"Get them to safety!" Viktor yells, already in motion as each man holding him goes down, bloody spots on their foreheads.
Iliya doesn't need the order, however. He's already scooped up Eliza in a movement that seems far too fast for such a big man. Then he has Suzie and me, and he's diving with us behind a metal door. We huddle together, Eliza finally in my arms, her small body shaking as I hold her as tightly as I can.
The world has gone mad. A storm of gunfire echoes until it sounds like the entire warehouse is caving in on us. Men shout in anger and in pain, and bullets hit the metal door with clangsthat reverberate inside my head. My mind goes entirely blank as we wait for it to end.
After a final spray of rapid automatic weapon fire, everything falls silent. My ears ring, and so does the inside of my head. Eliza is crying and clinging to me, and even Suzie, caged within one of Iliya's arms, has tears running down her face. None of us dares to move or even breathe.
"Iliya!"
Viktor's voice booms through the air like a crack of lightning. I'm up in an instant in response. Is he okay? Is he safe? Iliya's bulk stops me cold as he, too, gets to his feet.
"Stay here. Wait until I tell you it's safe." His tone brooks no argument, and he slips out.
We wait for what seems like an eternity before the door, littered with dents from the bullet strikes, opens. But it's not Iliya.
It's Viktor.
I don't waste a heartbeat. I fly into his arms and let him envelop me. He smells like sweat and gunpowder, and he's still breathing heavily from the exertion, but he's whole, he's alive, and he's holding me.
"Are we safe?" I mumble into his chest.
"You're safe. I promised you, didn't I?"
Then he had known. He’d planned the calvary coming to his rescue; they just needed a distraction, and he and Iliya had been it.
I have to swallow back tears because I want to be brave in front of Eliza, to assure her everything truly is okay after our terrifyingordeal. If it were just me, I would have dissolved into a sobbing mess. Instead, I step out of his arms, wiping away any trace of moisture with the back of my hand.
Viktor picks Eliza up and holds her close. She buries her face in his shoulder, and he holds it there, telling her softly, "Don't look up, Eliza, until I say you can. I have you. You're safe."
I see why he gave the command when we step out of our sanctuary—Andrei's men litter the floor, lying in pools of blood.
Big, frightening men stand around the warehouse, their guns trained on those few who are left of Andrei's defectors. Andrei himself is on the ground, not moving, blood leaking from the wound in his leg that took him down.
“What's going on?” I ask.
There's a look of grim satisfaction in Viktor's eyes as he moves closer to some of the fallen figures, the way his body is tilted hiding Eliza’s view from the worst of it, should she look up. Which she won’t, not with the way she clings to Viktor.
“The other Bratva in the area got wind of my brother's plans to take over their territories. He broke one too many rules of thevory v zakone. It rendered his leadership claim illegitimate and labeled him an enemy to those of us who hold the brotherhood sacred.”
Viktor takes another breath to continue, but movement from the corner of my eye catches my attention. I'm not fast enough to understand what it is, but there are shouts, and Viktor rushes at me but slides to a stop, frozen. His face twists into a mask of hatred and, I realize, panic.
Andrei, whom I thought to be unconscious, is on his feet with his gun pointed straight at me.
Everything stops, even time and my heart.
"Everyone back the fuck off, or I swear I'll put a bullet in her head right now."
"Andrei, put the gun down.” Viktor’s voice is calm, but I can hear an undercurrent of the panic shining in his eyes.
"Why should I?" Andrei hisses. "My life is forfeit. Whether I die now or I die later, I’ve still lost. At least this way, I can still take everything from you, brother. Just like you took everything from me."
For the first time since I met him, Viktor looks unsure.
Tears fill my vision until all I can see is the blue of Viktor's eyes, the rest broken into blurry shards like frosted glass.
They say your life flashes before your eyes, but it's not my life. It's Eliza's—every milestone, every small moment I'm going to miss. It's Viktor moving on, finding someone who can finally give him the heir he needs. I just hope she also gives him the love he deserves, even though he doesn't think he deserves it. I hope someone can see past the monster to the man beneath, even if he can't.
"Leah!"
