CHAPTER 22
OAKLYNN
I glare over at Huck for what must be the millionth time.
Ever since he allowed us to leave is little hidden sanctuary after the threat at the warehouse was neutralized, he’s been sitting on the couch in the living room far too casually.
Me?
I couldn’t sit still even if I tried.
And I have no interest in trying.
Even though Huck didn’t have video of what happened inside the warehouse that Kirill, Maxim, and Baker walked into, I saw enough of what was going on outside to be on edge.
It would have been better if there was no audio on the feed he was able to use.
Maybe if there hadn’t been audio my heart wouldn’t still be racing.
There were pops.
Then silence.
I could only watch as men I had never seen before walked into the warehouse.
Thankfully, Huck was quick to explain to me who they were and that they were there to have my men’s back.
It did very little to calm my worry and panic.
But then the explosion happened.
It was the first time Huck looked worried since he had pulled me into his office and locked us inside.
He started to type and pull up more camera feeds along with breaking news coverage.
My gut was screaming at me that something was wrong.
The dread I was feeling only heightened when Huck stat back in his chair and breathed out, “Fuck.”
I screeched, “What do you mean fuck?”
He turned toward me slowly and my emotions must have been easy to read on my face because his eyes softened, and he pulled me into his lap.
“The explosion?” I looked up at the footage he was replaying which clearly showed an explosion like I had never seen before, taking out a warehouse which looked similar to the one my men had walked into.
“That was a warehouse we own, which is something that should have been untraceable.”
“How close is it to where they are?”
He sighed as his hands gripped me tighter like he was worried I was going to jump out of his lap and run all the way down to the industrial district.
“Not far. A couple of blocks distance.”
My mouth dropped open, but then movement on the monitors caught my eye.
I watched in horror as my men walked out of the warehouse.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then I noticed the way Baker was holding his arm.
“Was he shot?” I was barely able to breathe out the question.
Huck’s eyes snapped toward the monitor and saw exactly what I saw.
One of the mercenaries Huck pointed out to me pulled Baker toward the back of the vehicle my men arrived in.
I couldn’t see what they were doing, but it was only a few minutes later when Baker stepped back into view with the sleeve ripped from his button up shirt and his upper arm bandaged.
“He’s fine,” Huck tried to soothe me, but I could barely hear him.
He sounded far away as my breathing picked up.
Before he could stop me, I was off his lap and heading toward the door.
Thankfully, Huck didn’t try to stop me.
The door opened automatically, and I rushed through it.
When I got to the front door, clearly ready to rip it open, Huck grabbed me from behind.
His chest was firm against my back, and I welcomed his warmth.
“Baker is okay,” he murmured against the shell of my ear.
“He was walking around. If it was serious, his brother Wolfe would not have just bandaged him up and Maxim and Kirill would not let him just be up and about. Trust in them to take care of him. You need to breathe, Sweet Girl, and calm down.”
My panic morphed into something else entirely.
“Calm down?” I seethed the question and Huck’s grip relaxed a little bit.
“Don’t tell me to calm down. Baker was shot. I don’t care if it was a graze or a through and through, or whatever else could have happened. Shot,” I shouted.
Huck lifted me up and I started to kick my legs, but it didn’t deter him.
He held me in his lap, his hands moving over my body soothingly, until I calmed down.
But then I needed to move.
While I might not be ready to run out of the house and track down my men, I’m still on edge.
I don’t think I’ll be okay until I can set eyes on my men and make sure that Baker really is okay.
I’m also curious about what happened inside the warehouse.
I have a feeling that my father is dead.
I should probably feel something, but I don’t.
I grieved my father, the man he should have been, a long time ago.
It was probably around the time when my mom died.
He was never a real father to me.
I was always a means to an end to him.
A burden.
A problem.
A shiny object to dangle in front of someone.
When I glance at the television, the breaking news coverage is still covering the explosion.
The rubble of the warehouse has my gut clenching.
That explosion is a message for my men.
We’re going to have face so much more than my father, I just know it.
Hopefully, we’ll be strong enough to weather whatever is coming our way.
I have faith in my men.
But whoever is targeting them is dangerous and they will do anything to win.
If they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t have blown up a fucking warehouse in the middle of the industrial area of a major city.
The door opens and I’m spinning around and rushing toward it before I can even think about it.
The moment I see Kirill, Maxim, and Baker, I freeze.
Kirill and Maxim don’t really look any different than they did when they left the house this morning.
But Baker.
Baker.
The bandage on his arm would be bad enough, but it’s the dried blood on his arm that has me letting out a choked sob.
When his hazel eyes meet mine, there is no hope of me holding back my tears.
I don’t even try.
Baker sucks in a sharp breath before closing the distance between us.
His large hands cup my face, his thumbs wiping away the tears on my cheeks.
“I’m okay,” he murmurs soothingly.
It’s not nearly enough for me.
I reach up, my hand hovering over the bandage, but scared to touch him.
Hurting him is the last thing I want to do.
“You were shot,” I state, it’s not a question.
The evidence is right in front of me.
“It was just a graze,” he corrects me as if it makes any fucking difference.
It does not.
“A graze?” My voice hits a note that is not at all natural.
My men wince when they hear me as I start breathing heavy, unable to wrap my head around how casually he’s acting.
His blood was spilled.
Graze or not; his blood was spilled.
When my men surround me, their bodies pressing against me from all sides, it’s like I can take a breath for the first time since I heard the pops on the monitor in Huck’s office.
They’re here.
They’re okay.
I close my eyes and try to get my shit together.
Now is not the time to fall apart.
Not with the explosion.
Not with what I know they’re about to tell me.
Without opening my eyes I ask, “Was my father there?”
“He was,” Kirill’s voice has me snapping my eyes open.
I can see the sympathy in the depths of his dark gaze.
Sympathy but not an apology.
Not that I need one.
“Lev, the man who was with your father when they spoke to you during your date with Maxim, shot first. That is what grazed Baker the moment we walked inside. Your father was inside the warehouse, and I shot him.”
There’s an apology in his eyes with his confession, but he has nothing to apologize for.
My father was not a good man.
He would have kept trying to belittle and use me.
Death is the only thing that was ever going to stop him.
“Good,” I breathe out.
Kirill’s eyes flare pride and he lets out a breath as if he was holding it while waiting for my reaction.
“I wish he would have suffered more.”
My men freeze around me and then they start laughing.
What the fuck?
I look at them like they’ve lost it, but I can’t deny that their laughter is contagious.
“You’re perfect, Little Bee,” Baker’s amused words pull my attention back at him.
I fist my hands at my sides and grit out through my teeth, “You better not ever get shot again, grazed or anything else.”
“You better listen to her,” the rumbled words come from behind Baker and have me jumping.
Baker rolls his eyes and lets out a huff of annoyance.
My men step away from me just enough to face whoever has walked into our house.
They aren’t worried, but it takes me a moment to realize it’s because the man is one of the men Huck pointed out to me as working with us.
“I’m fine,” Baker insists.
The man smirks and when I look closer, I can see the resemblance between them.
This must be Baker’s older brother.
“I would hope so,” the man taunts, “since it’s just a graze.”
“I’m going to get snacks,” I whisper as two more men step into the house.
Without waiting for a response, I almost run into the kitchen.
I need a moment to collect myself and I’m sure that they have things to talk about.
I’m not sure if it’s a conversation I should be in on or not.
My father is no longer a threat, thankfully.
Does that mean my men won’t want or need me anymore?
I try and push the doubt aside, but it’s difficult.
I put together a quick charcuterie board which isn’t hard since they make sure to keep the fridge stocked with all sorts of ingredients which are always the highest quality.
When I carry it back into the living room, the conversation quiets and I try not to let awkwardness take me under.
Maxim takes the board from me at the same time that Kirill leads me deeper into the living room.
I should probably pull away from him considering he killed my father, but I’m not scared of him.
I’m grateful for him.
He whispers against the shell of my ear, “Feel better?”
I nod and swallow hard.
“Yeah,” I rasp, “I just needed a moment.”
With a kiss on my temple, he sits next to me, his dark eyes boring into me.
I get lost in the depth of the emotions I see in his eyes when I meet his gaze.
This man is intense.
He makes me feel alive; they all do.
“ Solnishko ,” he says like a prayer, “I know this might not be the right time, but there may never be a right time. Not now.”
My eyebrows pull together in confusion.
“I don’t understand.”
Kirill pulls a box out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket, and I suck in a breath.
“I’m going to be honest with you. We’re about to face a war. The man who was pulling your father’s strings wants to kill us. Not only is he seeking revenge for the death of his father, but he wants our power because he thinks it is owed to him.”
“You won’t let that happen,” I whisper.
The smile that Kirill flashes me is mesmerizing.
“No, we won’t. We will also protect you with everything we have.”
“You already have. You avenged the pain my father has been inflicting on me for so long.”
He leans over and kisses my forehead.
“We will always avenge you,” he promises.
When he pops the jewelry box open, my mouth drops open.
Inside is one of the most beautiful rings I have ever seen.
There are four diamonds configured in such a way that it looks like one giant gem, the light hitting it in such a way that it sparkles.
My gaze snaps up to his and can see the love he has for me.
Can he see the same when he looks into my eyes?
“What are you doing?” My voice cracks with the weight of the moment.
“We never wanted to marry you because of your father or the threat he posed to us. The moment we walked into that private dining room, we knew you are the only woman destined to be our center, our heart. Blood will be shed in the war we’re about to embark in, but I need to know that we can always come home to you so that we can find our light again.”
I look around the room, ignoring the men on the fringes, and meet the intense and sure gazes of Huck, Baker, and Maxim.
“We all want this,” Kirill assures me.
“The thought of not having you as our wife tears at our souls, but if you say yes, we will be whole.”
A laugh bubbles up in my chest, and I find myself nodding even as my hands shake while Kirill slips the ring into place.
“If you still want me, I’m yours,” my voice is barely a whisper.
Kirill lifts my hand and kisses my ring as if sealing the promise that it represents.
I can see in his eyes that he not only wants me, but he’ll never let me go.
“I love you, Solnishko .”
“I love you, Sweet Girl,” Huck murmurs, his voice washing over.
“I love you, Zolotse ,” the tease in Maxim’s voice has me clenching my thighs together.
“I love you, Little Bee,” Baker’s voice is filled with excitement.
My heart feels almost too full.
How can I contain the amount of love I have for these men?
“I love you. All of you,” I breathe out.
Baker’s loud clap has me jumping in my seat before I glare at him.
He shoots me a wicked grin and wiggles his eyebrows at me.
“You know, I might need a very sexy nurse to help take care of me. I was shot.”
I snort out a laugh and shake my head at him.
“It’s only a graze,” I give his words right back to him.
“But if you really need it, I’m sure we can hire a very nice male nurse to help you.”
The room erupts in laughter, and I can’t help but join in.
After being introduced to Hendrix, Dominic, and Wolfe, I sit back in my seat, happy that my men are home and safe.
I know it won’t last.
But that’s okay.
The weight of my engagement ring grounds me and reminds me that we’re in this together.
No matter what comes our way.