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“If I’d had a gun, you’d be dead now,” she muttered in the stillness that fell when our eyes connected.
She was sitting dead center on the mattress, the sheets pooling at her waist, wearing a huge off-the-shoulder sweater I was sure would smell like my brother. I planned to burn it as soon as I could get her changed. Her long blonde hair was strewn across her shoulders like ribbons, and her blue eyes were huge and tired.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, half lunging onto the mattress, half pulling her under me.
I wrapped my arms around her and cradled her against my chest, breathing in the smell of her hair, her skin, her whole fucking presence. She was very still, and I pulled back and looked at her. She looked exhausted and pale, and there was a faint bruise on her temple, but she seemed otherwise unharmed.
“Has he hurt you?”
She swallowed, and her eyes dropped mine. “Why does that matter now? Surely, we should be leaving.”
“It matters because it will decide how many holes I poke in his worthless body before he becomes a carcass for the animals to feed on. Has he hurt you?”
She was quiet for a long moment before shaking her head. “Not in any way I didn’t have coming.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It doesn’t matter right now. Are we getting out of here, or what? I’m sure he’s expecting you.”
“We are, Princess. Come on,” I said, helping her off the bed.
She bent and laced on hiking boots. They were sturdy and of good quality, and she sure as shit didn’t have them when she’d been taken. Next, she grabbed a huge winter parka from the chair by the bed, zipped it up, and pulled on a knit hat. I stared at her, perplexed by her clothes.
“They were his mother’s. She was just like me.” Molly's eyes were huge in the darkness. “I mean, the same size,” she said quietly as she turned toward the doorway.
There was an odd distance between us, something I’d never felt from Molly before. She might be traumatized, but my gut told me it was something else. Was she hurt? In shock? Upset with me about the tracker?
I opened my mouth to say something to press her and bust apart the walls she had barricaded herself inside, but a creak in the hall pulled my attention. I stepped in front of Mallory and raised my weapon. I lowered my guard as I heard a soft clicking sound like a chattering bird.
Ivan appeared in the doorway. His eyes fell on Molly, and a big grin of relief wreathed his scarred jaw.“Miss Madison, I’m happy as fuck to see you.”
Molly shocked me by stepping toward him and hugging his side. “I’m so sorry about Max,” she muttered.
Ivan looked at me for permission before sliding an arm around her.He pulled back, looking touched.“Thank you,devushka. It’s kind of you to think of him.”
“As touching as this is, we have to go,” I interrupted.
Ivan scrunched his brow. “Something isn’t right, Kirill. It’s all too easy. I’m afraid Nikolai has expected everything we’ve done so far.”
I slid my hand into Molly’s. “I got what I came for. I don’t care what else happens.”As long as we get her out of here safely.
We went back to the window. I knew Nikolai was expecting all this. I could only hope his men were too busy with my men to see us leaving. My hopes were short-lived. Ivan dropped to the ground first, and I lowered Molly into his arms before shimmying down.
As soon as I dropped, bullets flew around us. I dove over Mallory, pushing her down and protecting her with my body. Shouting filled the air, and I twisted to see Nikolai’s men rounding the side of the house, heading right for us.
“Run for the trees. Hide beyond the line, and I’ll find you,” I told Molly as I reloaded my gun and prepared to pepper the incomers with bullets to give her cover.
She stared at me, unmoving. There was a world of words behind her eyes that she wasn’t saying, but I didn’t have time to press her on it.
Don’t die, first. Figure everything else out, second.
“Go, Princess. Go, and keep low,” I urged her as Ivan and I prepared to meet the charge.
I lost track of everything as the smell of gunpowder, and the thud of bodies hitting the ground overtook my brain.
“Kirill,” Ivan said, breaking me from the spell.
I realized, moments later, that it was over before it had begun. Pyotr had Nikolai. He pushed him around the side of the house to the blood-soaked ground where our final stand would take place.
