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First, my men.
Then, my property.
It’ll come for me last of all.
“You’re going to make it out!” Konstantin roars. “I’m going to be here when you get out and—”
I hang up while Konstantin is still talking. He calls back instantly, but I drop it to the floor and let it ring. The air burns. My lungs ache.
I stand up and walk out of my office, feeling a strange sense of calm overtake me. Is this what it feels like to stare death in the face? Is this how Maksim felt when that bullet hurtled toward him, the one I should’ve seen coming?
Honestly, it’s not as bad as I might’ve expected.
I walk down the hallway, but I don’t bother hurrying anymore. You can’t outrun Death when he has finally come for you. I won’t beg for his mercy, either.
I’d much rather meet the Reaper upright and proud.
Then I spot Paige’s office door through the plumes of oppressive smoke. My heart leaps again, that two-inches-to-the-left feeling I’ve come to associate with my wife. At least I had the pleasure of knowing her before I died. I got to experience love and feeling whole. I got to see how it is to taste champagne off her lips. Even if it was only for a brief time.
I walk into her office, lost in thought. The smoke has seeped in, staining everything. A white coat of hers slung across the back of her chair is blackened with the stuff. It’s a sad sight, for reasons I can’t explain. I’m fixating on details. If I die here, this will be the stuff I never enjoy again. I wish I could lock it all away somewhere safe, so that even after I’m gone, it will be untouched and—
Something occurs to me. I stop and look around the room.
And I see what I’m looking for. I call it sheer dumb luck. Paige would probably call it a miracle.
Maybe Death won’t take me yet after all.
76
MISHA
An hour and twenty-three minutes later, I walk out of Orion. I’m soot-stained and sweaty. My lungs burn and every inhale is hell.
But I’m alive.
Konstantin is standing next to Nikita and Cyrille, who are both huddled over my mother. She is seated on a curb, shaking with sobs.
My cousin is the first to look up. He is distracted and misty-eyed, glossing over me amidst the chaos of firefighters scurrying back and forth, rubberneckers gawking from behind the barriers, so he misses me on his first pass.
Then he does a double take.
When he realizes what he’s seeing, his jaw drops. “Misha!” he all but screams.
Cyrille and Niki jerk away from Mom, spinning around, searching for me in a desperate kind of hope I’ve never seen before.
Then all sets of eyes converge on me and they come rushing over to swaddle me with their embraces.
“Brother!” Konstantin gasps. “Brother…”
We break apart and Niki takes his place. She buries her face in my chest and sobs. I rope Cyrille in, too.
My mother is the only one still sitting, staring over at me with wide eyes. She can’t believe what she’s seeing.
I walk over and lower myself down so that we’re at eye level. Then I put my hand on her arm. “It’ll take more than a fire to kill me.”
Tears pour down her cheeks. She yanks me towards her, squeezing a fresh round of coughs out of my throat. “My boy,” she whispers into my neck. “I thought you were with your brother.”
“I will be one day, but not yet.”
