We stood, but I kept her close to whisper into her ear.
“We’re going to start with the first quickie of the year as soon as that ball drops.”
She smiled slyly, turning to watch George help Maisie out of the car.
“Because the sight of you in this little thing…” I fingered the edge of her short sleeve to this slinky, body-clinging silver dress. “Fuck me, Natalie.Fuck.Me.”
“Gladly,” she whispered back, tiptoeing the closest to a public show of affection we’d dared to have yet.
Once Maisie exited the car, though, smiling like she was a princess and eying the Times Square buildings looming around us, I had to turn my attention to her.
“Only until midnight,” I reminded her playfully. “Then it’s bed time.”
“Like Cinderella at the ball!” she agreed cheerfully.
We didn’t make it until midnight, though.
We didn’t make it inside the building.
A smoke bomb went off, then another and another, all of them rolling under the cars and sending us into a confusing haze.
“Mommy!” she screamed, scared of the cloudiness.
“Maisie! Maisie, where are you?” Natalie yelled right back, her voice full of fear. She clutched my hand, her fingers in a vise grip as I hauled her toward me as we fought to find each other.
Guards and soldiers shouted orders to get down. Natalie and I called out for Maisie. Roman, Andre, and Mikhail were already upstairs with Claire and Anya.
“Secure her. Secure her now!” I ordered as I held Natalie close.
Gunfire went off, mixing with the commotion. Natalie and Maisie screamed. But limited to see anything as we felt our way back to the car, we were separated. One guard sprayed at the cloud with a spray of water from the building, dispersing some of the cloudiness.
I didn’t need to see everything to know that the fear slicing my heart was valid.
“Sergei!”
I whipped my head in the direction of one of the newly recruited soldiers.
“George is with her. They took her to the east!”
“Fuck!” I hurried backward until I rammed into someone else.
“Sergei?”
It was Roman. They must have been alerted.
Blinking rapidly and straining to see, I pushed Natalie at him and grabbed my gun. “Go. Get her in and keep her safe. I’m going after them.”
I didn’t wait. I couldn’t. I swore on my life that I’d keep that precious little girl safe, not only for her mother but for myself. I loved both mother and daughter, counting down the time until I’d snap and ask if we could be a full family together.
Nothing was stopping me from chasing in the direction of where Maisie had been taken. Two soldiers sprinted off with me, their feet pounding the pavement with mine as we began the hunt.
Searching the alley, we were too late to save her. We dashed down the narrow path, seeing the Popovs in the distance as they tried to pry George away from her. He’d been taken with her, at gunpoint, but before they could shove them into the SUV and drive away, he fought like hell to get them to release her.
I didn’t think. I didn’t have to. Relying on the instinct to protect her and my right-hand man, I raised my gun and fired. The two soldiers with me did the same. We picked off a few of the Popovs, but they were too fast. There were too many of them.
I witnessed them hit George hard enough that he flung back to the car’s side. Maisie screamed, seeing me in the distance and reaching her hand out to me for help.
I gritted my teeth, firing at the tires to stop them from speeding away. At the men trying to push them into the car. But we were too late. They were too fast.
