“No.” Tony grabs his arm. “Get Sophia out, Ricardo’s got him.”
But Mikhail shakes him off, his green eyes blazing. But he seeks me out, letting Ricardo’s men give us cover as we escape out the front door.
Outside, Lorenzo’s men are dead, and we can finally hold still and just breathe.
The gunshots inside slow, until they finally stop.
Ricardo guides us to a medic van, where two men begin attending our injuries.
“Is he dead?” Mikhail’s grip around my shoulders tightens as he pins Ricardo with a cold stare. “He destroyed my sister. He destroyed your family. He needs to pay.”
“No.” Ricardo waves across the property. There are no neighbors for miles around the old estate, and a convoy of black SUVs drive over the overgrown grass from the back. Ricardo nods at them as they pull onto the long driveway that winds to a distant road. “My men had every exit covered, and the full property. He’s being taken to a secure location.”
Just as the convoy disappears onto the road, and explosion rips through the estate grounds.
Fire and smoke plume from the convoy, and gunfire erupts.
The men around me tense their grips on their weapons, their eyes watching for sign of a new wave of threats, but none comes.
Soon the sound of gunfire and shouting fades, leaving behind only silence.
Ricardo gets a message through his radio and nods. “He’s in the wind. Ambush. But we’ll find him.”
Mikhail’s arm drops from me, his hands clenching into fists.
His whole body vibrates with frustrated rage.
I move to him, placing my hand on his arm, feeling the tension coiled beneath his skin.
“We’re alive,” I tell him quietly. “All of us. We won.”
“Lorenzo escaped,” he growls.
“For now.” Tony moves to my other side, and power surges through me. This is the first time the three of us have stood together like this. United. “But he’s lost everything else. His men, his resources, his leverage. He’s running scared.”
Mikhail looks at Tony, really looks at him, and I see something pass between them.
An understanding.
A truce.
Maybe even the beginning of trust.
“You saved my life,” Mikhail says. “Thank you.”
Tony nods slowly. “Sophia saved us both. And she was right about you. You’re not the monster Lorenzo wanted me to believe you were.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Mikhail’s voice is rough with emotion. “But I’m trying to be better. For her.”
The moment stretches between us, heavy with everything unspoken. Then Ricardo clears his throat.
“We should go. Police will be here soon, and none of us want to answer their questions.”
We move together as we treat the injured so we can transport them.
The early morning air is cold and bites into my skin, but I take a deep breath, letting the reality of our survival sink in.
We won.
