“I have a doctor,” he rushes out, bringing up a number on a dashboard screen, and hitting the call button with one hand while skillfully maneuvering the car with the other.
After three rings, a woman answers, her voice resonating through the car’s speakers. “Tanner, I’m at work.” She’s all business but with a hint of annoyance.
“Then leave it. I need you right now. I’ll text you the address,” he replies in an authoritative tone, cutting off any chance for her to respond before he ends the call.
“Will she show up?” I ask, unsure and full of anxiety.
“Yes,” he assures me without hesitation, tossing his cell phone into my lap. “Text Alyona’s address to the last number I called.”
The second the car is stopped in her driveway and I climb out of the front seat, Z bolts from the vehicle like his ass is on fire. I place a hand on Viktor’s arm, halting him from rushing off. I don’t know why it matters. It shouldn't, but it does. I have to ask or it’ll make me crazy. “Is there something going on between you and her?”
“Me and the doctor?” He raises a brow, confusion flickering in his eyes.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Alyona.”
Tipping his head back, his eyes shifting to the sky and he takes a moment before he answers. Eventually he shakes his head slowly and meets my gaze. “There are very few people I genuinely like, and even fewer I can tolerate. I was cast out because of who I am. Alyona has never viewed me in any light other than my true self, the good, the bad, and the unsettling parts of me that mirror my father’s darkness.” He pauses, taking a deep breath, his eyes softening. “She’s my friend, Rodion. That’s all it is.”
Relief exhales from my chest, filling me with a sense of ease I didn’t know I needed. It’s one thing to know that Alyona has had a relationship with Jeremiah, but he was a stranger, a nobody, a fucking dead man now.
But Viktor is one of us. It’s more personal. It would matter.
As we approach the front door, Zahkar emerges from the side of the house. "It's all locked up," he says, with manic movements.
"I took a key when we were here," I reply without elaborating further. Zahkar understands my reasons for taking it. I’m surprised he doesn’t pull one from his pocket too.
As I turn the key in the lock, a flicker of fear flashes across Z’s face. He grips my hand tightly over the key, his other hand pressing against his chest as if to steady a turbulent heartbeat. His blue eyes widen with alarm, and his jaw clenches, his teeth grinding. I can see his chest heaving as the weight of panic takes hold, every breath coming in quick, shallow gasps. The anxiety radiating from him is palpable. He’s terrified of what lies beyond the door. Z is the essence of brave, strong, and confident. Fear has never been a part of his identity. Nothing scares him, or at least it didn’t—until now—untilher.
“Z?” I whisper, grasping his jaw and tugging him toward me until his forehead rests against mine. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
I’m praying with everything I am that I can keep that promise as I finish turning the key.
Releasing him, he nods, removing his hand from mine. “One Mississippi, two Mississippi…” he begins mumbling under his breath.
Pushing the front door fully open, I call out to Alyona, deliberately lowering my voice to avoid startling her and risking a boot or a blade in my face. Given that an assassin woman ended up dead in her bathroom, I’m not taking any chances. “It’s just us,” I say, my shoes tapping against her tiled floor.
Viktor stalks past us, clearly oblivious to Alyona’s training and ability to defend herself.
“Shit,” Viktor barks, rushing toward a slumped-over Alyona.
She’s propped up against Roza’s bedroom door, a phone in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other. Her blonde hair hangs haphazardly around her face, brushing the floor. Dropping to my knees beside Viktor, I can sense the panic in him as he gently lifts her chin. Just then, I notice her eyes snapping open wide with shock, and in one swift motion, she jolts awake and swings the knife out instinctively, the blade slicing cleanly through Viktor’s tie as he narrowly dodges the attack.
“Woah, woah, calm down! It’s me, Viktor,” he barks out, moving back to avoid another swing.
“Vi…ktoor?” she stutters, her voice trembling as recognition slowly creeps into her expression, mixing confusion with relief. “I don’t feel gooood.”
Blowing out a shaky breath, I reach for the knife, carefully pushing it out of her trembling fingers and out of reach. Scooping her into my arms, I whisper softly, “It’s okay, love. We’re here now. You’re safe.”
Her eyes well with tears as she looks up at me, her voice barely above a whisper. “No, you hate me, you hate me,” she insists, her words thick and slurred.
Yeah, well, I hate myself more for fucking loving you. Because loving you nearly killed me when you left.
“Whether I love you or hate you, it doesn’t matter. I’ll always come for you,liybimaya.”My love.It’s a promise wrapped around my soul.
“She’s on fire,” Viktor says, pressing the backs of his fingers to her forehead. “We need to get her cooled down. Now.”
“A bath,” I announce, jerking my head in the direction of Alyona’s room. She has a shower and a bathtub in her en-suite.
“Your brother didn’t come inside,” Viktor announces once we’re in her bathroom and he's filling the tub with cold water. I balance on the edge of the tub clutching Alyona in my arms.
