“Liar.”
He kissed me then, slow and deep and thorough, like he had all the time in the world. Like we weren’t standing in the middle of the yard with a baby shower happening around us. I tasted the whiskey on his tongue, tasted the promise of everything we were building, everything we’d become.
When he pulled back, his eyes were dark, warm, full of something that looked dangerously close to devotion.
“This house is your sanctuary now,” he said, and it sounded like a vow. “No one will ever touch you here. No one will ever take this from us. I promise you that, Barbara. On my life, on everything I am, I promise you that.”
I believed him. God help me, I believed him completely.
Because Kirill Petrov didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. And I’d learned that the hard way—learned that when he said something, he meant it with every ruthless, brutal, beautiful bone in his body. He’d proven it time and time again, through blood and fire and chaos.
“Our sanctuary,” I corrected, pressing my hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat strong and steady beneath my palm. “Not just mine. Ours.”
He nodded, something fierce and possessive flashing in his eyes. “Ours,” he agreed. Then he kissed my forehead, lingering like he was sealing the promise into my skin.
“Barbara! Kirill!” Illyana called out from near the cake table. “Get over here and approve this setup before Hailey moves everything again!”
“I moved it once!” Hailey protested.
“Three times,” Illyana corrected.
The moment broke, gentle as the breeze through the apple trees, but the warmth of it stayed. Kirill took my hand, lacing our fingers together, and we walked toward them. Towardthe celebration. Toward the life we’d carved out of chaos with blood-stained hands and desperate hearts.
The fields stretched endlessly around us, the white fencing gleamed in the sun, and the apple trees bloomed heavy with the promise of fruit to come. In a few months, we’d be picking apples with our son. Teaching him to walk on this grass. Watching him grow up in peace.
This was ours.
And I would burn the world down all over again to keep it.
***
THE END
