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I could never recreate the grated cadence of his voice.
“You’re shaking, Little Rose,” he scolds as I scramble from Vanya’s grasp.
I’m falling. My knees give way, but he catches me, looping an arm around my shoulders. “Mischa—”
“Did he hurt you?” he asks near my ear. “If he touched you, I swear to God, I’ll kill him.”
I shake my head, hoping it conveys my meaning: I don’t matter. Inhaling deeply, I try to speak. “He has…” My voice is a thin, broken mockery, barely discernable.
“It’s all right,” Mischa snaps. He angles my face toward him and I can’t stop myself from tracing the rugged features.
My hands shake so badly that my nails catch his flesh. I have to be hurting him, but he doesn’t so much as flinch.
He doesn’t fade away beneath my fingertips, at least. His heat is a cushion against the chill encasing me. I can feel his heart hammering through his rib cage, as his arms cradle me, firm and gentle all at once.
“You’re dead,” I whisper, cringing with the pain it takes to say even that little. “Dead—”
“I would be,” he says softly, for my ears only. “If it wasn’t for your friend Somodorov.” He chuckles as my eyes widen in shock. Gingerly, his thumb teases the corner of my mouth. “Apparently, a certain whore made him rethink his alliances. He intervened during Sergei’s ambush—”
“Mischa,” Vanya calls. “We need to move. Now.”
“Mouse and Eli,” I say, forcing the words from my raw throat. “We need—”
“They’re safe,” he says. “We went there first, but you were already gone. Mouse had him hidden.” He laughs gruffly, shaking his head. “I almost didn’t fucking find them. But then we came for you.”
Which is why Sergei had to move up his timeline by attacking so soon.
“Mischa!” Vanya jerks his chin toward a van idling in the main courtyard. “We need to move.”
Mischa grits his teeth. “Sergei still has his allies,” he says as he hastens me toward the van.
From the pain in his tone, I know that his worst fear is now a reality.
Themafiyahas split down the middle.
And we’ve just ushered in a new war.
* * *
“We’re here,” Mischa says into my ear.
Dazed, I blink my eyes open and my heart jolts in my chest. Of all the places to find looming beyond the van, Sergei’s manor wasn’t on my list.
“It’s safe,” Mischa says as I stiffen. “We drove off his men. No one else would dare attack it now—”
“It’smyhome,” Vanya says gruffly from the front seat. Reaching back, he grabs my hand and squeezes reassuringly. “Even those loyal to Sergei wouldn’t dare strike here. Not if they want to keep breathing.”
The coldness in his tone bolsters the threat and I have no doubt he’d follow through. I’m not sure how much of Sergei’s rant he overheard, but something in his gaze is different. Harder. Pained.
Maybe I’m selfish for wanting to ease it the only way I know how.
“She…loved you,” I rasp as Mischa exits the van and pulls me into his arms. “My mother. She—”
“I know,” Vanya says hoarsely, his eyes downcast. His hands are in fists, the knuckles stark white against his tanned, callused skin. “I know.”
Mischa pulls me away before I can say anything else. This conversation will have to be continued later.
“Stay with me, Little Rose,” he warns, his voice rumbling in his chest. “Don’t you dare close your eyes. Stay with me.”
