I begin to slowly descend the staircase, my gaze landing immediately on my niece first. The resemblance of my beloved sister hits so hard it knocks the breath out of my chest. I stop just inches from her, because if I take even one more step, I won’t be able to stop myself from pulling Kira into my arms. And I can’t do that yet, not when she still sees me as nothing more than a stranger.
However, any warmth I could have gotten from seeing Kira this up and close, turns cold the moment I spot fear in her eyes. Especially when I see her try to wrestle herself free of Lev’s hold. Something cracks open under my ribs at the sight of any man restraining her like that—let alone one of my own soldiers. A pulse of fury hits me so hard that I have to grit my teeth not to frighten her.
“Release her.”
“Boss, this one’s a fighter.”
My jaw twitches at his hesitancy to get his filthy hands off her.
“I’m sure she is. Now release her, Lev. That’s an order.”
This time, he follows my command. Kira immediately rubs her wrists, wincing at the sight of Lev’s mark on her.
I have half a mind to put a bullet in his head for even laying a finger on her, but I force myself to pull the thought back. Kira watching me kill someone within minutes of us meeting would only terrify her even more.
“Come. Let me get you some ointment for that,” I manage to say without revealing my true nature or the fury bubbling inside me.
“I’m not going anywhere. Not until I know my friend is okay.”
“Your friend?” I turn my hard gaze to my men, demanding answers. “What is she talking about?”
“We trailed her, just like you said, boss. But she was in the car with the Romano bitch,” Lev quickly explains, sensing my displeasure.
Stella.
The ground suddenly feels like it was ripped from under my feet, my blood turning to ice.
“Where is she now?”
“In the trunk, boss,” Pyotr chimes in.
A trunk?! A trunk! They have my woman in a fucking trunk?!
I move faster than I can even process, faster than I can even breathe, praying these idiots are wrong. That they have someone else in their fucking trunk. However, the second I flip it open and see Stella unconscious, bloody, and curled into the fetal position, something inside me dies.
“Is she okay? Is my friend alright?” Kira asks frantically.
Still, no words leave my mouth since I’m fighting to keep my fucking sanity right now. The only thing to snap me out of my agony is when Pyotr boasts about how they got my girl good. The blinding rage is instant. White-hot.
“Who shot her?”
“I did, boss,” Pyotr says proudly.
His pride lasts only half a second because before he can take another victory lap, I pull my gun out, press it to his skull, and put a bullet in his head. The shot is clean. Point-blank. His body hits the floor before he even knows he’s dead.
Pyotr is already an afterthought as I scoop Stella into my arms as gently as I can manage. Her head lolls against my shoulder, and something feral rips straight through my chest.
“Clean this mess up, Lev,” I bark, needing to get Stella into the plane to verify the extent of her injuries. “Kira, come with me.”
Thankfully, Kira doesn’t fight me on it and willingly follows my command. We’re almost to the stairs when headlights slash through the dark, and a familiar SUV enters the hangar. I don’t need to see the driver to know it must be Luciano, coming to rescue Kira and Stella.
“Deal with that,” I order with a bite.
Lev raises his weapon too late, since Kira lunges at him, shoving Lev back with all her might, just as Luciano tears onto the scene like a rabid dog.
“Let her go, Kirill!” he screams, gun raised.
I’m holding the woman I love, bleeding, maybe dying, and he’s yelling at me like a child denied a toy.
