He squeezed me in close and smoothed my hair back.
“There are snipers hidden if anyone changes their mind,” he whispered. “Don’t move out of my arms.”
“Has anyone seen Roman Komarov lately?” Dmitri called to the crowd watching us embrace.
Silence greeted him.
“You haven’t seen him, because I broke every single bone in his body, and pulverized any remaining brain cells he had.” The ice had melted from his voice, and become pure violence. “Idestroyed him because he hurt Alisa. He got offeasy, because I wasn’t Pakhan yet.”
Fuck, if that brutal take down of Roman was his version of going easy on someone….
Goosebumps ran up my skin. If the frozen expressions of everyone around me were any indication, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
“Alisa ismine.” Dmitri’s fingers gripped my waist possessively. “If any of you even look at her wrong, I’ll saw out your eyes and make you listen to the dying screams of your bloodline.”
Even from some of the more hardened men, I caught a few tremors.
“Now, leave us. We’ll reconvene in the morning.”
The group didn’t need to be told twice. In moments, the room was completely empty.
Dmitri leaned his head against my forehead and took in a long breath. I savored the sound of each of his inhales, amazed that I was still alive to hear them.
“This feels like a dream,” I said.
Dmitri shook his head. He sat down heavily on a nearby chair and settled my chained body on his lap.
There was a desperation to his touch as he inspected every inch of me.
“Felt more like a nightmare than anything,” he muttered.
“But everything worked out. We’re safe now.”
“You could’ve died, kotenok,” he said, his voice haunted. “The moment I found out you failed your mission….”
Dmitri brushed his finger across my pulse point as if looking for reassurance that I was still here. “Nothing else mattered, but keeping you alive.”
I swallowed as the words sent warmth through my veins. I nuzzled my head against the crook of his shoulder, so grateful that I was still able to do that.
“I know how hard you worked to reach this point. How much you deserved to become the Pakhan.” I said quietly. “Even if this isn’t how any of us imagined it going, I’m happy–”
“Theonlything I care about is that you’re safe. If something happened to you….” His voice broke off on the words. “My life, my ambition,noneof it fucking matters if you aren’t there.”
There was something so vulnerable in his expression that I fell impossibly more in love with him. I didn’t think that my heart could grow any fuller, the depths of my adoration could swell up larger.
And yet every day, my soul proved how wrong I was.
Dmitri reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal key. He immediately went to work on the chains around my body.
“When’d you get that?” I said, furrowing my brows.
Dmitri tsked. “Did you really think I left any of this to chance? The moment I found out the Pakhan had captured you, I activated all my undercover men. They had one mission: keep you alive.”
“That was risky.” A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about what would’ve happened to Dmitri if the Pakhan had caught on.
“It was worth it,” he said without a shred of doubt in his voice. “I’ll always keep you safe, Alisa.I promise.”
Epilogue
