Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Kirill
Michael turns to me, disappointment written all over his face. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Kirill.”
He slowly shakes his head. He spreads his arms as though presenting me to the room. “This was supposed to be our operation.” His voice rises. “You were supposed to be standing beside me.” He points at Maxim. “Helping me make these people pay.”
Then his finger shifts toward Milana. “But instead…” A cruel smile spreads across his face. “You fell in love.” He lets out a mocking laugh. “All because of a woman.” He circles me slowly. “You traded everything for her.” He leans closer. “Tell me, was it worth it?”
I hold his stare. “It was.”
His smile disappears. Without warning, the baton slams into my ribs.
Pain explodes through my side. I grit my teeth, refusing to make a sound.
Another strike. Then another. Each blow sends fresh agony through my body, but I keep my eyes on him.
If he’s focused on me, he’s not touching Milana. Michael steps back, breathing harder than I am.
“You know what’s funny?” He chuckles darkly. “You could’ve had any woman you wanted.”
He tilts his head. “And now look at you.” He gestures to the ropes binding me to the chair. “Suffering because you chose the wrong one.”
I spit blood onto the floor. “I’d choose her again.”
His expression twists with rage. The baton comes down across my shoulder. A dull crack echoes through the basement. My vision blurs for a second, but I force myself to stay conscious.
Michael tosses the baton onto the workbench. “You know what?” He smiles again. “I think I’ve had enough fun with you.”
He slowly turns toward the women. My stomach tightens. “No.” The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it.
Maxim growls beside me. “Don’t.”
Michael ignores us. He walks over to Calina, who is only just beginning to stir. He crouches beside her and lightly pats her cheek. “Wakey, wakey.”
She groans weakly, her head lifting only slightly before dropping again. Michael laughs. “What a shame.”
He glances over his shoulder at us. “You know what’s interesting?” His smile grows wider. “The hardest part isn’t hurting someone. It’s making the people who love them watch.”
My entire body strains against the ropes. “If you touch them,” I snarl, “I’ll kill you.”
“Don’t lay your filthy hands on them,” Maxim roars.
Michael throws his head back and laughs. “You two really think you’re in a position to threaten me?”
He turns to his men. “Which of you would like to go first with the women? Let’s take a vote.”
His amusement only fuels my anger. Every instinct screams at me to break free and tear him apart.
But anger won’t get us out of here. I force myself to breathe and think. I glance sideways and my eyes meet Maxim’s.
“Ropes,” I mutter, and understanding fills Maxim's eyes as they drop to the rope binding my hands.
Carefully, I shift my weight, and the chair scrapes against the concrete floor, moving an inch.
Michael turns. I immediately stop moving. He watches us for a second before dismissing us with a smirk and returning his attention to his men.
The moment his back is turned again, I move another inch closer to Maxim. Across from me, Maxim does the same. The distance between our chairs slowly closes, and finally, our chairs are close enough.
Without looking directly at him, I twist my wrists as far as they’ll go behind my back.
My fingertips brush his rope, and I begin working to untie it. The knot is tight. I dig my fingernails into it anyway.
Across the room, Michael continues talking, laughing with his men as they cast a vote on who's getting Calina and Milana first.
It takes three tries before I finally feel the knot give beneath my fingers. Maxim’s wrists come free, and he starts working on my ropes.
When my ropes come free, I catch Maxim’s eye. His eyes flick to the guard nearest him, mine move to the one standing closest to me. Three more by the door. One beside Ivan.
Michael still has his back to us, laughing as his men argue among themselves.
“…I saw her first.”
“I’ll take the unconscious one.”
Laughter fills the basement. I clench my jaw. Focus. Maxim gives the slightest nod, we explode into motion.
I slam my chair backward into the guard behind me, and he stumbles. Before he can react, I drive my elbow into his throat, and he chokes. I rip the pistol from his holster.
Beside me, Maxim has already tackled his own guard, wrenching the rifle from his hands.
Gunfire erupts. The first bullet leaves my weapon before anyone understands what’s happening.
A guard drops. Another spins around just as Maxim shoots him through the shoulder.
“Kill them!” Michael roars.
The basement erupts into chaos. Bullets tear through the room.
A guard rushes me with a knife. I sidestep him and smash the butt of my pistol into his jaw. He crumples.
Something burns across my left side, I stagger and realize a bullet grazed my ribs.
“Kirill!” I hear Milana scream.
A guard raises his rifle toward Maxim. I shoot him first. Another aims at Milana, and I fire quickly. He collapses before he can pull the trigger.
Michael backs away, fury twisting his face. “You useless idiots!”
He snatches a pistol from one of his fallen men and raises it toward me.
I throw myself sideways. The shot cracks through the basement, and a wet sound follows. I notice the look of shock on Michael's face.
I turn to find Ivan with a surprised expression on his face, a bullet on his forehead. He looks at Michael in disbelief.
“You…”
His knees buckle, and he collapses onto the concrete floor. Dead.
Before Michael recovers, I rush him. I slam into him with everything I have, and his gun skids across the floor.
We crash into a table, sending tools flying. He drives his fist into my jaw. I answer with one to his ribs. He knees me in the stomach, causing me to stagger.
He lunges, but I catch his wrist before the knife he grabbed can reach me. We strain against each other, his face is inches from mine.
“You ruined everything!” he snarls.
I shove him backward, and he swings wildly. I duck beneath it and drive my fist into his face.
His nose breaks with a sickening crack. He stumbles. I don’t give him time to recover, I land another punch. Then another.
He crashes against the wall. I spot the pistol lying on the floor beside us. We both dive for it, my fingers reach it first.
Michael grabs my wrist, we struggle. Then… bang. The recoil jolts through my arm. Michael freezes, his eyes slowly drop to his chest. I follow it to see as a dark stain spreads across his shirt.
He takes one shaky step backward, blood spills from the corner of his mouth.
He tries to speak, nothing comes out except a wet gurgle. His eyes find mine, for the first time, there is fear in them.
His knees give out, and he hits the floor. I keep the gun trained on him until life finally drains from his eyes.
I’m across the room in seconds. “Milana.”
I drop to my knees in front of her and start fumbling with the ropes around her wrists. The moment her hands are free, she throws herself into my arms.
“Kirill…” She’s crying.
I wrap both arms around her and pull her against me as tightly as I can. I bury my face in her hair, breathing her in. She’s alive.
When I pull back, I wipe the tears still streaming down her cheeks.
Across the room, Maxim unties Calina. She stirs weakly as the ropes fall away. “Maxim…”
“I’m here, baby.” He gently lifts her into his arms.
He looks over at me. “We need to move. We don’t know if there are men still on the estate.”
I nod once. “Let’s go.”
I help Milana to her feet, keeping one arm securely around her as we hurry toward the stairs. Both Maxim and I retrieve rifles from the fallen guards before leaving the basement.
The house is eerily quiet. Our weapons stay raised as we move. We reach the front entrance without seeing another soul.
Outside, the sight waiting for us stops us cold. Our men are lying scattered across the driveway.
Milana gasps beside me. I immediately turn her into my chest before she can look any longer.
“Don’t look.” She grips my shirt tightly.
We hurry to the SUVs we’d arrived in. Thankfully, the keys are still inside.
Maxim settles Calina carefully into the back seat before climbing behind the wheel. I help Milana in beside her, then slide into the front passenger seat.
The moment the doors slam shut, Maxim starts the engine. The SUV tears out of the estate.
Only when we’ve cleared the gates does he glance at me. “How bad is it?”
I look down at the blood staining my shirt. “I’ll live.”
By the time we pull into Maxim's driveway, the front doors are already opening, the staff rushing outside to meet us.
“Call the doctor,” Maxim orders as he lifts Calina into his arms. “Now!”
While Maxim carries his wife upstairs, I head straight for the living room and grab the house phone. Artyom answers on the second ring.
“It’s me.”
“Kirill?” His voice is tense. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been trying to reach both you and Maxim.”
“Ivan betrayed us.” I quickly tell him everything.
By the time I finish, the line is completely silent. Finally, Artyom speaks. “We’re on our way.”
Less than ten minutes later, the front doors burst open. Artyom and Mikhail stride into the house with several of our men behind them.
The moment they see us standing there, the tension visibly leaves their shoulders.
“You two look like shit,” Mikhail mutters.
“I’ve felt better.”
His expression turns serious. “We were already on our way to Ivan’s estate.”
“When we couldn’t reach either of you, we knew something was wrong,” Artyom says.
Maxim joins us downstairs after settling Calina into bed. He fills them in on the parts I left out. When he finally finishes, the room falls quiet.
“Ivan’s dead,” Artyom says at last. “So is Michael.”
For the first time in what feels like forever, everyone exhales. The nightmare is over.
A short while later, the doctor arrives. He heads upstairs first to examine Calina. After nearly half an hour, he comes back down.
“She’ll be alright,” he says. “It was a strong sedative, but she’ll make a full recovery.”
Relief spreads across every face in the room.
Then Milana turns to me. “You should have the doctor have a look at your injury.”
Before I can argue again, Milana gives me that look that says don’t even think about it.
I sigh and sit.
The doctor carefully cleans the wound on my side before inspecting it.
“You’re lucky,” he says. “The bullet only grazed you.”
He finishes bandaging it before stepping back. “You’ll be sore for a few days, but you’ll be fine.”
Once the doctor leaves, exhaustion settles over the room. I look at Maxim. “I think it’s time I headed home.”
He nods. “I’ll have someone drive you.”
Before anyone else can say anything, Milana stands. “I’m going with him.”
Every head turns toward her. Mikhail frowns. “Milana—”
She shakes her head. “I’m going with Kirill.”
“You should stay here tonight,” Artyom says gently.
She walks over until she’s standing beside me. “No.”
The room falls silent. No one speaks for several long seconds. Finally, Artyom lets out a resigned sigh. “If that’s what you want…”
Relief settles quietly in my chest. I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been. A part of me feared that now the danger was over, she’d choose to stay with her family. Instead, she chose me.
By the time we get back to my penthouse, Milana is fussing over me like I’m made of glass. She runs me a bath.
“You need to rest,” she says, already heading toward the kitchen. “I’ll make something for you to eat.”
I catch her arm as she tries to leave the bathroom, pulling her back to me. “Hey.”
She turns, and that’s when I see the tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?” I ask, cupping her face. “Why are you crying?”
She swallows hard. “I thought I was going to lose you. When I saw that bullet hit you, I thought you were going to die. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.”
I pull her to my chest, holding her tight, breathing her in. “You’re not losing me. I was scared too. Scared of losing you. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to my gut. I should have never trusted Ivan to keep you safe. I should have been the one protecting you.”
She shakes her head against my chest. “It’s not your fault.”
We stay like that for a long moment, just holding each other. Finally, we pull back slightly. “How about you get in the bathtub with me?”
She helps me out of my shirt, careful with my injured side, then takes off her own clothes. We both get into the tub, her in front of me.
The warm water soothes the ache in my muscles as I wrap my good arm around her waist, pulling her back against my chest.
She turns her head slightly, looking at me. “This is the second time you’ve taken a bullet to save me.”
I kiss her temple. “And I’d gladly take many more to keep you safe.”
She shakes her head. “No. I’d rather there are no more bullets."
I lean down, kissing her softly. “I’ll try.”
We soak in silence for a while, the water warm around us. I’m so glad everything is over. Michael is gone.
No more shadow hanging over us. Now we can breathe. Now I can breathe, knowing she’s safe. And she’s here. With me.