I press my palm flat to the screen like I could reach through it, touch them. Pull them both into my arms and never let go.
“They’re alive,” I whisper, voice trembling with awe and disbelief. “Oh God. They’realive…”
Next to me, Andrey lets out a slow breath. “Yes. They are. They should be coming back here soon.”
After what feels like an eternity of hushed instructions, waiting for confirmation of Mikhail’s death, and safe transport being coordinated for Maksim and Leo to leave the area, I’m finally reunited with my son.
The front door slams open.
The moment I hear voices, I run out of the living room. When I see them both, I nearly collapse all over again. Leo’s cheeks are flushed from tears, his hair a mess, but once those eyes lock onto mine, he runs.
“Mama!”
My knees nearly buckle as I rush forward, dropping to the floor just in time to catch him as he throws himself into my arms with all the force his little body can manage. I clutch him to my chest like a lifeline. My arms wrap around him tight,tootight, but he doesn’t complain. He just clings harder, burrowing his face into my neck, sobbing so hard he hiccups.
“You’re okay,” I whisper over and over, rocking him back and forth. “You’re okay, baby. You’re okay. I’ve got you now. I’ve got you.”
“I was so scared… He had a gun, Mama, he–he said—” He hiccups.
“Shh, it’s over,” I murmur, pressing kisses to the top of his head, every inch of his face I can reach. “It’s over. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I don’t even realize I’m crying again until my tears are soaking into his shirt.
Behind us, Maksim stands silent in the doorway, watching. His knuckles are white, jaw tight, but his eyes are soft in a way I’ve never seen before. He doesn't speak or move, just watches the two of us, his chest rising and falling like he’s struggling to hold something in.
Whatever it is, I don’t wait for him to get it out.
“Maksim. Take us home to my parents. I want to go home.”
19
MAKSIM
Ihave no reason to refuse her.
The threat is gone. Mikhail lies dead in a body bag far away from here, later to be buried wherever Katya and Roman care to dump him. Leo is safe. The war I’ve waged for years, the enemies I’ve fought across continents, has officially ended.
And yet when Ivy demands to be taken back to her family home, something in me falters. I could tell her no. I could insist she stay with me out of safety concerns, that Leo belongs under my protection now more than ever.
But the look in her eyes, wide and hollow as she rocks our baby in her arms, already holding too much grief for one lifetime, stops me. Leo’s sobs shake his small frame until he hiccups against her shoulder out of exhaustion. Ivy herself is trembling so hard, I can see the shivers in her entire frame.
She holds herself together for the sake of our child, andmaybe me, refusing to let either of us see how badly she’s been broken by this too.
And for that, I can’t bring myself to deny her.
Reluctance weighs me down like lead, but I force myself to nod anyway. Perhaps being with her family will ease the storm, if only for a moment. Perhaps they can give her something I cannot. It may simply be a temporary thing. A way for her to feel normalcy after being embroiled in a war she had no business being in the middle of.
“We can leave tonight if that’s what you wish,” I tell her quietly.
She nods. “Yes. Please.”
Around three hours later, I find myself in a car with them both.
The drive is suffocating.
Ivy doesn’t look at me once from where she’s curled in the backseat. She’s cradling Leo in her lap, holding him like she’s terrified he’ll vanish if she lets go. Her arms form a shield around him, her fingers carding gently through his hair as she murmurs to him in tones so soft I can’t make out the words. The cadence of her voice is soothing, a lullaby only meant for him. Leo drifts in and out of sleep, every small yawn followed by a pitiful little whimper that tears straight through me.
I grip the steering wheel hard.
