The percussive cracks of gunfire, violent sparks of light go on and on. I watch the glass next to me spiderweb, wondering how long it's going to be able to hold. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I mindlessly try to protect the tiny life in my stomach.
The baby. At four months, I think,the baby would be the size of an avocado. Their facial muscles have developed to the point that they can squint or frown.
Kir shouts out, "Clear!"
Dmitri opens the door. Roman is there, along with his two guards. They must have doubled back when they didn't see us following them.
"Any survivors in the guard's SUV?" Roman says with a frown.
Dmitri looks at me briefly. "Stay here, love. Don't move."
He and Roman head back to the chase vehicle, and I scramble upright, a fine sheen of glass falling from my hair.
"Mrs. Morozova, please stay here," Demid says. "We haven't cleared the area."
"Kir already said clear," I point out, tugging at my car door. It won't open, the bullets must have bent the frame so I scoot across to Dmitri's side, getting out of the car. "Please get me the med kit?"
I'm hurrying back towards the shattered remains of the SUV when I realize all five of the guards are dead. Two are hanginghalfway out the windows, battered by bullets, bodies turned into something unrecognizable. I turn into a circle, dazed and see the truck that hit us upside down, tires smoking, and a block down from us, an empty car, blood sprayed across the windshield. "That must be the one that hit the chase vehicle," I mumble. Turning in another circle. There must be somebody I can help.
Roman and Dmitri are bent over a man, half on and half off the sidewalk, his arms and legs dangling grotesquely. Dmitri has him by the throat, pulling his arm back until I can hear the snap from across the street as the man screams hoarsely.
"We're going to tear it out of you," Dmitri says, and he's grinning. Wildly, joyfully, even his eyes are alive and happy. "Long after you're begging for death, we'll still get answers from you. When you've told us everything we want to know, I will kill every member of your family." He hits the man. "Your parents, your wife and children, they'll die just as slowly and horribly as you will."
I stumble back, landing awkwardly on my ass, watching the bloody tableau until Dmitri looks up and sees me. "Take him," he says to Roman before hurrying over to me. "Are you hurt?" he asks, scanning my face, running his hands lightly over my shoulders and arms. I don't want him to touch me, but I let him do it anyway because I can't move.
"Is that an old enemy?" I heave out a weird, watery chuckle. "Or someone fresh, new and exciting that wants us dead?"
"It's all right," he says, lying through his even white teeth.
Dead men are sprawled everywhere; blood pooled on the cement and cars smoking with the thick stench of burned rubber.
I have a husband who laughs as he talks joyfully about murdering somebody's wife and children. This is the father ofmychild. I turn away just in time so the vomit doesn't hit his shoes.
Chapter Thirty-Four
In which the gloves are off.
Ava…
Roman takes us back to the penthouse.
I'm plastered against my door, as far away from Dmitri as humanly possible. I can't look at him without seeing that unholy grin on his face. He tries to take my hand and I yank it away like it's on fire. I hear his sharp inhale of breath, but he doesn't touch me again.
"How are you doing, sister-in-law?" Roman asks. "That was more than our usual dose of violence, even by Bratva standards." He chuckles a little and it dies off when I don't answer him.
I've never been more grateful to see our building.
"See you tomorrow," Roman says quietly, but I'm already out of the car and speedwalking toward the penthouse elevator. I ride up without waiting for Dmitri. Stepping out, I stare as the doors close and it descends back to the parking lot.
When Dmitri steps out of the elevator, yanking at his tie with a bloody hand, I lose it. All my thoughts spiral in a terrified whirlwind. "Wh- what the fuck was that?"
"An ambush," he says. "Gunfire. The right people survived."
"You were laughing when you broke that man's arm! You told him you were going to kill his wife and children." My voice is high and shrill, it's ugly. "Hischildren,Dmitri? Are you a fucking monster?"
His face doesn't change expression so much as darken, like a shadow covers it. "Ah. Of course." He turns toward the elevator, his head drops.
Is he going to leave?
