Page 130 of Inked in Devotion

“We have a lead on Marena,” he clipped.

“That’s good, right?”

“We still don’t know where she is.”

“Then what’s the lead about?”

Again, he took a long time to answer. What could be worse than the woman who sabotaged me and led me to almost kill my son? “I want this over with. I don’t care how bad it is.”

He exhaled twice. Which made me edgier because it sounded like he was trying to break it to me gently. I wanted to yell at him just to release the hysteria inside me starving for relief.

“It’s my fault,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I shouldn’t have left that person alive.”

“Who?” The question barely scraped out of my lips.

“When you were fifteen. That thunderstorm.”

“You told me you were there. That there were two assassins, but you didn’t kill one of them.”

“There was no body at the crash site. At least that was what the news reported.”

“You think Marena knows this person?”

He cast me a fleeting glance. “I don’t know.”

A loud explosion followed by a jolt and a screeching of brakes sent me slamming my palms on the dashboard. Sebastian started to cry.

I slowly registered that our SUV had rammed into the back of our lead security car.

The one behind us also hit the brakes but didn’t smash into us.

Gunfire erupted.

Sebastian.

Ignoring Kolya’s yell to keep my head down, I unbuckled my seat belt and crawled to the back of the SUV and reached for my son. I freed him from the car seat and cradled him protectively against me on the floor of the vehicle. Bullets pelted the glass and sides of the SUV. I prayed the bulletproofing would hold.

“Just stay down.” Kolya had contacted the bratva and was exchanging terse situation reports.

We were reversing. Or at least it felt that way.

Sebastian was screaming in my ear, but I clung to his cries as an indication that my baby was alive.

“You’re going to be all right. You’re going to be okay,” I whispered as my tears soaked through his clothes.

The SUV spun, and my gut felt like it had dislodged from the pounding of my heart. Still, I continued to wrap my son in a secure embrace. My hands protected his head while my entire body became his shield.

Mayhem everywhere. Kolya shouting on the phone. Voices shouting back. The bumps and sharp pivots of the vehicle—all I could do was hunker down.

I didn’t know what was happening, but no one was going to get to Seb unless they came through me. All my fear was concentrated on keeping Sebastian safe. I was devoted to my son’s survival.

My life for my son.

The SUV decelerated.