Chapter 50 Aleksandr
ALEKSANDR
The blood has dried into a second skin by the time I push through the estate doors. Most of it isn't mine. Most of it belonged to Katya's men, the ones stupid enough to think an ambush on the highway would be enough to take me down.
They were wrong.
My muscles scream with exhaustion, but adrenaline keeps me upright, keeps my mind sharp and cataloging threats. Combat mode doesn't have an off switch, and right now, every shadow looks like an enemy.
I round the corner into the sitting room and stop.
Lena's parents are there. Shit. I'd forgotten about the meeting I'd arranged. Stepan sits rigid on the sofa, Mary beside him with her hands folded in her lap like she's at a funeral. They look like they're waiting for execution.
When they see me, their faces confirm it.
Recognition hits them and I see the horror cover their faces. Stepan's eyes go wide, then narrow with understanding. He knows exactly who I am. What I am. His arm moves protectively in front of Mary, a futile gesture that would be touching if it weren't so pointless.
"Aleksandr Romanov." My name sounds like a curse in his mouth.
Behind me, my men fill the doorway. Danil stands near the window where he'd been watching over this reunion before I arrived.
They're all watching this interaction with the intensity of wolves studying their alpha.
Waiting to see how I handle civilians who know too much.
Waiting to see if their Pakhan has gone soft.
I can't afford soft. Not today. Not ever.
Then I see her.
Lena stands beside her mother, one hand still gripping Mary's arm like she's afraid to let go. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
For a moment on that highway, when bullets were tearing through metal and glass, I thought I'd never see her again. Thought I'd die without telling her the things I should have said. Without holding her one more time.
But I'm here. She's here. We're both alive.
Her eyes lock on mine, and I watch the relief hit her first. That split second where she registers that I'm standing, breathing, whole. Then her gaze drops to the blood covering my clothes, dried in the creases of my knuckles, splattered across my shirt. Her face goes white.
"Oh, my God! Are you okay?" She starts toward me, but I shake my head and she stays by her mother. "Where are you hurt? Should I call an ambulance?"
"No, I'm fine, Lena. Not my blood."
I want to cross the room. Want to pull her against me and just hold her body next to mine. Feel her warmth, her heart beat against my chest. Reassure her that we're both alive.
But my men are watching. Stepan is watching with calculation in his eyes, seeing exactly what his daughter is to me.
And I can't afford that. Not now. Not when Katya's men just tried to kill me on a public highway. Not when my authority has already been challenged and my men are waiting to see if their Pakhan has gone soft.
I force myself back into the role. The boss. The man who makes decision, even when those decisions hurt.
"Mr. and Mrs. Orlov." My voice comes out colder than I intend. Professional. Distant. "I need you to come with my guards."
Stepan's body goes rigid. "Where?"
"The basement holding area. You'll be comfortable, but you'll remain there until I've finished questioning you."
The room goes silent.
Mary's hand flies to her mouth. Stepan moves in front of his wife, protective instinct overriding fear. And Lena, she just stares at me like I've slapped her.
"No." Her voice is quiet. Deadly quiet. "Absolutely not."
"This isn't negotiable."
"The hell it isn't." She moves between her parents and my guards, her body a barrier. Her voice rises, sharp with panic and fury. "You promised me they'd be safe here. You looked me in the eye and promised."
"They will be safe. In the basement."
"That's a prison, Aleksandr." She's shaking now, and I can see the betrayal written across her face. "You're treating them like criminals. Like threats."
I let steel creep into my tone. "They go to the basement."
"You swore to me." Tears stream down her face, but her voice doesn't break. "You swore they'd be protected."
"And they will be. Under guard." I nod to my men. "Take them."
"Don't you dare." Lena grabs her mother's hand, her knuckles white. "Don't you fucking dare touch them."
Stepan steps forward, his voice quiet but firm. "Lena. It's alright."
"It's not alright." But her father's hand on her shoulder stops her protest.
"We'll be fine." He looks at me, and there's something in his eyes I can't quite read. Understanding, maybe. Or resignation. "We'll answer his questions."
Mary is crying silently as my guards move forward. Stepan keeps his arm around her, keeps his head high. They walk out with dignity, but I see the way Mary looks back at her daughter. The way Lena's face crumples as they disappear through the doorway.
The door closes.
Danil and my remaining men watch, waiting to see how I handle this. Waiting to see if their Pakhan will crack.
"Leave us," I tell them.
Danil hesitates. "Pakhan…"
"Out."
They file out slowly, reluctantly. The door clicks shut behind them, and suddenly, it's just me and Lena in this room that feels too small and too large all at once.
She turns on me with a fury I've never seen before.
"What are you going to do to them?" Her voice shakes with rage. "Tell me right now what you're planning."
"I'm going to question them about the money. The debt that started all of this."
Her face goes pale. "What?"
"Your family has never paid for what they did," I say.
"People understand I canceled the hit on you since you're my fiancée, and since you didn't have anything to do with what happened.
But if I don't at least talk to your parents, it will set the wrong example for other people who might want to cross me. "
"Bullshit." She moves closer, her blue eyes so dark they're almost black with fury. "Was this your plan all along? Bring them here, make me think they're safe, then lock them in your basement and interrogate them? Use them against me?"
"Lena."
"Don't." She holds up a hand. "Don't you dare try to explain this away. Don't tell me it's for their protection or for my safety or any of the other lies you're so good at."
"The basement is the most secure location in the estate," I say, keeping my voice level.
"So you lock them up like prisoners."
"I keep them safe while I settle accounts that should have been settled years ago."
"They're not a threat." Her voice cracks. "They're my parents."
"Your father stole from me, Lena. No one does that and gets away with it."
Lena stares at me like she's seeing me for the first time. Like the man standing in front of her is a stranger wearing Aleksandr's face.
"I was a fool," she says quietly. "I actually thought the man from the cabin was real. I thought maybe, underneath all this, you were still Sasha."
The words slice through me, sharp and precise.
"But he's gone, isn't he?" She's crying now, angry tears that she swipes away with the back of her hand. "That man is completely gone. And you're exactly what everyone says you are. A monster in an expensive suit."
"Lena."
"I'll never forgive you if you hurt them." Her voice drops to something cold and hard. "I don't care what you do to me. I don't care if you lock me in that basement too. But if you hurt my parents, if you lay one finger on them, I will find a way to make you pay for it."
She steps closer. Close enough that I could reach out and pull her against me. Close enough that I can see the way her pulse jumps in her throat.
"I swear to God, Aleksandr, I will destroy you."
She means it. I can see it in her eyes and in the set of her jaw, in the way she's trembling with rage and fear and determination. She would burn my world down to protect her family.
I respect the hell out of that even as it complicates everything. Pride swells in my chest, and it's all I can do not to smile. That would certainly piss her off even more, but I'd rather see her pissed than crying.
Danil steps inside, his face grim.
"Pakhan." His voice cuts through the tension. "We have a location on Katya."