Chapter 25
ALEXI
Nikolai floors it.
The SUV fishtails out of the loading dock, sending the tires screeching on the wet tarmac.
I press my hand against Iris’s shoulder, feeling warm blood soak through her shirt. Too much blood.
“Medical kit.” I don’t look away from the wound. “Under the seat.”
Erik retrieves it and passes it forward without a word.
Maya’s crying in the back seat—sharp, panicked sounds. Dmitri murmurs something low to her, his voice steady, keeping her grounded.
I tear Iris’s shirt open carefully. The bullet grazed her shoulder, passing clean through the muscle. The exit wound is messy but not arterial. Lucky doesn’t begin to cover it.
“This is going to hurt.”
Iris nods, bracing herself for what’s coming.
I pour antiseptic directly into the wound.
She doesn’t scream. Just bites down hard enough that I hear her teeth grind together, her muscles tending against the pain. I work quickly, wrapping the bandage tight enough to stop the bleeding without cutting off circulation.
“You’re okay.” I keep my voice steady despite the adrenaline flooding my system. “It’s clean. You got lucky.”
“You don’t say.” She leans into me, but I notice how her eyes keep drifting back to her friend, Maya.
Nikolai takes a hard left, pushing the SUV into dangerous territory traffic-wise.
“We just declared war on the federal government,” he declares.
“I know,” I murmur.
“They’ll come for us.” Erik’s voice from the back seat is flat. “Full force.”
I know. We all know.
Dmitri shifts forward. “We’ve crossed lines before. But never—”
“I know what we did.” I finally look up. Meet Nikolai’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “And I’d do it again.”
Nikolai’s jaw tightens as he merges onto the highway, keeping the speed exactly at the limit, but he doesn’t argue because he would do the same for Sofia.
Iris shivers against me. Shock is setting in.
I pull her closer, being careful of her shoulder. “Stay with me, detka.”
“Not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
“We need somewhere secure.” Nikolai’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel. “Penthouse is compromised. They’ll have warrants within the hour.”
“What about the safe house in Brookline?” Dmitri pulls out his phone.
“Too close.” Erik leans forward. “They’ll sweep the entire metro area.”
I press my forehead against Iris’s hair, breathing her in. Thankful that she’s here and alive, even if she is bleeding.
“The compound,” I suggest.
Silence fills the SUV.
The compound sits forty miles north. It’s fortified and isolated. Built for exactly this kind of emergency.
“Sofia’s there.” Nikolai’s voice carries an edge. “With Tash and Katarina.”
I know what he’s thinking. We’re bringing a war to their doorstep.
“They’ll be safer with us.” I adjust the bandage on Iris’s shoulder, hating when I see fresh blood seep through. “Federal agents don’t attack fortified compounds without preparation. Paperwork. Authorization. Time.”
“Time we need.” Dmitri’s already texting. “I’ll have our lawyers file injunctions to slow them down.”
Erik pulls a gun from the hidden compartment and checks the magazine. “How many guards are on site?”
“Twelve.” Nikolai merges onto Route 128. “Armed. Trained. Loyal.”
“Not enough,” Erik replies.
“I’ll call in more.”
Maya’s sobs have quieted to hiccups, but she stares at nothing, her face blank with shock. I catch her eye briefly, trying to communicate without words that she’s safe, that we’ve got this. She doesn’t look convinced.
Iris shifts against me, wincing. “The laptop.”
“Erik has it.”
“Erik, make sure that the decryption key to our systems didn’t get sent. He was hovering over me while I was working, making sure I wasn’t delaying,” Her voice cracks. “I’m worried something might have slipped through before you got there.”
My jaw clenches. “How much?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She meets my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.” I cup her face tenderly. “You are alive. That’s what matters.”
“I compromised your entire operation.”
“Then we rebuild.” I brush my thumb across her cheekbone. “We’ve done it before.”
Nikolai’s phone rings. He puts it on speaker, and Sofia’s voice fills the car. “We saw the news about a federal raid on a warehouse with multiple casualties. Are you all okay?”
“We’re coming to you.” Nikolai’s knuckles stay white. “ETA thirty minutes.”
“We’ll be ready.” There’s not a hint of panic in her tone. “Tash is securing the safe room, and Katarina’s coordinating with the guards.”
“Sofia—”
“We knew what we signed up for.” A pause. “All of us.”
The line goes dead.
Iris closes her eyes. “I destroyed everything.”
“No.” I tighten my hold. “You survived. That’s all that matters.”
“They’ll come for us.”
“Let them.” I press my lips to her temple. “They’ll find out what happens when they come up against the Ivanov brothers.”
The compound gates swing open—steel reinforced, twelve feet high, with guards flanking the entrance, weapons visible and ready. Nikolai pulls into the circular drive and cuts the engine.
Sofia’s already on the steps, looking completely unperturbed by the chaos. Tash stands beside her with her arms crossed over her chest. Katarina stands in the doorway, watching everything with the calculating eyes of someone bred to this world.
I help Iris out of the SUV, keeping my arm around her waist to support her weight.
“Easy,” I murmur. “I’ve got you.”
Maya stumbles out behind us, and I make a mental note to check on her properly once we’re inside. She’s had as much of a shock as Iris, just without the bullet wound.
Sofia descends the steps, taking in Iris’s bloodied shoulder without flinching. “You’d best take her to the medical room on the third floor.”
We move inside. The compound sprawls across twenty thousand square feet of reinforced concrete and bulletproof glass. Built for siege. Built for exactly this kind of emergency.
Erik peels off toward the security center without a word. Dmitri and Tash guide Maya toward the east wing, probably to get her checked out.
I help Iris up the stairs, as it’s clear each step is painful.
“Almost there,” I promise.
The medical room is equipped better than most emergency clinics. Nikolai doesn’t take chances with our family’s safety.
I get Iris onto the examination table and cut away the temporary bandage.
Sofia appears in the doorway, leaning against the doorway. “Need help?”
“Thanks, but I’ve got it.”
She doesn’t leave. Just watches me work, her sharp eyes tracking my movements.
I clean the wound properly this time using betadine and make a careful inspection to ensure no shrapnel is left. Iris appears completely unaffected as I begin sewing the skin together, making no sound.
“They’ll come.” Sofia’s voice cuts through the silence. “Federal agents. Warrants. Maybe worse.”
“I know.”
“What’s your play?” She asks.
I tie off the last suture and carefully apply fresh gauze. “We give them what they want.”
Iris’s eyes snap to mine. “What?”
“Not you.” I help her sit up, supporting her injured side. “Never you. But Morrison wasn’t working alone. Project Nightshade has oversight. Command structure. People who authorized killing your parents.”
Understanding dawns in Sofia’s expression. “Mutually assured destruction.”
“Exactly.” I pull my phone out and open an encrypted channel, fingers moving across the screen.
“We have Morrison’s communications. Paper trails.
Financial records. Everything. We make copies.
Distribute them. Dead man’s switches trigger if anything happens to us.
Cloud storage in twelve different countries. ”
“They’ll want it buried.” Iris touches my hand. “Along with us.”
“Which is why we don’t bury it.” I finish typing rapidly, then force myself to slow down, to breathe, not to let the adrenaline dictate my pace.
“We make it clear that our silence is guaranteed. No one talks about Nightshade. No one comes after us. Clean break. But if anything happens to any of us—if we disappear, if we’re arrested on false charges, if we’re hospitalized unexpectedly—everything goes public.
Every outlet. Every agency. Every whistleblower network. ”
Sofia straightens, her mind clearly working through the angles. “Leverage they can’t ignore.”
“An offer they can’t refuse.” I finish the message and hit send, then turn back to securing Iris’s bandage properly. “We control the narrative. We control the outcome.”
The reply comes faster than expected. Thirty-seven minutes.
I stare at the encrypted message and read it three times, looking for tricks, for hidden meanings, for any indication this is a trap disguised as negotiation.
“What is it?” Iris leans over my shoulder, careful of her injury.
I steady her. “They’re willing to negotiate.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Depends on the terms.” I scroll through the message slowly, digesting every word. “They want a meeting. Neutral ground. Tomorrow at noon.”
Sofia pushes off the doorframe, her expression hardening. “It’s a trap.”
“Almost certainly.” I keep reading. “But they’re scared. Look at the language. ‘Mutual interests.’ ‘Unfortunate circumstances.’ ‘Peaceful resolution.’ These aren’t the words of people in control. They’re the words of people who’ve just realized they’re not.”
“They killed my parents.” Iris’s voice drops. “Morrison was just the weapon. These are the people who gave the order.”
I set the phone down and turn to face her fully, taking both her hands in mine. “Which is why we don’t go in unprepared, and why we don’t go in alone.”
Nikolai appears in the doorway. Erik and Dmitri flank him immediately, a wall of Ivanov presence that suddenly makes the medical room feel smaller.
“You’re not meeting them alone,” Nikolai says. It’s not a question.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.” Dmitri crosses his arms. “Because this reeks of an ambush.”
Erik, who lives and breathes this kind of thing, moves to the window, checking sight lines. “Location?”
I pull up the coordinates on my phone. “Federal Building. Downtown Boston. Public space.”