AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Looking at Leo is like staring at myself in that framed photograph.
But beyond just the physical similarities, heactslike me.
This has undoubtedly been the most tumultuous and terrifying day of his life, and yet there’s a focused expression on his face as he takes in the armed, stoic men and the luxurious leather interior of the private jet. His back is stiff and his chin set as he fiddles with a small toy he pulled out of his jacket pocket. A figurine wearing a cowboy hat.
I might not know much about kids, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a typical response to trauma.
Without training, without knowing what he was born into, my son is tough. He has Morozov blood in his veins.Myblood. Pride blooms in my chest, a thousand times more intense and powerful than it’s ever been when any of my men manage an accomplishment.
Occasionally, Leo looks at me. I’m careful to never let our gazes collide and that my jacket covers my gun. I don’t want to scare him, and I’m trying to honor Lyla’s decision not to reveal our relation.
For such a thoughtful kid, I’m surprised he hasn’t noticed the resemblance.
He’s the only one on board the plane who hasn’t. The men I brought on this trip have spent the flight exchanging a lot of loaded looks. None of them dare to say a word—but it’s obvious what they’re thinking.
As we cross the Atlantic, all my half-formed ideas about telling everyone Lyla and Leo are under my protection as a favor to a friend and stashing them in a safe house vanish. Their connection to me is too obvious, and it fills me with equal parts pride and panic.
I don’t have a plan—about any of this. Ever since I answered Alex’s call last night, my entire world has been upended, thoroughly and permanently.
The two events I’ve spent the better part of the past year concerned with—my feud with Dmitriy and the arrangement with Pavel—have both just become infinitely more complicated.
But I can’t worry about hunting down my cousin or my impatient future father-in-law right now. My main priority needs to be Lyla’s and Leo’s safety. Everything else is secondary.
And the safest place is my private residence. It has the security of a bank vault and the layout of a fortress. There’s a mixture of relief and dread as I acknowledge the decision I knew I’d made as soon as I made the call for the plane to be flown to Philadelphia and then back to Russia.
They’ll be close to me. I know why I’m experiencing dread. The relief is harder to explain.
I like my space. Like my privacy.
And I don’t really like kids.
Except…mine.
I glance at Lyla. Unlike Leo, she’s not looking around at anything or anyone. Her gaze is focused out the window at the fluffy clouds we’re hovering above. Anxiety is sketched into the lines of her face and is echoed in the way her arms are wrapped around her middle, like she’s physically holding herself together.
I spent months purging Lyla Peterson from my system. Years accepting that I’d never see her again. The fact that she’s sitting no more than twenty feet from me right now is a complete mindfuck.
As soon as the wheels hit the runway in Moscow, I begin barking orders. All the cargo is loaded into the convoy of armored vehicles already waiting.
More of my men are waiting outside of the plane as I disembark into the winter air, inhaling deeply. It smells like home, but I’ve never felt more out of my element.
Leo and Lyla are the last to descend the stairs. I focus on Lyla instead of our son, attempting to pretend he’s justachild. Not my child. The same way he thinks I’m no one important. Not to him at least.
“Viktor will drive you to where you’ll be staying,” I tell her, nodding toward the line of SUVs parked and waiting.
My car is first. When I’m home, I prefer to drive myself. That’s never been truer than right now.
I need a second to think, some time to process. A minute to plan. For the first time in my life, I have no idea what to do.
I turn and head toward the line of vehicles, only pausing to instruct Viktor on the plan. He nods in response to the directive, a flash of apprehension crossing his face. Without me admitting a word, he knows what I’m entrusting him with. Knows me flying them there and bringing them into my home means if anything happens on the trip, the torture he’s seen me inflict on others won’t look as severe.
The car is running and waiting. I climb inside and press on the accelerator. The expensive engine lunges forward, propelling the car across the tarmac at a similar speed to the plane I was just on. The stretch of cement is empty, allowing me to accelerate even more.
Everyone else near the private terminal gives this section of the airport a wide berth. The Morozov name carries weight in the States. Here, it’s never uttered without fear.
Despite my proclivity toward driving alone, I was tempted to ride in the same car with Leo and Lyla, which is exactly why I didn’t.
Today will have far-reaching consequences. And every decision I continue to make is sinking my son deeper into a life I wouldn’t choose for him. My enemies have spies everywhere. The fact that I requested additional men be waiting here to escort us home from what was supposed to be a routine, quick trip won’t go unnoticed or unreported.
