Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Calina
A strong urge to pee pulls me from sleep.
My body feels heavy, like it’s wrapped in thick layers of cotton. My eyelids are sticky, refusing to open properly. I try to roll over, but even that small movement takes effort.
Everything is fuzzy, my thoughts slow, my limbs sluggish. I blink a few times, trying to shake off the fog, but it clings to me stubbornly.
Finally, I manage to sit up. The room tilts slightly before settling. Maxim’s side of the bed is empty, the sheets cool. A small frown creases my brow.
“Maxim?” I call out, my voice sounding thick and distant to my own ears.
No answer.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed, but it takes me a second to find my balance.
My head feels stuffed with wool. I pad to the bathroom, moving like I’m wading through water.
I do my business, splash some cold water on my face, and stare at my reflection.
I look tired. Groggy. Like I slept too deeply.
Where is he?
As I step back into the bedroom, I call his name again, louder this time. Nothing. I walk downstairs, still calling for him, my voice echoing in the quiet house. His study is dark and empty too.
He’s gone.
The realization slams into me like a cold wave. He waited until I fell asleep and left. Or… did he make sure I fell asleep? I can’t even remember how I drifted off so quickly. One moment we were talking, the next I was out. The fog in my head feels heavier now, suspicion creeping in.
He lied to me. He left to meet Dmitri. Alone.
Panic surges through me, and I rush back to the bedroom.
My hands start to shake as I grab my phone.
What if Dmitri goes back on his word? What if it’s a trap?
Dmitri is a backstabber, he already proved that.
What if he and Adrian are working together to lure Maxim down there?
What if they overpower him? What if I lose him tonight?
My chest tightens until it hurts to breathe. Tears burn my eyes. I can’t just sit here. I can’t wait helplessly while the man I love walks into danger.
I need help. With trembling fingers, I dial my brothers.
Mikhail answers first, his voice sharp with worry. “Calina? What’s wrong? Why are you calling this late? Are you okay?”
Artyom joins the call a second later, his tone equally tense. “Calina, talk to us. Where’s Maxim? Is everything alright?”
“Maxim needs your help. He got a message from Dmitri and asked to meet him alone. I think he’s already on his way there.”
My grip tightens around the phone.
“I have a bad feeling about this. What if it’s a trap? I’m heading to the location now, but I need you guys there too. If Dmitri is setting him up, Maxim is going to need backup.”
I hear them both curse on the line.
Artyom’s voice is tight. “Don’t you dare leave that house. You hear me? You stay right where you are.”
Mikhail cuts in, sounding furious. “What the hell is he thinking, going alone? Tell us the location.”
I give them the address Dmitri sent, the old orphanage grounds.
“So are you guys coming or not? Either way I’m heading there myself.”
I know my brothers would do anything for me and my sister. They always have. But things are different now. I’m married to Maxim, so I should no longer be considered their responsibility. A small part of me fears they’ll tell me this is something we have to handle on our own.
They both go quiet for a second, then start cussing again.
“You are not going anywhere,” Artyom says firmly. “We’ll mobilize our men right now. Stay put, Calina. Promise me you won’t move a muscle until we get there.”
“I promise,” I whisper, even though every part of me wants to run out the door.
They make me repeat the promise twice more before they finally hang up.
I start pacing the bedroom like a caged animal, my heart hammering so hard it hurts. The thought of anything happening to Maxim makes me feel like I can’t breathe.
We’re just starting. We’re just beginning to fall in love, to trust each other, to build something real. I finally told him I love him. He finally said it back.
The idea of losing him now, of spending the rest of my life without his voice, his touch, his fierce protectiveness, is unbearable. The future looks so bleak without him. Empty. Terrifying.
Tears spill down my cheeks as I clutch my phone, praying silently.
Please, God. Keep him safe. Bring him back to me.
I can’t lose him. Not when we’ve only just found each other.
Maxim
The old orphanage looms ahead like a ghost from the past.
The building is falling apart, broken windows, cracked walls, weeds growing through the concrete. This place raised us. Broke us. Shaped us into what we are. I never thought I’d come back here under these circumstances.
My men surround the perimeter, hidden in the shadows, waiting for my signal. Viktor stays close as we enter alone, guns drawn, footsteps echoing through the empty halls. The air smells of dust and decay.
Dmitri is waiting in what used to be the common room, standing under a flickering overhead. When he sees me, his face twists, no more easy smile, no more brotherly warmth.
“I see you didn’t come alone,” he says, a hint of amusement in his voice. “I should have known Viktor would be right behind you, like a loyal lapdog.”
Viktor groans beside me. “You fucker!”
Dmitri gives him a bored look, as though he’s nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing around his head.
I keep my gun trained on him. “I’m a little curious, Dmitri. Why would you do this? Wasn’t what I gave you good enough for you?”
He lets out a bitter laugh and shakes his head.
“All these years, Maxim, and you still don’t get it.” His eyes flash with resentment. “You really thought I was happy playing second fiddle? Standing behind you while everyone treated you like you were something special?”
His jaw tightens.
“You act like you earned everything you have, but you didn’t. Orlov picked you. He pulled you out of the gutter, gave you a name, gave you a future.”
His gaze turns hard, almost venomous.
“What about me? What about Viktor? We aged out of that orphanage and got tossed onto the streets like trash. I was just as hungry as you. Just as smart. Just as capable.”
He jabs a finger toward me.
“But they chose you.”
The words crack through the air.
“It should have been me! Not you!” he roars.
“I was smarter. Hell, I was always smarter than you. Every time I saw you sitting in a position that should have been mine, every time I heard people speak your name with respect, every time I watched you enjoy a life that was meant for me, it ate me alive. And I was bidding time until I took it all back.”
I stare at him, struggling to reconcile the man standing in front of me with the one I've known for years.
Or maybe I never knew him at all.
All this time, I thought we were brothers. And all the while, this was what he thought of me.
Beside me, Viktor goes rigid. I can practically feel the fury rolling off him. Without taking my eyes off Dmitri, I give a slight shake of my hand. The gesture is subtle, but Viktor catches it immediately.
“So when I found a way to take you out, I took it.” Dmitri’s voice rises, filled with resentment.
“Adrian promised me a share. A real share. Not scraps from your table. I helped him because I wanted what should have been mine from the beginning. The empire. The respect. Everything you took from me.”
The betrayal hits like a knife in the gut. “I took nothing from you Dmitri. Everything I got, I got as a result of proving myself to Orlov! You have no idea what it cost me.”
“I would’ve proven myself too,” he says coldly. “If I’d been given the chance.”
“Fuck Dmitri, you’re a fucking ingrate. You almost had my wife killed.”
Dmitri shrugs, no trace of remorse in his eyes. “She was a means to an end. If she died, you’d have been easier to break.”
That’s all it takes, I lunge at him.
We collide hard, fists flying. He’s strong, we trained together for years, but he’s no match for me. I taught him all he knows.
I slam my fist into his jaw, feeling the satisfying crack. He retaliates with a punch to my ribs that knocks the breath out of me. We crash into an old table, wood splintering as we grapple on the ground.
“I treated you like a brother!” I snarl, kneeing him in the stomach.
He laughs through the blood on his lips. “Brothers don’t get everything while the rest of us get nothing.”
Viktor is there in seconds, but I wave him off. This is mine.
I pin Dmitri down, my forearm pressed against his throat. “You betrayed me. You tried to take her from me. For that alone, you die slowly.”
His eyes widen with real fear for the first time.
A gunshot rings out, the sound slicing through the air and jolting both me and Dmitri. In the split second of distraction, he wrenches free from my grip.
I spin around to find Adrian stepping out from the shadows like the snake he is, gun in hand, flanked by several armed men. His face is twisted with smug satisfaction.
“Hello Maxim,” he sneers. “Sorry, I had to break your little brawl, but it’s time I put an end to all of this.”
An ugly smile curls at his lips.
“You have no idea how much joy it brings me that this day has finally come,” Adrian says, almost savoring the words. “I’ll give you credit, Maxim, you’re one hard man to break.”
He takes a slow step forward, gun steady in his hand.
“I went after your businesses. I cut you off from allies. I painted you as the unstable bastard you are, to make people doubt you, to make them turn on you… but you always came out on top. You slipped through my fingers every time.”
His smile sharpens.
“And then that wedding ruined everything. The Morozov girl gave you legitimacy I couldn’t easily destroy.”
Rage explodes through me. I raise my gun, but Adrian’s men open fire first.
Gunshots erupt everywhere. Bullets ricochet off concrete walls. I dive behind cover, returning fire while giving the signal to my men outside. They storm in, weapons blazing, but Adrian came prepared, there are more men than I expected. We’re outnumbered.
The fight turns chaotic. Shouts, screams, the sharp crack of gunfire filling the abandoned hall. I take down two of Adrian’s men, but another clips my shoulder. Pain flares hot, but I ignore it, pushing forward.
Then I see familiar faces as Artyom and Mikhail burst in with their own soldiers, guns drawn, laying down covering fire. My relief is instant, until I see my wife.
She’s right there with them, eyes wide with fear but determined, her weapon drawn. Under different circumstances I’d be proud, but fury and terror crash over me at the same time. What the fuck is she doing here? She shouldn’t be here. She should be safe at home.
The Morozov men turn the tide. Their arrival evens the odds. Bullets fly. Men fall. In the chaos, I see Adrian trying to slip away. I push through the fight, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and fire. My shot catches him in the chest. He staggers, eyes wide with shock, before collapsing.
I walk over to him, stand over his body. And I fire again. Head. Chest. Neck. I don’t stop until he’s completely still. Dead.
I turn to find Dmitri being captured alive by my men, dragged away kicking and screaming. He’ll face a much slower end.
The gunfire dies down. The hall falls eerily quiet except for the groans of the wounded. Mostly Adrian’s men. The rest have already fled.
My first instinct is Calina.
I shove through the debris and bodies, ignoring the blood on my hands, until I reach her. I pull her into my arms, crushing her against my chest, my hands frantically checking for injuries.
“Are you hurt?” I rasp, voice rough. “Tell me you’re okay.”
She clings to me, trembling but alive. “I’m okay. I’m not hurt.”
“Fuck baby, you gave me a scare.” I hug her tighter. “Don’t ever do that again.”
I hold my wife closer, pressing a hard kiss to the top of her head. She’s alive. That’s all that matters.
Thank fuck for that.
My grip tightens slightly at the thought of what could’ve gone wrong. If anything had happened to her, I would’ve put a bullet in her brothers’ heads without hesitation. And as it stands, I’m still going to have a very serious conversation with them for bringing her into this.