Chapter 36 #2
“No, Leo. You’re not listening. I’m staying here. It’s my choice.” The lie tastes bitter on my tongue, but I swallow it down, willing him to believe my words.
His hand curls around the back of my neck, his face so close to mine that his heated breath brushes against my lips. “I don’t know what game you’re playing. What shit Belov is coercing you into saying, but I’m telling you now,”—his grasp on me tightens—“I’m not leaving without you.”
A sob rises in my throat, and my hands curl around the collar of his starched shirt, pleading with him to listen. “Please, you have to.”
His warm palms cup my cheek, and his lips lower onto mine.
The kiss is deep and all-consuming, sending an electric shiver down my spine.
“Fuck, Aly, I’m a wreck without you. You are my light, the reason I breathe.
I know I’ve fucked up so many times you’ve lost count.
Let me make it right, let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. ”
His words are charged with so much raw emotion it’s nearly my undoing. But I can’t lose focus, because what happens next determines whether he lives or dies. And since I’ve failed to make him believe my lies, it’s time to deliver the truth.
“If Belov thinks you are standing in the way of me leading his empire with him, he will kill you, he’s said as much. It doesn’t matter what I want … just … fuck, Leo, I love you. I love you so goddamn much it hurts. Even if I can’t be with you, I need to know you didn’t die for me.”
His hands wrap around my waist, holding me against him. "I won’t lose you again. Once nearly destroyed me. I'll do whatever it takes to make Belov see reason. I’ll stay here and fight for you, fight for us—”
His words are cut off as the door swings open and my brother barrels into the room, trailed by Daniil, Andrei, and Kira. Yulian doesn’t seem to notice or care about the fact that I’m in Leo’s arms. He just pulls me away and hugs me tight. “Thank fuck you’re okay.”
“I am,” I say, squeezing my brother back. I’ve missed him, but this is no time for a reunion.
“We need to get moving,” Yulian says. “Van’s out back.”
“I can’t,” I tell him, my voice shaky. “You go, I need to stay for now. It won’t be forever, but—”
“What are you talking about?” Yulian says, his eyebrows pressed together. But before I can explain myself, Leo steps between us.
“If you stay, I’m staying. I’m not leaving here without you.”
I feel like knocking my head against the wall, this man is making what I have to do near impossible. I take a deep breath, prepared to plead my case, when the lights flicker on and off, plunging the wine cellar into utter darkness.
“Shit,” Yulian hisses. Leo finds my hand in the dark as panic claws at my chest.
The cellar door creaks open, followed by the heavy thud of footsteps.
The lights snap on, revealing Belov with a cold snarl painted on his lips.
His guards flank him, their guns drawn and aimed in our direction.
Belov also had a weapon pointed square at Leo’s chest. “A family reunion. And I wasn’t invited? ”
Leo puffs out his chest. “You’re not her family, even if you do share blood with her.”
The atmosphere in the room thickens. My worst nightmare is unfolding before my very eyes.
All the people I care about in one room, vulnerable, surrounded by Belov’s evil army.
Body trembling, I throw myself in front of Leo.
Belov needs to understand I’ll take a bullet for Leo without a second thought.
If he hurts Leo or anyone in here, he hurts me.
“Let them go,” I plead with Belov. “We had a deal. I’ll stay, but you have to let them all go.”
The words are barely out of my mouth before Leo pushes me behind him. Looking up, I’m met with the sight of Leo, pistol in hand, pointed at Belov. Defiance burns in his gaze even though we’re clearly outnumbered, and from what I can tell, no one else on our side has a weapon.
What is Leo doing?
Belov’s henchmen all train their guns on Leo, but he doesn’t blink an eye. My heart hammers in my chest, a deafening drum that drowns out all other sounds, but I don’t dare move a muscle or say anything. One wrong move could tip this all in the wrong direction.
Belov lowers his gun and perches on a cask of wine, his posture relaxed, as if this isn’t a tense as fuck standoff.
“What’s your endgame here, Kozlov?” he asks Leo.
“Do you think you can rescue Alyona and gallop off into the sunset as a happy couple? You—the man who abandoned her for the brotherhood—you’re suddenly the knight in shining armor? ”
What!? How does Belov know our history? Judging by his self-satisfied grin, he knows he hit his target. Leo’s hold on the gun tightens, his aim shifting to target Belov’s head. “You know shit about what happened in our past.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I knew your father well—not exactly friends but business associates.
” A jolt of surprise shoots through me as this revelation.
“He would come to Russia often, as you know. He was even a guest here a few times. We drank cognac together well into the night. Well, he would drink, and I would listen. After a few drinks and a bump or two of cocaine, Serge was quite talkative. My daughter—the daughter I was sworn by my honor never to contact—lived under his roof. I had a vested interest in keeping tabs on your family.”
If looks could kill, the combined looks of venom directed at Belov would have him dropping dead to the floor.
But that’s not what happens. Instead, Belov goes in for the kill.
His voice is deceptively light when he adds, “Alyona doesn’t know the truth, does she, Leonid?
Why don’t you tell her. In fact, tell everyone in the room.
I imagine your brothers don’t know the full story, either. ”
All attention shifts to Leo. He’s still like a statue, his heavy breathing the only outward sign that Belov’s words have unsettled him.
“Leave him alone,” I snap back. “You have no right to interfere like this. What happened in the past is between us. Not you.”
“He’s right,” Leo says, voice hoarse. He lowers the gun in his hand. “You deserve to know the truth.”
“But not like this," I argue. I pull him towards me, but he won’t look me in the eyes.
“Yes, Aly, because you may not want anything to do with me after you learn the truth. When you learn how weak I was.”
“That would never happen,” I insist, but it’s as though my words bounce off a wall. Leo’s trapped in his own thoughts.
With a gesture, Belov clears the room, sending all his guards to wait on the other side of the door except Pavel, his right hand.
My eyes dart to Yulian, then sweep over Andrei and Daniil—all wear expressions of shared confusion. Kira shoots me a worried look. She understands what’s coming next.
I don’t know what Leo is about to tell me, but I do know there is no turning back from here.
Kneeling down, he grabs my hands in his and proceeds to shatter my world.