Page 134 of Inked in Devotion

Sato and Kirill were in his Porsche, which had also been recently retrofitted. That was upon Lucy’s demand. Kirill lamented it was a drag on the sports car’s speed, but better alive than dead, no?

Kirill had reached out to the Cassano crime family. They were our backup on the streets of New Jersey. Luckily, Ivan and Irina’s house was in the Alpine borough. Palisades Interstate Parkway was the only way out. Dark and tree-lined, extremely deserted at two a.m. Less collateral damage to the public. Unfortunately, its isolation was the best place for an ambush. Still, it was our fastest route into Manhattan.

Once we reached the city, the De Luccis were going to be our ally. They’d activated the paramilitary arm that was not part of the crime family, but was a secret organization we knew operated parallel to the underworld.

Human traffickers had become our common enemy, so they jumped at the chance to be involved. Ilya had already been in contact with Trevor, and we’d gotten more intel on the movements of the mercenaries.

It was difficult to tear ourselves away from a sleeping Sebastian. He was dozing peacefully under the watchful eye of Sorcha, unaware that people were going to war for his freedom and his right to exist and grow up without shackles.

Chloe’s declaration that she was fighting for me too had shaken me to the core. That I was also a victim. I’d never thought about it that way, but I loved her even more.

Yes, I loved her. I’d known since the time I almost lost her at the cliff, but I couldn’t find the right moment or words to express to her how I felt, especially with the Vozhokari threat hanging over our heads.

“I’ll come back, Sebby,” she whispered.

I tugged her to my side. “We’ll come back and you’ll be my wife.”

Sorcha grinned.

An entourage watched us go. Aralina was also present, looking pensive before she hugged Kirill.

“You better take care and come back for my wedding,” she signed.

Kirill chuckled. “As much as I hate seeing you married, I wouldn’t miss it.”

Then it was our turn. Chloe had already said goodbye to Ivan.

Aralina pouted at us. “I’m with Lucy. I also wanted to witness a blood covenant.”

I repeated what she had signed to Chloe.

Chloe laughed. “We’ll make sure there’ll be a video.”

“Ready?” Rurik and Dimitri came up to us.

“You should stay behind,” I told Rurik.

“And miss all the fun?”

“Okay, enough of that crazy talk,” Lucy ordered. “Go, before I jump into that car with Kirill.”

“Ilya,” Kirill called out. “I had better get updates about Lucy.”

“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Lucy shot back, but I detected a tremor in her voice.

“Christ,” Dimitri muttered. “The rumors are right. Kirill is whipped.”

“One would think we were Spartans going out to battle,” Rurik muttered. “Let’s go, comrade. This is simply another job.”

We were finally on our way. Thank fuck.

Rurik was right. It wasn’t the first time we’d gone to war, but it was the first time we were fighting on a fifteen-mile stretch of highway with a hidden enemy watching our every move.

Our convoy headed out.

Kirill was leading the way with his Porsche.

Followed by an SUV carrying four bratva soldiers.