Chapter 16 Aleksander #2
“We have to move,” I bark, scanning for more threats. “Stay close.”
We move fast, weaving through the darkness—Bella clutching Lily to her chest, me leading them, gun drawn and every muscle tight.
The shouts from the house grow distant as we cross the last of the garden, dodging low branches and hedges.
My mind is already plotting every possible exit, every kill I might have to make.
Then a shape steps out from behind a stone archway. Gun drawn. Her silhouette is unmistakable.
Irina.
Irina lifts her gun, pointing it at us. “You never learn, do you, Aleksander?”
I stop instantly and pull Bella and Lily behind me, my arm coming out without thought, shielding them both. Lily is trembling against Bella’s chest. Bella’s breath catches hard behind my shoulder.
Irina lifts her gun, not at me.
At Lily.
Every nerve in my body goes razor sharp.
“Well,” she says coolly. “That explains the theatrics.”
I keep my voice level, even though my heart is trying to tear out of my ribs. “Lower the gun.”
She ignores me, eyes locked on the child. On the way Lily clings to Bella. On the way Bella’s hands are shaking but refusing to let go.
“She is yours,” Irina says, more statement than question. “Isn’t she.”
I don’t answer.
I don’t need to.
Irina’s mouth curves slowly, cruelly, as realization settles in. “Of course she is.” She tilts her head, studying Lily like a problem she just solved. “That’s why you came running.”
Bella stiffens behind me.
I feel it instantly. The sharp intake of breath. The way her body goes rigid.
Irina’s eyes light with a twisted satisfaction. “So that’s it. All that effort to keep her a secret, and you couldn’t even keep her safe.” Her gaze lands on Bella, then slides back to Lily. “One move, Aleksander, and I will shoot her before you reach me.”
I raise my gun, every sense on fire. “You won’t touch her.”
She cocks her head. “You’re not that fast.”
I feel Bella tremble against my back. I hear Lily’s breath, quick and scared.
I force myself to stay calm. I can’t let Irina see any weakness. “Mother,” I say, steady, cold. “Don’t make this choice.”
“You don’t give orders here,” she replies. “You never did.”
She looks at Bella now, really looks at her for the first time. “You,” she says coolly, “have made a remarkable number of mistakes.”
I shift, putting myself fully between the gun and them. “This is between us.”
She raises the gun a fraction higher.
Time slows.
I know this moment. I’ve lived for moments like this my entire life. Where one wrong move costs everything.
I lower my weapon. Let it fall to the stone path.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” I say quietly. “But you do not touch them.”
Irina studies me, searching for weakness.
Bella’s breath stutters behind me. I feel it more than I hear it, the way her body tightens, the way Lily’s small weight shifts as Bella instinctively curls around her.
“What are you doing?” Bella whispers, panic breaking through her voice. “She’s going to kill us.”
I don’t take my eyes off Irina. Her arm is steady. Her aim is perfect.
“No,” I say quietly. Calm, deliberate, because panic will get them killed faster than a bullet. “She’s going to kill me.”
Bella makes a sound like she’s choking back a scream.
Irina smiles. “That’s right,” she says softly. “You finally understand.”
Footsteps scrape behind us.
I don’t turn. I don’t need to. I hear them. Two men moving in fast, confident, thinking the moment is over because my weapon is on the ground and my back is exposed.
They’re wrong.
I shift my weight a fraction of a second before they reach me.
The first one grabs for my arm. I drop low, slam my elbow into his ribs, feel something give. He folds with a sharp grunt. The second lunges for Bella.
That’s the mistake.
I spin, driving my shoulder into his chest, sending him sprawling backward into the gravel. I grab his wrist, twist hard, and the gun flies from his hand. He screams. I don’t care.
“Run,” I bark over my shoulder. “Now.”
Bella doesn’t hesitate. She moves, clutching Lily tight, sprinting toward the darker edge of the garden where the hedges break and the ground dips away from the lights.
Irina shouts my name.
I don’t answer.
I kick the first man in the face as he tries to get up, then grab my fallen gun from the stones. The night explodes again—shouts, chaos, bodies moving where there were none seconds ago.
I fire twice to my left, forcing distance. I fire once more to the right, shattering a garden light and plunging half the path into darkness. Shadows become allies. Panic spreads.
I backpedal, keeping myself between Irina and Bella’s retreating shape.
“Stop him!” Irina snaps.
I don’t look at her. I feel her instead. The way her presence presses forward, cold and furious and personal. We’re almost clear. I can see the break in the wall, the narrow service road beyond it. Bella is fast. She always was.
Then the shot comes.
I hear it before I feel it.
The impact slams into my shoulder like a sledgehammer. Heat explodes through my arm, bright and brutal. The force spins me halfway around and I bite back a cry as blood soaks through my sleeve.
Irina doesn’t miss.
I stagger but stay upright, teeth clenched, vision narrowing. My left arm goes numb instantly, useless weight dragging at my side.
I fire blindly toward her position, not to hit—just to keep her pinned. Stone chips explode near her feet. She retreats a step, furious.
I turn and run.
Each step is agony, my shoulder screaming, my pulse roaring in my ears. I burst through the hedge, tearing fabric and skin, and hit the service road hard. Bella is there, eyes wild, Lily pressed to her chest.
“You’re hit,” she gasps.
“Move,” I snarl. “Don’t stop.”
I grab her wrist with my good hand and drag us forward, down the slope, into deeper darkness where the estate lights can’t reach and the ground turns uneven and wild.
Behind us, Irina’s voice cuts through the night, almost howling. “You can’t protect them forever!”
I don’t look back.
Headlights cut through the dark ahead of us.
A black car skids to a stop sideways on the service road, tires screaming. The driver’s door flies open and Nikolai leans out, gun already in his hand.
“Now,” he snaps. “Get in. Both of you.”
I tighten my grip on Bella’s hand, blood dripping from my fingers, and pull her toward the car.
As long as I’m breathing, no one touches them.
Not her.
Not anyone.