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If the child experienced any abuse while living with his mother’s family, it wasn’t at this man’s hands.
Coming to a decision, I cautiously edge forward. As terrified as I am for Nikolai, I have to get Slava out of the direct line of fire.
“Slavochka…” I make my voice as calm and gentle as I can. “Please come to me. Mama Chloe needs you here.”
The boy doesn’t move. Somehow, he must sense that his presence is the only thing keeping the violence from escalating.
I risk another half-step forward, and Slava finally moves, dashing toward me. As soon as he’s near enough, I grab him by the arm and shove him behind me, blocking him with my body as I begin to back away.
The stranger lets out a rough laugh, his dark eyes flashing briefly to the ring on my finger. “Mama Chloe, is it?” Like Nikolai’s, his English is as American as they come. “Sweetheart… if you move another muscle, I’ll blow your brains out and then your dear husband’s. Congratulations on your nuptials by the way,” he continues as I freeze in place. “I’m guessing the wedding was very recent?”
Nikolai’s eyes are slitted, his voice deadly soft. “None of your fucking business. Now leave before I paint the ground with your brains. Since we seem to be family and all, I’ll let you walk away before the guards get here.”
“What guards?” Alexei’s sharp-edged smile is all white teeth and cruelty. “It’s just me and my men here now. And you’re fucking high if you think I’m leaving without what I came for. Hand over my sister’s son and Alina—and maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you and your pretty bride live. Seeing as we’re about to be even closer family and all.”
I blink. Alina? What does she have to do with anything? And what does he mean about closer family?
Nikolai’s voice softens further, a lethal threat in every smoothly spoken syllable. “You have exactly thirty seconds to shut up and back away before I open fire.”
“With her and the child here? I don’t think so.” His eyes cut toward me for another millisecond. “Besides, my snipers have you both in their sights.”
My stomach drops, but Nikolai just bares his teeth. “Bullshit. They don’t have a clear shot.”
“No? Want to bet?” Alexei grins savagely. “Either way, all I need to do is wait, and my men will take down the shooter on your roof—at which point you’ll be completely surrounded, and I’ll take what I came for.”
“Not if you’re dead by then.” Nikolai’s expression is dark ice. “You have twenty seconds left. Nineteen. Eighteen…”
My heartbeat surges, my terror doubling with each second counted. He means it, I can see it—and so can Alexei, whose black eyes narrow as well. The smoke-scented air is so thick with incipient violence I can practically taste the warm, coppery spray of blood as bullets rip through flesh and bone.
One or both of these men will die here tonight.
Nikolai won’t let his son be taken, and Alexei won’t back down.
I have to do something.
If Nikolai is right about the snipers not having a clear shot, it’s two of us against Alexei. If I shoot, maybe—
“Stop!” Like a wraith, Alina emerges from the smoky darkness of the garage, the blood-red of her gown contrasting with the ghostly paleness of her skin and the jet-black curtain of her hair.
Like me, she’s armed, but unlike me, she’s holding her gun loosely at her side, the barrel pointed at the ground.
“Stop, Alexei, please.” She steps through the jagged opening, the glow of the dying flames turning her jade eyes a greenish shade of hazel. “Slava isn’t going anywhere, you know that. My brother won’t give up his son. And he’s not—” Her voice cracks. “He’s not the one you want anyway.”
I suck in a breath, finally comprehending what’s happening. This man and Alina—they know each other.
More than that, he thinks he has some type of claim on her.
“Alina, get back.” Nikolai’s tone takes on a sharper edge as Alexei’s entire posture alters, a terrifying sort of hunger kindling in his demonic gaze as it locks on Alina’s face.
She raises her gun, aiming it at his face. “You have a choice,” she says evenly. “I know you’re an excellent shot, but so is my brother—and so am I. And so is Lyudmila in there.” She tips her head toward the dark garage. “Maybe you can take down one or two of us before our bullets find you—and maybe your snipers can help—but nobody is going to walk away unscathed. You might have the advantage of the forces surrounding us, but here, we outnumber you. Besides…” Her voice takes on a sardonic inflection. “What good am I to you dead, right?”
“Alina, shut up and get back inside,” Nikolai growls. “You don’t have to—”
“I will come with you,” she continues, ignoring her brother. “I will honor the betrothal contract. And in exchange, you will call off your men and forget all about my nephew. He belongs here, with his father and Chloe—you can see that for yourself.”
