I’d never believed the panic room would be necessary, but it had been something encouraged by my father and uncle all those years ago when I’d contracted with an architect to design the perfect house.
I knew it was perhaps the only reason this was a happy reunion instead of another descent into tragedy.
“Oh, baby girl. My sweet girl.” While I tried to hide the angst from my voice, long ago becoming an expert at doing so, I’d be given a failing grade by the lovely elementary teacher turned pop star who’d risked her own life to save two little girls.
“My… God.” Mikhail wasted no time, moving halfway into the space and grabbing Emily.
Just then, Alexsey and Halle appeared in the doorway.
“My baby. My baby!” Halle was close to being frantic.
Emily wasn’t bothered in the least, her little face scrunched up as soon as Halle yanked her daughter into her arms.
“I’m fine, Mommy. We were playing a game. Tag. You’re it.”
Halle glanced into my eyes, hers narrowing with questions but thanking me silently.
Nodding, I tried to smile even as the rage continued to build. Who the hell had the audacity to do this?
“Unkie Mikhail. Will you take my little Ninja girl?” I asked as calmly as possible, already handing Nina off to him.
“Of course,” he said with a lilt in his tone. “So you were playing hide and seek, huh?”
“Yeah, Lainey is the best. Da bomb.”
My daughter was a handful, but at that moment, I was so thankful she wasn’t even the least bit flustered that I could barely think. How had Lainey managed to keep the girls from seeing the motherfucker on the floor?
Lainey appeared, peering up at us with wide eyes. There was a trickle of blood on her lip and redness under her eye. The motherfucker had hit her. “You’re safe,” she said as she locked eyes with mine. “But you’re hurt.”
Before she had a chance to object, I gathered her into my arms, pulling her to a standing position and against me. “My God, baby. I thought… The worst.”
The fear in her eyes kept my rage at the surface. “I was…”
“He hurt you.”
“Trust me. He’s not doing very well.” She gripped my arms and I could tell she was doing her best to keep it together.
“I know, little butterfly.” How had she managed to keep her shit together? As gently as possible, I pulled my thumb through the string of blood on her lip. “Fuck.”
“It’s okay.” She cupped my face; the tender way she touched where I’d been hit and the concern in her eyes while ignoring what she’d been through told me everything about her character.
She was everything good that everyone should aspire to.
“No, it is not okay, Lainey. I’m going to hunt down every single person involved in this.”
I held the back of her head and all I could think about was the possibility of losing the three beauties. Without thinking, I crushed my lips over hers, holding her so tightly it was possible she couldn’t breathe.
She rolled her arm over my shoulder, tugging on my hair, surrendering to my hold. As soon as she relaxed, I slipped my tongue inside. Just being able to taste her, to caress her shivering body was a gift. The taste of copper was a reminder of what I’d almost lost.
There was an old Russian proverb my mother had taught me a very long time before.Dwell on the past and you’ll lose an eye. Forget the past and you’ll lose both eyes.Maybe I had tried to forget the past or maybe I’d simply closed the door to it, ignoring who I was and the world that I’d had no choice being a part of. It certainly wasn’t Lainey’s world and it had almost gotten her killed.
“Daddy. Let her breathe,” Nina said as if the voice of authority.
While the others laughed, I refused to let go, dominating her tongue in a way to tell her she was going nowhere.
Finally, Alexsey cleared his throat. “Maybe we should find a more comfortable place to hang out.”
Reluctantly, I broke the kiss, offering a smile when she pushed her hands against my shoulders.
