Page 117 of The Bratva Enforcer and His Virgin Bride

I didn’t think it would turn out this way. I didn’t realize the dirt meant wading through a slaughterhouse. If I had just listened, Lukyan wouldn’t be fighting at a disadvantage right now, forced to use half his body just to keep me from getting slaughtered.

Through my peripheral vision, a movement cuts through the haze of gray smoke. Near the back of the warehouse, Karl is retreating. He isn’t fighting; he’s running. He turns toward a heavy metal back door urgently, his eyes darting back to ensure his mercenaries are still holding the line.

Desperation overrides my fear. I wrench my body, trying to tear myself out of Lukyan’s grip to chase after the man who stole my childhood. “Karl!”

Lukyan’s arm locks even tighter around me, nearly crushing my ribs as he pulls me back behind a stack of wooden pallets.

“Where the hell are you going?” he barks, his voice a terrifying, breathless roar as he fires three more rounds over the top of our cover.

“Karl is getting away!” I scream back, pointing frantically toward the retreating shadow. “If we miss him, he’ll take Ben! He’ll take the books! We lose everything!”

Lukyan doesn’t release me. He doesn’t let go for even a fraction of a second. Instead, his sharp eyes scan the bloody fray, instantly picking out a familiar, lethal figure cutting through the enemy lines.

“Maxim!” Lukyan bellows, his voice cutting through the gunfire like thunder. “Go after Karl! Don’t let him reach the exit!”

Through the smoke, Maxim kicks a wounded attacker away, nods sharply, and takes off at a dead sprint toward the back door, drawing a secondary weapon as he breaches the threshold.

Seeing Maxim charge after him, a tiny breath of relief catches in my throat. I am just about to relax against Lukyan’s chest when a sudden, jarring force hits my upper arm.

Then comes the pain.

It’s a searing, white-hot agony that tears through my flesh, blinding me instantly. It feels like a branding iron being forced through my skin, a heat so intense it robs the air straight from my lungs. My knees instantly buckle, the reality crashing down on me with sickening force—I’ve been shot.

“Sofia!”

Lukyan realizes it the exact millisecond my weight drops. A sound breaks from his throat—a raw, panicked, animalistic noise I’ve never heard him make before. He drops to his knees with me, catching my falling body before I can slam into the hard ground, his hands frantically moving to cover the wound on my arm.

Above us, the final man in the fray—the mercenary who had snuck a line of sight to fire at me—suddenly drops. Viktor appears behind him, putting a bullet directly through the man’s throat. The body falls to the ground with a heavy thud, the gun clattering away.

The gunfire in the main room dies out. Only our men remain standing, their boots splashing through pools of blood as they quickly scan the bodies for signs of life.

Suddenly, a barrage of muffled screams and a fresh echo of gunfire erupts from the back corridor where Maxim chasedKarl. The sound of metal slamming and men shouting filters through the heavy door.

“Boss, Maxim needs backup!” Viktor shouts, his eyes darting between me and the back exit.

“Go!” Lukyan roars, his hands covered in my blood as he applies crushing pressure to my arm. “Take half the squad and break off! Render help and bring me Karl’s head!”

Viktor and a group of our men instantly break away, their heavy footsteps sprinting toward the back door to join the chaos. The remaining guards stay back, forming a tight, defensive circle around Lukyan and me, their weapons raised to the shadows, protecting us while my husband holds me tightly against his chest, whispering frantic promises into my hair.

Lukyan’s voice cracks with a raw vulnerability I’ve never heard from him before. “Look at me, Sofia. Keep your eyes on me,zaychik. You’re going to be fine. I’ve got you.”

With frantic, trembling hands, he tears off his shirt, folding the heavy fabric into a thick makeshift pad, and presses it hard against my bleeding arm. A gasp catches in my throat at the sudden spike of pain, but he doesn’t let up. He lifts me carefully into his arms, treating me like the most fragile porcelain despite the absolute fury radiating off his skin, and stalks out of the ruined warehouse.

The cold air hits my face as he carries me across the asphalt, his long strides unbothered by my weight. The guards sprint ahead, throwing open the door to the armored convoy, and the moment he slides us into the backseat, a commotion erupts near the warehouse exit.

Through the dark tint of the window, I see Maxim, Viktor, and some of the other guards come rushing out into the dim light. Supported between Maxim’s shoulders is a weak, wounded Ben, his face battered but his eyes alive. In Viktor’s grip is the specialized book compartment. They survived.

Viktor pulls the front door open, his chest heaving as he looks back at us. “Boss, Karl got away. He had a vehicle waiting on the lower subterranean level.”

“I don’t care about Karl right now!” Lukyan roars, his arms tightening around me as he glares at Viktor. “Get us moving! We need to get to the hotel immediately because Sofia has been shot! Drive!”

Viktor doesn’t say another word. They all assemble, diving into the trailing SUVs, and within seconds, the tires screech as the cars zoom off.

The searing heat in my arm begins to numb into a dull, heavy throb. I lean my head against Lukyan’s bare chest, listening to the erratic, terrified pounding of his heart, and look down at the floorboard where the book compartment sits safe and secure. A small, faint smile tugs at the corners of my lips. We did it. We retrieved the books. My father’s legacy is back in my hands, and Ben is alive.

As the city lights blur outside the window, a strange sense of peace washes over me. I don’t care what happens to Karl from now on. His time will come, but tonight, the pieces of my past are finally mine again.

Chapter 26 – Lukyan