and she bolts to Roman. They collide on the lawn, the two of them falling to their knees as they disappear into each other’s embrace. I wrap my arms around Cade’s shoulders as we watch the reunion.

“We got her back, babe,” I mutter, pressing a shaky kiss to Cade’s temple. “We got—”

“MOVE!”

Rez’s roar shatters the night as Tex and Laing burst out of the doorway. Their faces full of desperation while they carry Zeke’s limp, sweating body between them.

“No,” Bella whispers, her voice tiny and terrified.

She launches herself out of her dad’s arms and up from the grass, already running.

“Zeke!”

II

Part Two

Chapter 50

LEX

Manhattan, New York

Getting really fucking impatient.

“Sweetheart, come sit down,” Cade says to Bella from the couch in the corner.

She’s still wrapped in Tattooed-Dragon-Dick’s shirt, the black fabric swallowing her small frame as she frantically paces in front of the waiting room door. Every second she’s been stuck in here, her eyes have stayed glued to that glass waiting on news of Zeke’s condition.

“I should be back there!” she yells as her feet finally skid to a halt. “I-I need to be back there.”

I’m up in a flash, grabbing our girl’s hands and yanking her focus before she spirals too far out of my reach. “Baby,” I mutter. I lift her trembling knuckles and press a kiss to her soft skin. “He’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that, Lex,” she snaps, her voice breaking on my name.

I fling my arms around her and pull her body into my chest. “Sabine is back there with him. If anyone can detect and counteract the poison that fuckstick, Ivan, hit him with, it’ll be her.”