Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
KIRILL
She’s here against my better judgment, with Eli and his men in that house.
But I knew I couldn’t keep her away. If something happens to her, though—to any of them—I will never forgive myself.
At least she’s remained in the car, two of my men watching over her while the rest of us move through the tree line toward the house as we take our positions.
Konstantin crouches beside me behind the thick trunk of an oak, one of our men several feet away with a handheld thermal scanner aimed at the house.
The small screen glows faintly in the dark as he sweeps it across the structure. He studies it, then holds up seven fingers.
One of them better be Eli. I need that ublyudok. Scumbag.
“Where are the boys?” I whisper.
The man points to a cluster of heat signatures near the center of the house. “Living room. Five men around them.”
Good. Less than we expected.
Konstantin taps his finger against the side of his gun, the signal that it’s time.
A few of our men peel off toward the back with Aleksei and Anton while the rest of us spread into position, every second dragging until a bang suddenly tears from outside at the rear of the house, just like we planned.
Metal clatters. Glass shatters. Voices erupt inside.
“Go check that out,” someone barks.
A second later, footsteps pound across the floor before a door swings open. Two men rush out the back with their weapons drawn, heading straight for the noise.
Konstantin glances at me, and we move with our crew through the front door, kicking it open hard enough to splinter the wood inward as we storm the entryway with our guns raised.
The two men inside barely have time to react before we put bullets in each of their foreheads, dropping them where they stand and leaving only Eli alive.
But not for long.
“Papa!” Lev cries from the sofa.
Beside him, Milo’s bottom lip trembles, while Eli stands behind them with a gun pressed to my boy’s head.
“You try anything, and I kill your kid,” he says, but the fear in his voice is already there, bleeding through every word no matter how hard he tries to sound in charge.
“You have nowhere to go.” I hold my position, waiting for the smallest opening. “We have you surrounded.”
He laughs, easing back from the boys just enough as his gun dips, and in that split second, I fire.
The bullet rips into his arm, and all I can hope is that I didn’t just nick an artery.
The weapon flies from his grip as he howls in pain, clutching the shredded flesh while stumbling backward just as my brothers rush in with their guns drawn.
“Papa!” Lev cries again, and a second later, both boys are crashing into me.
I drop to my knees and drag them against my chest so hard their hearts pound against my ribs.
“You’re okay. I’m here now. You’re okay.” I kiss the top of Lev’s head, then Milo’s. “I’ve got you. Papa’s here.”
Another shot goes off, muffled by a silencer, and both boys flinch. When I look back, Konstantin is standing there with his gun raised, Eli on the floor with blood pouring from his leg.
“He tried to run.” My brother shrugs.
I don’t care. All I want is to get the boys out of this house and home where they belong. They’ve already seen too much.
Konstantin holsters his weapon while one of our men hauls Eli upright and slams him face-first onto the floor. Zip ties cinch tight around his wrists as he thrashes and spits curses, blood streaking across his mouth and chin.
“I’ll kill you for this!” Eli screams. “I’ll destroy her entire life!”
A laugh breaks out of me as I rise, keeping a palm on each of my sons. “There’s nothing you can do to us now.”
He grins, half mad, chuckling through the blood. “Are you sure about that?”
Konstantin hauls him upright and shoves him out the door, dragging the screaming bastard toward the van waiting outside.
I don’t even watch him leave. My arms fasten around the boys as we step outside, and the second we do, Sloane is running toward us, tears pouring down her face as she drops to her knees right in front of us.
“Mommy!” Milo cries, throwing himself at her.
Lev goes too, clutching at her like he can’t get close enough. She wraps both of them up in her arms, like she’s afraid the world might try to take them again.
“I love you both so much.” She presses kisses all over their faces.
Lev fists her shirt in his hands.
“Mama,” he whispers.
The word stops me cold. I’ve never heard him call her anything but Sloane.
“I’m right here,” she tells them, cupping each of their cheeks. “I will never leave you.”
And for once, he has a mother who means it.
SLOANE
“Did they hurt you?” I ask Milo and Lev, both of them sitting on top of my legs in the den.
“No.” Milo shakes his head, his messy hair bouncing as he speaks. “But they were mean.” His mouth twists into a pout. “And they had guns.”
Swallowing the thickness building in my throat, I slide my hands slowly down their backs, trying to soothe them. God knows what sort of damage this will do to them.
“I’m so sorry.” I drag them both against me until their bodies press into my arms. “But we’re going to keep you safe, I promise.”
My eyes drift to Kirill, and I don’t know if I just told them the truth. We couldn’t keep them safe this time. Who says it won’t happen again?
Kirill comes to sit next to us, his arm sliding around my shoulders as he pulls me into his side. I lean into him, resting my head against his chest while the boys stay tucked against me.
For the first time since everything happened, I start to calm. The boys are here. Safe. Kirill’s alive. That should be enough.
But the fear doesn’t fully go away. A life with Kirill will never be safe. There will always be people who want what he has, who want to hurt him. Hurt us. Tonight proved that.
Still, when I gaze up at him and catch the way he’s looking at the boys, something softer in his expression, I know one thing for certain.
He would burn the world down for us.
And somehow…that’s enough.
Eventually, Milo starts to droop against my arm, the adrenaline finally fading, and Lev leans heavier into my shoulder as the exhaustion catches up to both of them.
Kirill’s fingers caress my arm before he leans in, his words quiet against my ear. “I need to go take care of Eli.”
There isn’t a part of me that thinks he deserves anything less than what’s coming to him. Not after what he did to our boys. I want him in agony.
Kirill bends forward and kisses the top of Milo’s head, then leaves one on top of Lev’s. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
Milo nods around a yawn while Lev tenses beside me, already hating the idea of him leaving.
Kirill catches it and runs a hand through his hair. “Papa will be back very soon, okay? Ya tebya lyublyu.”
Lev holds on to me as he watches his father leave, and immediately, the space beside me is colder without him.