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And then Eleanor wails and clutches her head. “He’s dead, he’s dead. You killed him.”
“He’s no fucking loss,” I say, getting to my feet.
Zenya is gazing at her with a mixture of horror and pity. “How could you do this to us? Chessa didn’t blame our family for what happened to her the night of the home invasion, so why should you?”
“Because it never would have happened to her if she hadn’t married one of you!” Eleanor shrieks, demented from grief and the scent of blood and gunpowder. “You’re all sick and twisted and you’ll pay for your crimes in hell.”
Eleanor screams and lunges for me, her face twisted in hatred and her nails raised to claw my face.
A gunshot explodes and the sound ricochets off the concrete walls.
As Eleanor staggers and falls to the ground, I see Zenya standing there with smoke rising from the barrel of her gun.
“Nice shot, princess.”
She raises her gun with a smile. “I learned from the best.” Her smile fades as she looks at Eleanor, and I know she’s wishing she didn’t have to kill her step-aunt, but if she hadn’t, I would have. I can’t live on the same planet as someone who fantasized so thoroughly about hurting my woman and baby.
I wipe the blood from my face with my sleeve, glancing from one dead body to the other. Fuck, that was close. That could have been so much worse.
“We’ll go upstairs and check that there’s no one else in the mansion,” Mikhail says, and leads the other men upstairs, mostly to give us some privacy, I expect.
“How did you find me?” I say raggedly, taking the gun from Zenya and sweeping her into my arms and holding her tight. I’m covered in blood and it’s soaking into her clothes, but I know she doesn’t care.
Zenya threads her fingers through my hair, gazing up at me with a desperate expression, assuring herself that I’m all right. “You weren’t answering my calls. No one knew where you were, and Mikhail found spots of blood in your driveway. I panicked, but then I remembered some strange things I’ve noticed lately. Since we announced we were engaged, Eleanor has been staring at us in a way that made me wonder what was going on in her head. A hickey on her throat at Lana’s birthday party, and I saw her car parked outside this house the day we got engaged. Eleanor has no good reason to be hanging around Lenkov unless she was using him to hurt you, so I took a chance on you being here.”
“Thank fuck you did,” I breathe, resting my forehead against hers and holding her tight.
“She blamed the Belyaevs for Chessa’s suffering and death, didn’t she?” she asks sadly.
“She did. Apparently, she’s been enjoying watching us tear ourselves apart and suffering these past few years, and she didn’t like seeing us putting ourselves back together.”
“Let’s never let anything like that happen again,” Zenya says, gripping my shoulders and gazing into my eyes. “I want us to be strong together from now on.”
“Always,” I whisper.
Zenya gives Eleanor’s body a sad look. “I liked Chessa. I liked Eleanor as well. My siblings have already lost so much and now they’ve lost their aunt. She should have thought about them while she was constructing her horrible plan.”
I gaze down at Zenya’s beautiful face and remember how close I was to choosing revenge over love. I’m ferociously glad the woman in my arms was able to pull me back from the edge by reminding me of all the reasons I love her. Revenge wouldn’t have made me happy. Revenge is poison.
I stroke her cheek with my knuckles, murmuring, “You saved my life,Pakhanovna. It’s supposed to be me protecting you, remember?”
She turns her face up to mine with a beautiful smile on her lips. “I wanted to return the favor, my handsome stranger in black. Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“Tell me again,” I demand, hungry for her.
“I love—”
I slant my mouth over hers in a demanding kiss and breathe in sharply as she opens her lips for my tongue. She tastes like everything I crave.
Blood and danger.
Steel and bullets.
That’s what our love is made from, and I’ll never let go of this girl as long as I live.
EPILOGUE
Zenya
