Chapter 39
ADRIANNE
The water remained still. Dark. Like it had swallowed them both and would never give them back.
“They’re not coming up.” My voice sounded distant, detached, like it belonged to someone else. “They’re both going to die down there.”
“Don’t say that.” Sasha’s grip on my hand tightened. “Don’t you dare say that.”
But I could see it in everyone’s faces. The dawning realization that too much time had passed. That no one could hold their breath this long in water that cold.
“I’m going in,” Liam said, already moving toward the hole.
Then the water exploded.
Adrik burst through the surface, gasping and choking, his face twisted with pain and effort. And this time, Nikolai’s limp body was in his arms.
“Help me!” Adrik’s voice was raw, desperate. “I can’t…”
Matt and Max were there instantly, grabbing Nikolai, hauling him out of the water, dragging him away from the hole, and leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Liam grabbed Adrik, pulling him out, and he ran towards the ice where Nikolai was lying on the snow.
He wasn’t breathing. His lips were blue, his skin was white, almost translucent. His eyes were closed, his face peaceful. He looked like a corpse carved from ice.
“No.” The word came out broken. “No, no, no.”
I crawled to him, my frozen hands reaching for his face, and I couldn’t feel its warmth.
“Nikolai.” I touched his cheek, his neck, searching desperately for a pulse. “Nikolai, wake up. Please wake up.”
Nothing.
Matt was already starting chest compressions, his hands locked together, pushing down hard. “Come on, you Russian bastard. Breathe.”
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
He tilted Nikolai’s head back, breathed into his mouth, and went back to compressions.
Nothing.
“Breathe!” Matt pushed harder, faster. “Goddammit, breathe!”
Still nothing but more blood.
I was sobbing now, my frozen tears sticking to my face. “Don’t leave me. You promised. You promised we’d survive this together.”
Matt kept going. Compressions. Breath. Compressions. Breath.
Nikolai remained still.
“It’s not working,” Max said quietly, his hand on Matt’s shoulder.
“It’ll work.” Matt’s voice was fierce, but I heard the desperation underneath. “It has to work.”
Nikolai’s face was still blue. Still lifeless.
“Matt…” Liam started, his voice gentle and resigned.
“No.” Matt kept going, but his movements were becoming frantic. Less controlled. “No, he’s not… he can’t be.”
“Come on, Nikolai!” Adrik was shouting now, on his knees right next to Nikolai’s statued body. “You don’t get to do this! You don’t get to leave like this! Not after I betrayed you! Not before you get to kill me yourself!”
Nothing.
“Please!” Adrik’s tears were streaming down his face. “Please, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Come back, and I’ll let you put a bullet in my head! I’ll let you do anything! Just come back!”
I pressed my forehead to Nikolai’s, my frozen fingers tangling with his. “I love you,” I whispered. “Do you hear me? I love you so much. So you don’t get to die. You don’t get to leave me here alone.”
Adrik pushed Matt aside, compressing Nikolai’s chest with rage and pain and sorrow fueling his movements.
“Come on, Brother,” he whispered. “Come on. I can’t lose you.”
But Adrik was weak, too, slowing down, as his hands shook. His compressions were becoming less effective.
“Adrik…” Matt moved to take over again, but Adrik shoved him back weakly.
“No. It’s my fault. All of it. If he dies, it’s because of me. Because I betrayed him. Because I…” He bent over Nikolai, breathing into his mouth with desperate force. “Come on! Breathe! brEATHE, you arrogant fuck!”
Nothing.
Adrik went back to compressions, more blood pooling out of Nikolai’s wound.
It was too long. Way too long.
Nikolai was gone.
The man I loved, the monster who’d kidnapped me and then saved me, the broken boy who’d somehow become my entire world… He was gone.
Drowned in the same lake as his sister.
History repeating itself in the cruelest way possible.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pressing my lips to his. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”
That was my one job in this damn world. To care. To take care of my mother, to take care of Nikolai. And now, they were both gone.
Nikolai’s body jerked, and I gasped, pulling back.
Water spilled from his mouth. He coughed, a terrible wet sound, choking and gasping.
His eyes flew open, wide and wild and searching.
“Anya,” he gasped, his voice barely audible. “Anya, I’m here.”
His eyes found mine, and I saw the confusion begin to clear.
“Addy,” he breathed, his hand suddenly gripping mine with desperate strength. “Addy, you’re alive.”
“So are you.” I was sobbing, laughing, clutching him. “You’re alive. You came back. You came back to me.”
“I had to.” His other hand came up to cup my face, trembling. “She told me to. She told me I had to live.”
“Who told you?”
“Anya.” Tears streamed down his face. “She forgave me. Told me to let go.”
He pulled me against him, his frozen body shaking violently as he wrapped his arms around me. Both of us soaked and freezing, but so damn alive.
“Vladimir?” He asked, that voice fighting to be heard.
“He ran before we got to you.”
Nikolai stood silent for a second, then locked his eyes with mine, taking in the scratches on my face, my blue, frozen lips. Then he kissed me, sweet and long.
“Don Battaglia,” Nikolai said after breaking our kiss, leaving a smile on my face for the first time today, only to wipe it right back off, “You have a promise to keep. Take her home.”