“And you think now is the best time to correct me?”
“Come here.”
Before I can argue further, his hand wraps around my waist and he pulls me flush against his chest.
He leans down, positioning his face inches from mine. Intense gray eyes burn down at me as he clenches his jaw.
“You stay here, Elena. For me. No one can know where you are. If anything happens out there, this is the only place on Earth where you’re completely safe. You do not leave this place until I come back for you. Do you understand me?”
The sheer finality in his voice terrifies me, making the reality of the next few hours crash down on my shoulders.
I don’t care about the rules or the safe house anymore.
I cling to him, my fingers digging desperately into the leather of his jacket until my knuckles turn white.
“Promise me,” I choke out, hating that my voice cracks. I look straight into his soul, refusing to let him look away. “Promise me you’ll return to me alive, Leo. Bring Tatiana back. And you come back to me. Don’t you dare leave me alone. Doyouunderstand?”
He doesn’t hesitate.
He leans in, and his mouth finds mine with fervent urgency. It’s desperate, like he’s struggling to put all he feels into this kiss.
In these few seconds, it’s everything—an imprint of pure reassurance and raw, undiluted desire.
A bittersweet moment to keep me grounded while he walks into hell.
When he pulls back, his breath is hot and ragged against my mouth.
He nods once and his eyes burn with a terrifying determination, and then he turns away.
The sudden loss of his warmth makes the air feel freezing.
He steps over the threshold, and my pulse races in a frantic rhythm as the thick steel doors swing shut with a thunderous roar.
The deadbolts click into place, sealing me inside.
And the sudden silence becomes utterly terrifying when I sense that he’s no longer on the other side of the door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Leonid
My fingers wrap tighter around the textured grip of my pistol. It’s a custom MP-443 Grach, a heavy utilitarian piece of Russian steel that sits cold and firm in my palm, ready to execute its single and yet devastating purpose. I squeeze the handle until my knuckles turn white.
I look up at the old, abandoned office complex looming before me. Swiftly, I survey the perimeter, spot areas where there could be traps, and take note of the number of guards we can spot through the window.
The rain is cold, pouring over the concrete corpse from dark gray skies. The shattered windows gape like hollow eye sockets. The exterior brickwork is cracked and choked with creeping ivy. Clinging to the rotting façade is the faded logo of a defunct logistics firm.
A memory springs up from the ashes, flashing through my mind—a faint recollection from over a decade ago that picks the wrong time to resurface.
I grit my teeth, clenching my jaw hard.
Even then, my enemies tried to scare me—a rival syndicate that thought they were significant enough to threaten me. They lingered around the perimeter of Tatiana’s school long enough to send a message that they had eyes on her. On mysister.
It was the last time they ever looked at anyone; the last time they ever got a chance to fucking breathe.
The details remain vivid—bright red and orange flames furiously licking up the oxygen in the air, thick black pillars of smoke rising into the clouds, scorching heat glazing my skin as I watched, the air choking me with the smell of burning wood as the house fell into an ashen ruin, lifeless bodies everywhere.
And now there’s Vasili, who deludes himself to believe his story would end any differently.
