Chapter 20
LUKA
Iscan the room again, more carefully this time.
I want to believe her, but she’s hiding something. We both know she wasn’t at that fucking pharmacy.
Something white catches my eye—papers on the scarred coffee table, too clean and new for this abandoned space.
I cross the room in three strides, my mind cataloging details. Fresh paperwork. No dust. She put these down recently.
My hand hovers over them for a moment. Part of me doesn't want to know what she's hiding. The other part—the part that's kept me alive this long—needs information like I need oxygen.
The logo hits me first. St. Mary's Medical Center. Women's Health Clinic.
My fingers are steady as I pick up the papers, but my pulse kicks into overdrive. Medical forms. The kind you fill out at a doctor's office. Patient name: Cindy Russo. Date: Today.
The words swim before my eyes, rearranging themselves into meaning I'm not ready for. Blood work ordered. HCG levels. Prenatal panel. Estimated date of conception.
I do the math before I can stop myself. The garage. That first time when I took her virginity against the hood of my Mustang. When I was too desperate to think about protection, too consumed by the need to claim her.
Fuck.
The papers crinkle in my grip. At the bottom, in clinical black and white: Pregnancy confirmed. Approximately 12 weeks.
Three months. She's been carrying my child for three months.
My hands shake as I read, the words blurring together before snapping into sharp, terrifying focus. Blood work. Ultrasound appointment. Prenatal vitamins. And there, at the bottom of the most recent form, a due date that makes my knees go weak.
"Khuy," I whisper.
I look at her then, really look. I see what I missed in my initial sweep. Her face is pale, with dark circles under her eyes. But it's not just exhaustion I'm seeing—it's fear. Raw, bone-deep terror.
"I was going to tell you."
Her voice is small, barely above a whisper, but it cuts through the silence like a blade.
For a moment, I can't move. I can't think or breathe. The implications crash over me like a tidal wave. This changes everything.
Everything.
I take a step toward her, then another, watching as her shoulders tense with each footfall. She's expecting anger, maybe even violence.
“You were a virgin when I took you,” I say.
She glares at me. “Yes. When you fucked me without a condom, you knocked me up.”
That was my fault. I had no idea she was a virgin—something we were going to talk about later. I assumed she would be on some kind of birth control.
My mistake.
“How long have you known?” I ask.
Was she running from me? She was going to take my baby and run?
She shrugs.
"You took a test." It's not a question.
She nods. "Yes."
“Where were you?” I ask again. I need the truth. I need to believe her. I have to be able to trust her.
She sighs and visibly lets go of the anger I sparked in her with my accusations.
“I went to the clinic in the same complex. I wanted to know for sure I was pregnant and that everything was okay. I didn’t go to the pharmacy.”
“And?” I ask.
“And the baby is fine.”
I sink to my knees in front of her, my legs finally giving out under the enormity of it all. She makes a small sound of surprise, her hands automatically moving to protect her stomach—a gesture so unconscious, so instinctively maternal, that it breaks something inside me.
She's crying now, silent tears tracking down her cheeks. "I know the timing is terrible. I know this complicates everything.”
I kiss her belly. My child nestled inside.
I get to my feet and cup her face in my hands.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm so sorry, Luka. I should have told you right away. I should have—"
"You're mine. Both of you. You're mine, and no one—no one—touches what's mine."
Another tear slips from the corner of her eye.
"I won't let anything happen to you," I vow. "Either of you. I swear to God, I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt you."
"I was so scared," she confesses.
I drop my hands and step back. “Were you running, dikaya?”
“No. I went to the clinic. When I got done, Grigori was gone. I thought maybe I was free to move about. I came here to get a few of my things. To say goodbye to this life, Luka. I wasn’t running.”
I feel the relief.
"When you disappeared without a word, I was furious. I thought you were running.”
"Never." The word comes out fierce, certain. "I love you, Luka. I know that’s stupid. You’re a bad man who kidnapped me, but I love your dumbass.”
I almost smile.
And then I remember the tracker.
I need to be certain. Completely certain. The tracker changes everything, and I have to know she's telling me the truth about all of it.
"Cindy, I need you to answer me one more time. Are you, or were you ever, acting as a spy? Working with anyone against me or my organization? Like you said, I took you. You hated me for good reason. Just tell me the truth.”
Her eyes flash with anger. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? After everything I just told you—"
I silence her with a kiss, pulling her against me and capturing her mouth with mine. She resists for a heartbeat, then melts into me, her hands fisting in my shirt. When I pull back, her breathing is unsteady.
"I need to know," I say quietly, resting my forehead against hers. "I need to understand how that tracker got on my car. Help me understand, dikaya."
Her shoulders sag, the fight going out of her. "I texted Anna, and she said she wanted to meet. She promised to explain everything. Said she had information about who was really pulling the strings."
My jaw tightens. "Where?"
"Some dive bar on the south side. O'Malley's." She shakes her head. "I waited there for over an hour. She never showed. When I tried to call the number back, it was disconnected."
A trap.
Of course, it was a fucking trap. They lured her out and probably had eyes on her the whole time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to plant their surveillance equipment.
And I let her go.
"The parking lot," I say, pieces clicking into place. "They had access to the car while you were waiting inside."
"Oh God." Her face goes pale. "Luka, I'm so sorry. I should have told you about the text. I should have—"
"Hey." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "You couldn't have known."
"I would never betray you," she whispers, tears starting fresh. "Never. You have to believe me. I'm with you, Luka. Completely. You and Leo and now..." She places a hand over her stomach. "This baby. You're my family now."
The fierce certainty in her voice, the way she looks at me like I'm her whole world—I believe her. Every instinct I have tells me she's telling the truth.
"I know," I tell her, and I do. "I know you wouldn't."
“I won’t talk to her again.”
"I need to end this," I say. "Charles, the whole damn mess.”
"Luka—"
"No. He crossed a line when he made you a target, and now..." I look down at her stomach, still flat but somehow already precious beyond measure. "Now he's threatening my family."
She grabs my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. "Charles may not be a good man, but he did take me in.”
"I'm going to talk to Charles. He called me and offered himself in your place.”
She frowns. “What? Why?”
I shrug.
Her mouth drops open.
"Charles? Sacrifice himself?" She shakes her head. "Luka, you don't know him like I do. The man who raised me isn't capable of that kind of selflessness. He's proven that over and over again."
Her certainty cuts through my confusion. "Then why—"
"Because he wants something," she says firmly. "Charles doesn't do anything without calculating what's in it for him. If he's offering himself up, it's because he thinks he can gain an advantage somehow."
I study her face, seeing the hard-earned wisdom there. She lived with the man for fifteen years. She knows him better than anyone.
"You think it's a setup."
"I think Charles Tremaine has never sacrificed anything for anyone, including me.
" Her voice hardens. "When things got complicated with my foster placement, he could have fought to keep me.
He didn't. When I aged out of the system, he could have offered me a real home.
He gave me a job instead. And when you walked into that garage, he could have stood up for me.
He let Drew hand me over without blinking. "
Each word drives the knife deeper into my understanding of the man who raised her. No wonder she's so guarded. The people who should have protected her spent years teaching her she was disposable.
"Charles can't be allowed at the compound," she continues. "It's too big a risk. For you, for Leo, for everyone."
Something warm spreads through my chest at her words. She's not just thinking about her own safety or even mine. She's thinking about my son. About our family.
"You're right," I tell her. "But I still need to deal with him."
"Just... be careful. Promise me you won't underestimate him. Charles might not be willing to die for me, but he's definitely willing to kill for whatever he really wants."
I nod, pulling her closer. "No one gets close to you or Leo. I promise you that."
"We need to get back," I say. "Leo will be wondering where we are. I’ve got him in the safe room with Tony. When I discovered you gone, and the tracker—”
“You thought I set you up.”
“Yes.”
She looks around the apartment. “I’m ready. I’m done with this place. I’ve got what I want from here. Charles can do what he wants with the place. I won’t be back.”
I turn the handle, my mind already shifting into tactical mode.
The door swings open, and I step forward, ready to walk into whatever hell awaits me. Ready to end this once and for all.
The silencer catches the light from the hallway, a dull gleam that makes my blood turn to ice.
Time slows, the way it always does in moments like this. I can hear her gasp behind me and feel the weight of the gun I slid back into my holster when I decided she wasn’t a threat. I calculate the distance between the barrel pointed at my chest and the safety of the room behind me.
I think about her.
My child.
And then the first shot rings out.