Chapter 41 – MAKSIM
Forty-One
MAKSIM
Ismooth my fingers over the bandage on my hand. It isn’t the one Valentina wrapped around me last night. This one’s from Remi. Normally, I wouldn’t let an eighteen-year-old, somewhat inexperienced tattoo artist touch my skin, but I’ll give her this—she’s damn good.
I reached out to her early, after waking up this morning, just as I have every morning since returning, thinking about Valentina.
And with this pull in my chest, this need to do something for her.
Something small. Something stupid. Something that’ll make her smile.
Because the things I’d do just to put a smile on her face scare me—in the best and worst ways.
I don’t know what I’m doing, what any of this means…
what’s waiting for us on the other side of all this madness. I just know I want her by my side.
Waking up alone, without her, isn’t an option anymore.
“Sir.”
Two soft knocks follow the voice.
“Come in,” I say, not turning, eyes still on the city below.
“Security informed me there are two women on their way up to see you. They insisted, blew past the guards rather…violently.”
I freeze—not out of fear, but interest—and finally look over my shoulder at Alina. She’s pale, tucking a dark strand behind her ear as she steps inside.
Incompetence. Unacceptable.
I pull my Glock from the top drawer.
“Is that so?”
She nods quickly, eyes dropping to the floor. “Should I call for backup? They were…um, covered in blood, sir.”
A cold, sharp pressure clamps around my ribs, and I rack the slide and move past her toward the door.
“I have the footage,” she blurts, flipping her phone around.
One glance.
One goddamn glance is all it takes.
Valentina. And AJ. I’m already sprinting for the elevator.
The metal doors glide open, and for one suspended second, we stare at each other, me rooted in place, her standing there like a fucking nightmare come to life. Blood is splattered across her shirt, her face. AJ behind her in the same state.
“Kolibri,” I breathe, stepping in front of her, voice shredded. “Tell me you’re okay.”
“It’s not my blood,” she says.
That’s all I need to hear.
My lungs unlock, and my heart kicks back to life. I grab her and pull her hard into my chest, burying my face in her hair as I kiss the top of her head.
“Fuck, baby,” I rasp, holding her like my hands are the only things keeping her upright. “Don’t do that. Don’t you fucking do that to me.”
“I’m okay,” she whispers, fingers digging into my shirt. “But we need to talk.”
I nod, eyes sliding to AJ, and settle a hand on her shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
Her voice is tight, almost smug. Not shaken like a kid her age should be but laced with the raw edge of a girl ready to rip someone’s head off.
Alina steps around us, eyes wide at the sight of them. “Should I get some towels?”
“When that’s done, tell the staff downstairs they’re not to go home tonight until I say.” My order is flat.
She hesitates, gaze darting between us, lingering longer than necessary. Her lips part as if to say something, then close again. “Of course,” she finally murmurs, and disappears down the hallway.
By the time we’re back in my office and Valentina is relaying the rest, I’m already standing. Casper. Fucking Casper. The bastard I should have killed the night we met.
“Where is he?” I bark.
“We left him chained in his office. He’s still alive.”
Not for long. My boots take me to the door before my brain catches up. “Stay here.”
I’m moving before she can stop me, adrenaline and the urge to spill blood overriding everything.
“Maksim, wait.” Her voice pins me mid-step. She’s the only one who can make me listen, and I stop long enough to hear her out.
“Valentina, he’s a dead man walking. That won’t change.”
“No—that’s not it.” She throws a protective arm around AJ while unfolding something with her free hand. “He deserves to die for what he did to me. Especially for what could’ve happened to her. But this…this is bigger than Casper.”
She opens her palm. A signet ring gleams there, the same Ares emblem as her father’s. As my parents.
My jaw tightens as I pinch it between my fingers.
“There was a woman,” she adds. “She tried to kill us. And she was wearing this.” Valentina digs into her pocket and produces two more rings. “They all were.”
Everyone is talking at once, voices overlapping, and crashing into each other until it’s all just noise, pounding behind my eyes. Every person in this room has a different theory, a different fucking opinion.
Derek is pacing with his phone pressed to his ear, speaking to old colleagues who still owe him favors. Mom and Silas are on their own calls, comparing intel and trading names.
The rest of them—Kai, Amalia, Santino, Athena—are gathered, arguing possibilities.
And then there’s Eva, who hasn’t let Valentina or AJ get more than five feet from her since they walked in. She’s got one hand on each of them as if she lets go, they’ll disappear.
But I understand her, because through the chaos and tension, my gaze keeps finding my girl. She’s standing across the room beside her sister, cheeks still streaked with dried blood. My hands itch to hold her, to pull her into me, and reassure myself that she’s whole, breathing, here.
Every time our eyes meet, something in my chest squeezes. Like the entire room is spinning around her.
I know that coming here and gathering everyone was the smart move.
The safe move. The people in this room know the organization better than I ever will.
Their experience, their connections…it’s what will keep Valentina alive.
But it fucking kills me that we have to hide from the very people we were raised to trust. As if the danger is coming from inside these walls, not outside them.
It’s bullshit.
I push off and meet her eyes across the room. My jaw is locked, my fists tight at my sides, every muscle fighting the need to cross the space between us. To touch her and ground myself in her. But this isn’t about me.
It’s for her.
Always her.
When I lean against the wall again, I exhale and look away in an attempt to compose myself.
“Maksim.”
Her voice pulls my head up instantly. Valentina is no longer at her mother’s side. She’s right in front of me, looking up, a soft smile on her lips, and her eyes full of something that makes my breath catch.
“Hold me.”
Those two words undo me completely. I don’t hesitate and grip the front of her sweater, drag her against my chest, and wrap my arms around her like she’s the only thing keeping me standing. I kiss her forehead, lingering.
“Moya krasivaya.”
Silence ripples across the room like a shockwave. Voices fade. Derek’s phone call dies mid-sentence. My parents stare like everyone else. For a moment, it’s as if no one is breathing.
“Finally!” AJ. Of course.
Valentina laughs and exhales a shuddering breath, then turns in my arms to face the room—our families—without letting go of me. Just like that, the truth is out, and the line is drawn. And she’s standing on my side of it.
“I know this isn’t the best time,” she begins, voice steady now, eyes darting across the room, “but I don’t see a point in hiding any longer. Maksim and I—”
“She’s mine.”
Silence crashes over us again. Mom is the first to move. She slips out of Silas’s arms and crosses the room with a smile so full and warm it disarms the tension. She wraps both of us into a hug, her voice soft against Valentina’s hair.
“Beautiful,” she murmurs. “I knew it.”
The others join in. All except Derek. His cold gaze never leaves mine. Then he turns and walks out, the terrace door slamming behind him hard enough to rattle the glass.
Valentina’s smile collapses, and she starts after him, but I catch her wrist.
“I’ve got this,” I say, tilting her chin so she can’t run from my eyes.
She breathes out slowly and nods, stepping aside.
“Maksim.” Mom’s voice is a warning.
I know exactly what she means without needing to look at her. She’ll choose me if it comes down to it, even if it tears this family in half.
But I won’t let it get that far.
Derek’s approval, his love, those things matter to Valentina more than anyone understands. And I’ll be damned before I let myself be the reason she ever sheds a single tear over this.
I turn toward the terrace, jaw tight.
Time to face Derek Cain.