Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Ryker
The word daughter slices through me as I let go of the rail and wrap one arm around Sasha’s waist.
She hears it too, her wide eyes tipping up to mine, her mouth forming a small O. I don’t ask, as I let her waist go again, and then heave a leg back over the rail.
Inside our bedroom, it’s gone quiet.
Sver has dropped to his hands and knees, pushing the two pistols away, sliding them toward Killian and Gris.
They both pick them up, Killian instantly checking the chamber and then leveling the gun at Sver’s head.
Gris does the same.
“Check him for other weapons,” Killian commands, Dimitri patting him down as I hold Sasha, watching.
She can’t see what’s happening, but she doesn’t need to. She’s already trembling in my arms. “Your hands, love,” I remind her. “Pull them in so you don’t irritate the wounds.”
“That’s what you’re thinking about?” she huffs, but still does as I command.
I kiss her temple, wishing I could hear more, but the glass blocks all but the loudest sounds.
“About your safety and care. You can bet on it.”
She shakes her head, rubbing her face against my shoulder. I have a moment where I doubt myself. I could be on the ground by now.
Sver lays on the floor, feet and arms spread wide. He lifts his head, his eyes meeting mine.
I step up to the glass, looking to my brothers for affirmation of what I should do next. We have always been a team.
I should not have forgotten that.
Killian gives me the barest glance and then barks an order, “Pull him away from the door.”
Rush and Triston each grab a leg, pulling him toward the bathroom. He doesn’t resist.
Placing my finger on the pad, I unlock the door.
As I step inside, I see Sver relax, his shoulders melting into the floor. “Thank you,” he says in a thick Russian accent.
Sasha unhooks one leg from my waist and then the other. I let her, but I have no intention of letting her stand on her own.
Today could break a person, and she needs both my physical and emotional support.
Which is why I keep my arms around her waist, her body leaned into mine.
“What did you mean, I’m your daughter?” Her voice is soft, quiet, but it carries in the silence of the room.
Sver picks up his head. “Try to understand…”
She jolts in my arms. “Understand what?”
“I was in love with your mother. And Ivan was the cruelest of all to her.”
She shudders.
“He trapped me. Made me be his executioner, in exchange for keeping you and Katarina alive.”
“His favorite trick,” Dimitri sneers. “He always saw loving a woman as a weakness, never a strength.”
Sver’s hands clench into fists. “He’s about to learn the truth.”
The words ring with an ominous threat that has me holding Sasha closer. Much as I’d like to believe that Sver is willing to turn against Dimitri’s father, I can’t trust it. Sasha’s life is the one that I’d risk if I did. “Understand that we’re going to have to kill you.”
Sasha gasps, her hand tapping on my chest.
I cover her fingers with my own. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
But Sasha slithers from my arms, sitting on the floor. “I’m tired,” she murmurs as she sits between my feet. “Tired of being a victim. But also, just tired.” She leans forward, looking in Sver’s eyes. “If you’re here to kill me, just do it, and then it will be done.”
I bend down and yank her up again, because fuck that. I remember Dimitri’s warning that Sasha was fragile. I know I’ve pushed her to the brink, and this is on me. I’m prepared to burn in hell.
But I will not let anyone else hurt her. “If anyone is dying here, it’s me,” I grind out as I carry her to the door. “No one, including you, is hurting you again.”
“Wait,” Sver calls out. “Don’t leave.”
I don’t stop, but Sasha starts wiggling from my arms again. I’m strong enough to hold her physically. But emotionally, she’s turned me from a lion to some stray tomcat. I try to hold her. “No, sweetheart. Don’t trust him.”
“I’ve learned my lesson about trust,” she fires back, and I wince as I ease her back to the ground.
Her feet bare, her clothes still covered in blood, her silky brown hair swinging down her back, she walks over to where Sver lays on the ground. I follow, not even a full step behind.
Sver looks at her and then at me, and he gives me an almost imperceptible nod. What the hell does that mean?
Sasha sits down in front of him, cross-legged. “He never loved me.”
“No,” Sver shakes his head.
“I thought I was unlovable.”
“You’re not.” He looks back at me again, as I squat just behind her, coiled and ready to take action. “He’s just not your father. That’s why he didn’t love you, and besides,” Sver looks away, “you’re like me.”
“How’s that?”
“We don’t…we don’t show our emotions the same way as other people. We feel them, we feel them all, we just don’t…”
I hear Sasha’s sharp intake of breath as she looks at the glass doors. I can see her profile, and I catch the tears in her eyes. “Why are you here?”
“I stayed in Russia, stayed with that Bratva filth to protect you. Once Dimitri took you, I didn’t even wait for Ivan to return, I came here to find you.”
He slowly reaches out a hand and Killian cocks the gun.
But Sasha holds out her bandaged fingers. “I can’t go with you. My place is here, with my husband.”
“I know,” he answers. “You couldn’t come with me anyway.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find Ivan and end this once and for all,” Sver lets go of her hand. “But first I need to know what happened to your hands.”
“Broken mirror,” she answers. “We had our first fight, and I was very angry.”
“Temper like your mother,” he smiles.
Something inside me relaxes to hear her describe it this way. Like it was normal, like we’re still a couple.
“I hope so,” she answers with a shake of her head. “That I’m like my mother. But also, I hope you end this like you say.”
“I will. That’s my promise to you, Sasha. I know I’ve never been a real father, but I’ll give you that.” Then he looks back at me. “But I do need one thing first.”
I don’t say a word as I wait. Gently, I pull Sasha against my body, adding a few feet between her and Sver.
He pushes up and Killian uses his foot to press him back down.
“What do you want?” Dimitri asks.
“To know where I can find Katarina,” Sver doesn’t resist. “Because where she is, that’s where we will find Ivan.”
Fuck.
All eyes turn to me.
Sver’s nostrils flare, his eyes narrowing, as he studies me. With a sudden jerk, he rolls into Killian, sweeping his legs out from under my brother.
“Fuck!” Killian yells as he falls, the gun going off. I’m on top of Sasha before I can even think, tucking her under my body as everyone dives for cover.
Sver vaults through the open balcony door, and dives over the side.
“What the fuck?” Triston rages. Then, slightly calmer. “Was anyone hit?”
“Someone was hit,” Killian spits from his spot on the floor. “Sver. Everyone up, there will be a trail of blood to follow.”
I look at my brother, and he nods in affirmation. Everyone but me. Because my place is with Sasha.
Always. Forever.