The motion was brutal—like throwing a rag doll. Harper desperately reached out with her bound hands to catch Aiden, losing her balance and crashing to the floor.
Aiden woke up screaming.
And Julian pointed his gun at me.
"You know, Orlov," he looked down at me, "I've been waiting for this day a long time. You stole my woman—oh, not her," he glanced at Harper, "I mean Genevie. She left me because of you. Made me a laughingstock in San Francisco. Now it's time you paid your debt."
"What do you want?" I asked, buying time. "Territory in New York? Money? Something else?"
"What I want is simple." Julian pressed the gun to my forehead, the cold metal making my scalp crawl. "I want you dead."
"Julian, don't!" Harper screamed.
"Shut up." Julian didn't even turn. "After I kill him, I'll deal with you slowly."
His finger started squeezing the trigger.
The instant Julian pulled the trigger, a figure slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I heard the bullet whiz past, felt searing pain in my left arm, then my back hit the floor hard.
Harper.
She'd somehow freed her hands and threw herself at me just as Julian fired.
"Goddamn—"
Julian's curse didn't finish before I rolled up.
My gun was still in his waistband.
But there was another one on the floor—the one I'd kicked over.
As Julian swung his gun back toward us, my hand closed on the weapon.
We fired together.
Gunsmoke filled the room, the smell of blood everywhere.
Julian's body fell back. A hole bloomed in the center of his forehead, his expression still frozen in shock. He probably never figured out how he could lose to a man kneeling unarmed on the floor.
But he'd underestimated Harper.
He'd underestimated a mother's determination to protect her child.
I wanted to laugh, but before the smile could form, searing pain dropped me.
I looked down at my left arm—a mangled gunshot wound, blood pouring out. Not just that one. The shots I'd taken charging up here were all catching up with me now. My chest, shoulder, thigh... wounds everywhere, bleeding everywhere.
"Kirill!"
Harper's scream sounded far away. I felt her collapse beside me, felt her cold hands grab my arm, felt warm drops hit my face—her tears.
"Kirill, look at me! Look at me!"
I forced my eyes open and saw her face inches from mine. She was crying, a complete mess, tears and snot everywhere. Aiden was still wailing in her arms, their cries mixing together, making my head buzz.
But strangely, I thought it was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.
Because they were alive.
