I nod, the words stuck so far down my throat I think I’ll vomit if I try to speak right now.
“You have the right to remain silent…” Detective Young’s voice trembles. “Anything you say or do can be-”
I tune them out and keep my eyes locked on Aleksandr to the point where I don’t move because I don’t want to miss a moment of his face. His body. His scent. I want to remember it all. Officer Toscani jerks me toward the car, ripping me out of the trance, and Aleksandr growls—low, rough, like thunder rolling over broken glass. The sound coils down my spine, curling my toes in my shoes.
“Don’t be so fucking rough,” he snaps, voice cutting like a whip.
“She killed an officer,” Officer Young snarls as she comes up beside me. “This bitch killed an officer. She’ll get what she deserves.”
The wordbitchhits me like a slap. Aleksandr freezes for a split second, then his whole body goes electric.
“What the fuck did you just call her?” Aleksandr snarls, jerking against the officers who quickly run in front of him, blocking him from me.
“Watch yourself, Petrov,” Toscani warns, yanking me so hard I lose my footing.
“Is that a fucking threat?” he roars, trying to surge forward. His muscles coil so hard his shirt strains, his eyes locked on Young like he could rip her throat out with his bare hands.
Three officers grab him at once, one arm around his chest, another around his waist, pulling him back. It’s barely enough to keep him from breaking loose.
Toscani sucks his teeth dragging me towards the police car, and with the handcuffs so tight and the pinching of my shoulder blades to keep my hands behind my back, the pain explodes across my shoulder like white lightning at the movement. I hiss between my teeth, twisting in agony as the handcuffs dig deep, cutting my skin.
“Lily!” Aleksandr’s voice turns into a snarl. He thrashes so violently that two officers stumble with him, and he lunges toward Toscani.
An officer gets too close, trying to hold him back, and Aleksandr’s fist flashes out, knuckles colliding with the man’s temple in a sickening, brutal crack. The officer goes down instantly, hitting the pavement hard.
“Get him down! Get him down now!” someone yells, panic sparking through the chaos.
Aleksandr keeps trying to get to me, dragging them like they weigh nothing. His face is pure rage, and he shouts, “Let her fucking go, Toscani! Now!”
I twist in Toscani’s grip, my face wet with tears, watching Aleksandr fight against the crush of uniforms. “Please—please just stop!” My voice is barely human, torn from my throat.
But they don’t stop.
Four men slam into Aleksandr now, forcing him down, pinning him, knees on his back, his arms wrenched behind him. Blood slicks his knuckles and streaks his mouth.
And even then, even pinned to the ground, he keeps his eyes on me.
The chuckle that comes out of him is demented, his chest is heaving, eyes wild as he speaks. “I’ll have your fucking head.”
“Sir,” one of the officers with his knee in Aleksandr’s spine speaks. “You are being arrested for obstruction of justice and assaulting police officers.”
“Aleksandr-” I plead, my eyes watering and stuck on him pinned to the ground still fighting to get to me.
They handcuff him and drag him to his feet like a wild animal, taking him to the police van and forcing him to watch me go to jail for him as he goes to jail trying to protect me. I stumble to the cop car with my head high. My first time being arrested and it was for the Petrovs. For the death of Officer Lyon. For the man I love.
18
ALEKSANDR
She wasn’t supposedto get involved.
The van rattles down the uneven streets of Queens, metal cuffs biting into my wrists with every turn. I keep my head down and my breathing slow, but my mind will not quiet.
Lily.
I can still see her in the back of a cop car, watching them drag me away. The image burns behind my eyes, worse than any confinement. She doesn’t belong in that world. She doesn’t belong in mine.
I told her to stay put. I should have never come back to the city after the honeymoon. I should have known they would come. This is on me. When I heard they had found Officer Lyon’s body, I did my research, used some of our moles and contacts inside the NYPD to dig into their progress on the case. They have nothing. No CCTV. No DNA. Not even a witness who saw Lyon leave the building, let alone be murdered. But they have Lily.
