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He snorted and answered, listening for a second, agreeing, then ending the call. “The problem’s contained. We can come out,” he told me but made no move to get up and open the door. I stayed put, too, in no great hurry to see the aftermath.
Leo looked at me in a way I couldn’t quite understand. It might have been regret etched across his handsome face. Not for what we’d done, but maybe because we had to leave the safe room. Or maybe that was just what I was feeling. A far cry from when he’d first shut us in here.
With a brisk nod, he got up and freed us, turning to warn me to stay upstairs until he was sure everything was safe. Burya yipped and burst past him, jumping up to put his paws on my legs. He seemed as glad to find out I was all right as I was to see he hadn’t been harmed. It was all too much, and I fell onto the floor with my arms around his neck, crying into his fur.
“Is this stupid baby hormones?” Leo asked, dropping beside us and putting his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I sobbed, unsure why the floodgates had opened. “I’m glad the dog’s okay,” I said for lack of another reason. “Go do what you need to do.”
Chapter 17 - Leo
I left Samantha sobbing on the floor with the dog after she somewhat assured me she was okay. I needed to assess the situation after the attack in case we needed to move again. I met my second-in-command downstairs and felt guilty for not being part of the battle. I wasn’t the type to give orders; I wasn’t ready to follow myself, but there was no way I could have left Samantha alone in the safe room in her state.
I shook it off. There would probably be more times like that after the baby was born because I certainly couldn’t leave a helpless child alone while I went out and shot up our enemies. Sam’s fear that I might have been killed had somehow wormed its way into my consciousness. Of course, I knew I was as mortal as anyone, but I didn’t fear or worry about what might happen to me every time I left the house, either. I had to find a way to continue my responsibilities while not taking unnecessary risks. Just one more thing to add to the list before the baby was born.
“What have we got?” I asked, following the guard outside.
I groaned when I saw the giant truck they’d used as a makeshift tank had ended up crashing into one of the pillars. Another of my men got in and backed it up slowly, and thankfully the whole entire front facade of the house didn’t tumble down. There was a long crack, though, and most of the vines had gotten stuck in the grill and torn down. The porch railings were riddled with bullet holes. I could already see Ivan handing me a can of spackle and telling me to get my ass to work to fix his vacation home.
“Two casualties. Our man at the gate and one of theirs.”
I already knew about the gate guard but swore angrily anyway.
“Three hostages,” he continued.
“Great,” I said. “That could come in handy. Where are they now?”
“Tied up in the shed.”
I nodded, hoping they were worth something for negotiation purposes, but my hopes weren’t high. My team was already busy fixing the gate as best they could, so I turned around abruptly and returned to the house. All I could think about was Samantha, who seemed to be having a bit of a breakdown once we were out of the safe room.
As valiantly as she tried to hide it, she’d been terrified, getting caught in the thick of the attack. It made my blood turn to ice as I imagined a less fortunate outcome. She wasn’t used to any of it, and on top of it was flooded with the baby hormones. I couldn’t leave her alone with the dog. Burya might as well have been hers by now since he barely acknowledged me before jumping all over her when we came out.
The hostages weren’t going anywhere, and it suited my purpose to let them sit around in the roasting hot shed, wondering if I was going to let them live or die and how painful the interim would be. Samantha was more important.
Before I went back upstairs, I called Evelina to let her know what had happened in case more attacks were imminent on the rest of my family. She asked if they should postpone their trip to visit our father, but I told her no. They’d be safer over there. She said she’d give Ivan the heads up, and I was grateful not to have any more calls for the moment. I needed to make sure Sam was all right. I took the stairs two at a time and skidded into my room.
My heart turned over when I saw her stretched out on the rug in front of the bed with Burya stretched out beside her, both of them fast asleep. The dog raised his head, saw I was no threat, and promptly passed out again with a snuffle. I knelt beside her and gently brushed her hair off her tear-streaked face.
Anger so strong it took my breath away coursed through me. At myself as well as the Giannis for putting her through so much. I needed to alleviate that rage by smashing my fists into something. Fortunately, I had three people who deserved it waiting out back. I started to throw a blanket from the bed over her, but it wasn’t enough. My need to care for Samantha overrode my desire to break the people who’d reduced her to a puddle on the floor.
Picking her up, I cradled her and carried her to the bed. As soon as I let her go, she woke up with a start, disoriented and clinging to me.
“It’s all over,” I said softly. “Everything’s fine. Go back to sleep. I have a few more things I need to take care of, and then I’ll bring you something to eat.”
She refused to lie back down or let go of me, her eyes wide and fearful, but this time not for herself or even me. “What do you need to take care of?” she asked suspiciously.
“Nothing you need to worry about, Sunshine.”
She shook her head, seeming to sense I was about to do something she considered unsavory. “You don’t have to,” she said. “Let someone else take care of it.”
I tried to press her back onto the pillows, but she stiffened her spine. “I could go with you,” she offered.
I snorted. Not going to happen in a million years. Fine. The hostages would be just as punchable after I got her to go back to sleep. With a shrug, I lay down beside her, humming tunelessly as she snuggled up next to me. It wasn’t long before she was snoozing away again, with her hand clasped tightly around mine.
I carefully wriggled free, but a crack of thunder over the ocean signaled one of the Keys’ trademark sudden storms was on its way. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, the clouds opened up and rained down buckets as lightning bolts cut across the sky outside the window.
Fine. I’d just stay with her until it stopped. Those downpours always blew through fairly quickly. I’d still be able to take out my rage on our uninvited guests in the shed once it passed. I reached over to turn off the bedside table lamp and snapped my fingers for Burya to climb up and lie down on her other side. With the sound of the rain pummeling the roof, I rested my head near Sam’s and closed my eyes to wait out the storm.
