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Oh shit.Oh shit.I shut my eyes and drop my head into my palms, refusing to believe it. Because of my own stupid mistake, Sasha lost her mother. In a way, Ididkill her, and the thought squeezes my heart so hard it hurts.
"I'm sorry," I mutter, and Sasha chuckles sadly and lays her hand on my shoulder.
"It's alright, you didn't know."
"No, you don't understand." I straighten up and look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry I made a mistake. I'm sorry I left you even though I loved you more than anyone."
Sasha's eyes widen and her hand falls off my shoulder, but I catch it and squeeze it in my hand. The words are burning in my heart, and I have to tell her.I have to.
"I'm sorry I was so scared of raising a child that I broke your heart—and your life.” I raise her hand to my lips, press a quick kiss, and breathe out. “Leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life, and—I know it’s impossible, but I’d do anything to make it right again.”
For a long moment, Sasha looks at me with unreadable eyes, and I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel like an idiot, a selfish idiot responsible for the death of her mother—and all of that because I was coward enough to break up with the only woman who mattered to me. God, how am I supposed to look her in the eyes now?
But suddenly Sasha squeezes my hand back, and when I look at her again, I feel like the color of her eyes has turned brighter. The corner of her lips rises into a smile as she says, “Well, I think we can—”
A scream interrupts her, and we both startle.
“Misha!” Sasha gets to the door first, and I follow right behind her, running down to the first floor where we hear muffled steps and voices through Misha’s persistent yelling.
“Get away from me! My mom is gonna kill you! Louis!”
Finally, we get to the first floor, and while Sasha immediately runs to the kitchen where Misha is being held on a stool, I stop to take in the situation. There are three men in the kitchen, one of them holding Misha’s shoulders, the other two hanging behind his back. As soon as they see Sasha they quickly move forward to catch her, and I can hear her curse them in Russian through gritted teeth.
My first instinct is to help her and Misha, but from the corner of my eye I notice a movement and turn around to face it—and come to a halt.
“Hello, Louis.” Yuriy Pushkov stops at the doorstep of my living room, smiling like an old friend of mine, and on his left and right there are two more guards. Shit. This looks like a trap.
“What’s going on?” I look from one man to the other, tensing up and ready to fight them. Yuriy seems to notice because he clicks his tongue and shakes his head.
“Is that how you greet friends?”
“Are we friends?” I quirk an eyebrow, feeling the flow of adrenaline in my veins. Goddamnit, why the hell didn’t I grab my gun this morning?
Yuriy cackles and looks behind me. “It is a good question, indeed.”
He holds a theatrical pause and, in the meantime, walks past me to the kitchen where Sasha and Misha are being forcefully held in one place. I clench my fists as I look at them, but I’m outnumbered here. I can’t do anything right now, so the best strategy is to wait and see what Yuriy has to offer.
“You see,” he finally continues as if hearing my thoughts. “I heard some very concerning news from yesterday. Apparently, you decided that you could come into our territory and attack our men without any reason at all.”
I had a good reason, I want to say, but at the last moment, I catch myself. My reason was to save Sasha from his crazy-ass friend, but I doubt Yuriy will like it.
“And you, Sashenka.” He turns to Sasha, who stands up straight and raises her chin, looking him in the eyes. “You killed your own father—which is not a bad thing in itself, of course. But Nikolai and I have been good friends for a long time, and it saddens me greatly to see his own daughter dig a knife into his back.”
“He deserved it,” Sasha spits out, looking him in the eyes, and Yuriy hums.
“I don’t think your opinion matters here.” He turns around to me and straightens his back, looking like he’s ready to make an announcement. “Louis, yesterday’s events proved that you cannot be trusted, and so, I cancel our deal and your marriage. Alexandra and Michail are coming with me.”
What? He can’t just do that!
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Sasha immediately protests, but Yuriy waves a hand at his men and they nudge her and Misha to the entrance. What the hell?
“No, I don’t agree,” I grit through my teeth and leap toward the man holding Misha—but suddenly someone catches my shoulder and shoves me back.
I only have a moment to catch myself from falling and I see that the two men who were guarding Yuriy before are standing in front of me now. As soon as I move, one of them lunges at me, aiming at my face, but I avoid his fist only to be met with the other man’s elbow. Ah, shit. He hits me straight in my stomach, and I double over in pain, stumbling back.
With a distant part of my mind, I register Misha’s cries and Sasha’s protests, but I don’t have time to process them before I notice that the men are stepping toward me again. One of them grabs my shoulder, the other swings his fist into my chin, and the impact sends me backward. I feel the taste of blood in my mouth, and it makes me sober up.
No, Louis, you aren’t gonna defeat them like that. You have to pull yourself together—for Sasha, for Misha, for your family.So I grit my teeth and focus on my opponents.
