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“Was that necessary?” Asks Elena.
Her head is still down. Still typing away. She won’t stop. Not until we find Val, Liv, and take down Ramirez. Even then, she might not. She likes to stay busy, and there is never a shortage of enemies when you rule an Empire.
Before Al can put the van in park, I am leaping out of the door, I don’t hear anymore gunfire. I want to take that as a good thing. Liv isn’t outside. She’s not standing here waiting for me.
Fuck no!
My gun is out and ready to fire, just in case some shady fuck tries to get the drop on one of us when we let our guard down. I feel like I’m running in circles. Going room by room I don’t see her. I don’t see Val. “Where the fuck is she?” I roar.
“Mass.” I hear Luca call for me. He’s standing at the bottom of a staircase that I somehow missed.
I rush back to it, hoping to find her on the stairs. She’s not. I run up the stairs two at a time. Luca is right behind me. My head whips side to side as I scan the rooms as I pass them. Two doors down we find Val. Luca and I rush to him. He’s bleeding, bruised, and probably has a few broken bones, but he’s alive, and he’s breathing. Luca shouts for Elena to call the doctor.
I get up and scan the room she’s not here. “Liv’s not here.” I turn to Luca. He’s cutting through the bindings around Val’s feet. “This is your fault. I told you I couldn't risk her.”
Luca looks grief stricken as he stares back at me. “If there had been any other way to end this, I would have. You know I would have. She’s not here. It doesn’t mean she’s dead. Just like with Val. They took her alive.”
“Massimo?” Calls a voice from the hallway. It’s not my Liv. But maybe they found her.
What if he hurt her? What if he....he…
I can’t finish that thought. I can’t imagine my beautiful girl getting sexually assaulted. We’ll deal with whatever happens. It doesn’t matter what. We are strongest together. I’ll get her through whatever nightmare she survived. I just need her.
We’ll get through this. She won't be leaving my side for a long time. If ever. And she damn well won't be leaving the compound.
Rushing out of the room, I’m directed by a Russian soldier to go right. Another Russian stands at a door a little ways down and across the hall. I recognize him. He’s Ivan's second. As I reach him, he side steps to allow me to pass him and enter the room. He doesn’t speak. His face set in firm line. Neither telling me good, nor bad news. Fuck why can’t I read people like Liv. She could give him one glance and tell me what he was thinking.
Inside the room, I find Ivan standing in the entry of what appears to be a bathroom. Moving closer, my heart pounds painfully in my chest. There is a puddle of blood on the floor in the bathroom. Just beyond Ivan’s feet.
Oh god.
Please don't let that be Livianna's.
Please don’t let that be my girl’s.
Ivan turns and smiles. He fucking smiles. Instantly my heart soars. She’s alive. I don’t see her yet, but I know.
“You need to teach your woman to turn off the safety.” He says as he shifts out of the doorway and gives me room to enter. “She's been pulling the trigger of the gun for a solid minute at me.” He says.
I pay no attention to his words. All I can see, all I care about is my girl. My sweetheart. She’s crouched between the toilet and the shower stall. She’s bloody and disheveled.
She’s alive.
And she’s practically fucking naked.
The distinctive click of the trigger being pulled with no boom of a bullet has my heart pounding. Ivan wasn’t lying. She’s pulling the trigger. Is she pulling it at me? What the fuck happened? I’m whipping my shirt off over my head so I can put it on her before I take her away from this place.
Getting closer I can see her eyes aren’t looking at me. They are looking past me, to the corner. I follow her gaze and find Joseph’s body. His chest looks like it was mauled by a bear. A piece of what looks like mirror, is sticking out dead center.
The air is knocked from my lungs. She killed him. It’s the second fucking time my girl has had to kill to survive. Never again. She won’t need to spill anymore blood. That’s my fucking job.
I move in front of her. I keep back a foot until her focus comes back. “Liv.” I whisper. I don’t want to scare her too bad when she’s in a trance like this. “Sweetheart.” I say a little louder, and reach out my hand to boop her nose.
It works. It fucking works like a charm every time.
“Mass!” She screams. Then she drops the gun and scrambles to get out of her corner and into my arms. I catch her body mid-air and bring her close. Our lips find each other in a heated kiss.
I pull away after too brief a time. My hands run all over her body. Checking for injuries and where the fuck all the blood is coming from. "It's not mine." She says.
