I don’t know how long I stand there. Long enough for the smoke to sting my eyes. Long enough for my knees to give out and my body to slump to the dirt like a discarded thing. I press my forehead to my knees and fight the sobs clawing their way up my throat.
I have nothing. No family. No allies. No home. And now, no husband. Just a secret buried beneath my ribs and a world that wants us both dead.
Finally, I force myself to stand. I have to move. I don’t know where I’ll go, but I can’t stay here.
But the realization comes too late. I’ve stayed out in the open for too long. I should know better than anyone what happens in the aftermath of a hostile takeover, but I was so overcome with grief, I didn’t think about how the last gunshots tapered off a while ago.
My heart skips a beat as I feel fingers on my hair, and the world around me snaps into sharp relief as they tighten, yanking my head back as a rough hand clamps over my mouth. I’m jerked back against a broad, powerful chest, only this time, I know it’s not Leo’s.
“Well, well,” my captor purrs in Russian-accented English as two more hulking, bearded men step from the shadows. “Look what we have here, boys.”
I thrash, but the hand in my hair wrenches me back painfully as his other hand moves to clamp around my throat. My ears ring as my blood and oxygen supply are both cut off in an instant.
The two men before me laugh, their wicked smiles warning me that this is only the beginning of the horrors to come.
“Chiaroscuro’s little wife? She’s prettier than I expected,” one says.
“Let’s fix that,” the other quips, pulling a knife.
I try to scream, but no sound comes out as they drag me into the shadows.
34
LEO
The house is in ruins. I taste blood in the back of my throat as I climb over the rubble to escape from the east, my ribs aching with every breath after hours of fighting Kenji and the army he led to our gates.
Smoke rolls from the remains of the once-towering structure, thick and oily, leaving black streaks on the pristine white walls.
Flames still lick the far end of the corridor, and glass crunches under my shoes as I step over what used to be a sconce. It’s too quiet now. Too still.
The ambush is over. We lost. And still, what cuts deepest is the way things ended with Sora. I never realized what a hold she had on me until the truth came to light.
But now that I know it was all an act, that every innocent glance, every soft touch was an act—just like that perfect mask she wears in public—I feel utterly crushed.
I let her in. She brought down all my defenses, and just like her family obliterated mine, Sora’s betrayal has completely gutted me.
I don’t know who’s still alive.
I’ve lost track of our losses, the number of men lying dead because we were taken completely by surprise.
I should run—if I want to survive. But I can’t leave until I find my brothers. Until I know their fates.
“Leo!”
I spin toward the sound of my name, my heart stalling in my chest. A silhouette lumbers through the smoke—broad shoulders, thick arms, face streaked with soot and blood. Relief crashes through me like a tidal wave.
“Miko,” I breathe.
My brother grabs me in a rough embrace, his hand clutching the back of my neck like he’s afraid I’ll vanish. For a moment, neither of us speaks.
“They killed him,” Miko says, voice low and gravelly. “I watched it happen. I couldn’t get to him in time. Our father’s gone.”
I close my eyes, the relief I feel a stark contrast to the heavy truth he just delivered.
I should be sad because, despite everything, Augusta was my father, but I was so intensely scared he was going to say one of my brothers’ names, I can only feel glad he didn’t. “Where are Gio and the twins?” I ask. “Are they okay?”
Miko doesn’t answer right away. His expression darkens. “They’re alive,” he answers ambiguously, and my stomach sinks.Because he didn’t say they’re alright. “Come on,” he mutters, nodding toward the east wing. “We have to move. The house isn’t safe anymore.”
