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He sighed. “Did you know she found Marina after it happened?”
The entire room lurched, and I thought I might be sick. “What—no? Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” We were both quiet. “You can see why she went to those lengths. But in the end, she chose us. And she’s gonna help us take down Hendrix. Today.”
“Shit, okay.”
“So, after we hang up—you need to call Kir. We’re not taking chances—here’s the plan.”
Kir grinned at me as we climbed over the inert bodies of Hendrix’s men and posted up on the catwalk, along with other Micahelson and Volksov men. Below, it was a mess. Hendrix was threatening Lia and taunting my cousin. My blood boiled, both for Lia, and for what Irina, Volksov’s widow, had to go through.
He will pay,Kir had vowed, murder in his eyes.
And Lia will take the shot,I now thought, watching the golden-haired beauty face him down. He grabbed her hair, and I started forward, only for Kir to stop me.
“Not yet,” he warned. “Patience.”
“I’ll kill you soon enough, but not before I use her body as I see fit,” Hendrix was saying to Ty. Ty, who looked like a murderous wolf, being restrained by four guys. Hendrix let go of Lia’s hair and patted her cheek, then shoved her at one of his guys. “Finally.” He strode towards Ty and let out a demented laugh. “I win. I fucking win.”
“Guess again,kachok,” Kir yelled down.
Nothing was more satisfying than watching Hendrix stop in his tracks and whip his gaze up to us. I gave a wiggle of my fingerswhile Kir grinned and flipped him off. Hendrix didn’t seem to be able to make sense of what was happening.
“You’re right, Michaelson,” Kir continued. “I am going to owe you one.”
“Irina sends her regards, shithead,” I called.
“Oh shit,” Hendrix whimpered.
Meanwhile, I saw Ty and Lia share identical satisfied smirks. And then Lia threw an elbow, while stomping down on the foot of one of the men holding her. That man staggered off while the other went to grab her, only to yelp as she slammed her head back and broke his nose. As he fell and Lia ran toward Ty, all hell broke loose.
The next few moments were a confusion of gunshots, screams, shouts, and fighting. I ran down to the lower level, only to hear Ty suddenly bellow, “Lia, watch out.”
Through a gap, I saw Hendrix going for her and I saw Lia still. A thrill went over me, and my gun felt heavier in my hand. I could take the shot, but I forced myself not to.This is Lia’s. I—I trust her.
Too late, Hendrix seemed to realize that Lia was calm, and he fumbled for his gun. I saw Ty running toward them as Lia leveled a gun at our enemy.
“This is for my mother,” Lia said and shot Hendrix point-blank in the chest.
At the same time, Hendrix got off a shot and Ty went down as he crashed into Lia, protecting her from it. Heart in my throat, I shoved forward as Lia let out a gasping cry.
“No. No, no,please.”She was staring at her bloodstained fingers, looking down at Ty, and then cried out, “Ty, you can’t leave me. You made me promise to stay by your side and I...”
Her eyes squeezed shut as I came upon them, breathing hard and staring at my cousin, refusing to believe it. Then I jolted as Lia continued, her voice breaking my heart into a thousand pieces.
“I love you so much, Ty. I had Flora sneak out to the store early this morning to get a pregnancy test. I’m pregnant.” She let out a sob as the silence in the room went electric with shock and surprise. “The sickness, the mood swings… I was right, I knew. So, you need to be there for the baby, you have to come back to me. To us. We’re your family, Ty.” She bent her head, and I barely heard her say, “I’ll stay by your side. No matter what—no matter what you do.”
And then my asshat of cousin went, “I know.”
Relief swamped me. I’d suspected that he’d been a bit out of it, and he confirmed it when he wheezed, “Sorry, I got the damn wind knocked out of me. I’m—I’m okay.”
I surveyed the scene as Lia looked around wildly and spotted me. “Oh my God. Danny.Danny.” Her voice filled my chest with affection. “We have to get him to a hospital. We have to—”
“We have to calm down,” I said, as I bent down to look at Ty. Meanwhile, Kir pulled Lia away.
As I helped my cousin up, he said, “Hendrix grazed my arm, nothing more.” We locked hands and nodded. It seemed like years since we’d seen each other and despite all the chaos of the past week, I knew we were good. We were forever family. We had each other’s backs. “I’m okay, it’s not serious. Might need stitches, might not. But first…” Ty let go of me and gazed at Lia. “Kir, you can let go of the woman you owe a favor to for killing your uncle’s murderer.”
Kir let go of Lia, who was weeping, and he laughed, yanking her against him. A flicker of envy coursed through me as he hugged her.
