“Don’t you fucking look at my wife, svolich.” The way he says it turns my whole body tense. “And listen closely. When I getthere, you’d better still be on that floor. If you are not, I will take whatever DNA is left and find every living relative you have. I will skin every single one of them alive. Your mother. Your third cousin twice removed. All of them. Do you understand? Tell him to nod.”
The tiniest curl pulls at my mouth when the bastard flinches and nods like a terrified child.
“He is.”
“Good. Now take off your mask, or my wife will shoot your other leg.”
I will?
Panic ripples through me. I haven’t even processed the fact that I killed someone. The adrenaline is gone, leaving only the sick twist in my stomach. I don’t know if I could pull the trigger again, even if I had to.
The man tightens a fist, breathing heavy, losing blood by the second. But he pulls the mask off anyway.
When he reveals his face, there’s nothing special about him. Dark eyes and hair. Mid-thirties, probably. The kind of man you would pass on the street without looking twice.
“Take a picture of him just in case.”
“Okay.” I snap a shot and send it to Aleksei.
“Good girl. Now leave him there and go upstairs and lock the door, then move the dresser in front. Don’t open for anyone until I am there. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Go now, but do not hang up.”
I hurry to my parents. Dad tries to stand, but nearly buckles, still clutching the gun, so I slip my phone into my pocket, then lock an arm around him and support his weight. We move up the stairs as fast as possible, Mom leading the way.
Aleksei is still on the line as he shouts to the others in Russian. Car doors slam. Engines roar to life. Every sound tells me he’s coming and nothing will stop him.
We reach my parents’ bedroom, and I lock the door behind us. My mind races, spinning through every possibility.
Were these men hired by whoever has been sending me notes, or by someone else entirely? Is this because of Aleksei or because of me? I can’t piece any of it together.
“We’re going to move the dresser now,” I tell him, placing the phone and gun on the bed as my parents help me shove the heavy furniture across the floor until it sits firmly against the door.
“I’ll be there soon,” he says, then goes quiet. “I’m sorry.”
The words are heavy with a regret so thick it sinks straight into me.
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is, but I will take care of it. Keep your gun with you. If anyone tries to open that door before I arrive, shoot first.”
“Okay.”
He releases a hard breath. “With everything in me, Fiona, I swear I will hunt down every person involved in this and I will tear them apart. No one touches you and lives. Do you hear me?No one.”
I do hear him. Every word hits straight in my bones.
My heart knocks against my ribs as I stare at the barricaded door, waiting for the sound of engines outside. Waiting for the man I once swore I could never love to come save the family I would die for.
ALEKSEI
Ya ikh unichtozhu. I will destroy them.
That is all I think about as theengine roars while I speed through the street. Konstantin is silent beside me, Kirill and Anton in the back, a convoy of SUVs full of our men swallowing the road behind us.
Fiona is still on speaker, her breathing faint but shaky. I can just imagine how afraid she was. What they could have done to her.
