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I stumble and brace myself against a car as horror jellifies my legs and paints my vision gray. It takes me a second to realize that I imagined the explosion of gunfire, that everything on the driveway is still status quo.
I suck in a smoke-filled breath as my tortured lungs give out—only I’m close enough to the entrance that the air is breathable again. Pushing away from the car, I suppress a cough as I hear Alexei’s rough bark of laughter.
“Mama Chloe, is it?” he drawls in English. The sound of his voice, dark and taunting, makes my knees go weak again. “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. I’m guessing the wedding was very recent?”
I’m still trying to get my legs to move when my brother replies in a lethally soft tone, “None of your fucking business. Now leave before I paint the ground withyourbrains. Since we seem to be family and all, I’ll let you walk away before the guards get here.”
“What guards?” Even through the smoke, I catch a flash of Alexei’s white teeth as he bares them in a sharp, cruel smile. “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.”
My heart jolts sideways, and I almost miss my brother’s next words, spoken in an even softer, smoother voice. “You have exactly thirty seconds to shut up and back away before I open fire.”
Alexei’s gaze flicks to Chloe again. “With her and the child here? I don’t think so. Besides, my snipers have you both in their sights.”
“Bullshit,” my brother says coldly. “They don’t have a clear shot.”
Alexei’s grin is pure savagery. “No? Want to bet? 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.”
Strength flows back into my legs. The shooter on the roof—that must be Pavel. He’s still alive. I propel myself forward as Nikolai’s voice becomes pure ice. “Not if you’re dead by then. You have twenty seconds left. Nineteen. Eighteen…”
Alexei’s eyes turn into slits, and I can read my brother’s death in their black depths—and in Nikolai’s tense stance, I can see Alexei’s demise. Violence fills the air, its thick, noxious fumes as toxic as the smoke swirling around me.
It’s now or never.
We’re officially out of time.
I cover the last meter to burst into view. “Stop!” My eyes water from the smoke as I step through the jagged hole left by the explosion, my gun held loosely at my side and my gaze trained on the man I’ve been trying to escape for nearly half my life. “Stop, Alexei, please. Slava isn’t going anywhere, you know that. My brother won’t give up his son. And he’s not—” My voice breaks as the full knowledge of what I’m doing slams into me. “He’s not the one you want anyway.”
At my side, Chloe sucks in an audible breath, but I ignore her, my eyes locked on Alexei’s. His gaze scorches me in return, the dark hunger in it visible even from this distance. My heart hammers faster. Clad in black tactical gear, with the weapon in his hands, my nemesis looks as deadly as I know him to be, yet even now, some tiny part of me burns for him—and an even smaller part, one that I don’t want to acknowledge, weeps in gratitude that he’s alive.
“Alina, get back.” My brother’s voice is knife sharp, but I ignore him too. This is now between me and Alexei.
A numb sort of calm envelops me as I raise my gun, aiming it at him. My voice is level as I say, “You have a choice. I know you’re an excellent shot, but so is my brother—and so am I. And so is Lyudmila in there.” I nod toward the dark garage. I’m bluffing, but I can’t let Alexei know that. With superhuman effort, I continue in the same even tone. “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…” I manage to inject sarcasm into my voice. “What good am I to you dead, right?”
“Alina, shut up and get back inside,” Nikolai says harshly. “You don’t have to—”
“I will come with you,” I continue as if my brother hasn’t spoken. “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.”
Alexei’s gaze strays toward Chloe for an eyeblink, taking in the sight of Slava clinging to her as she shields him with her petite body, looking as fierce as any mama bear. The child’s eyes are wide and fearful; we’ve all been speaking English, so he wouldn’t understand the specifics, but there’s no mistaking the tension in our postures, nor the guns we’re all pointing at each other.
If Alexei tries to take his nephew as well as me, bloodwillbe spilled, and the irreparable trauma the child will suffer will be on his conscience.
Alexei’s gaze returns to my face, and I shudder at the fury—and the burning hunger—in it. Yet his voice mirrors mine in its evenness. “All right. We have a deal. Lay down the gun and walk toward me.”
“Do not fucking do it,” Nikolai bites out. “I can take him.”
“Maybe.” My pulse pounds sickeningly in my temples as I lay my gun on the ground. “Or maybe you’ll both die. Maybe Chloe and Slava will as well. Think about that.”
Nikolai’s voice is tense. “I’m not letting you do this.”
The smile that springs to my lips coats my tongue with bitterness. “It’s not your call, brother. Nor is it mine. That whole fate business you believe in? Well, mine was decided when I was fifteen, and it’s time I stopped running from it. You and Konstantin have shielded me long enough.”
Before he can argue further, I hurry over to Alexei—who grabs my elbow in a steel grip as soon as I’m within reach and pulls me against him, pinning me possessively to his side. Even with the smoke lingering in my nostrils, I can smell the wild forest essence of him, and my body vibrates at his proximity, my skin flashing cold and hot as I fight to subdue the complex mix of emotions that closeness to Alexei always generates.
After all this time, all these years, he’s here.
He’s come to claim me.
Deep down, I’ve always known he would.
