Chapter 20 Amber
AMBER
The next few days after Roman found out that I had a different ID weren’t as tense or awkward as I feared they might be.
There was no doubt that he was suspicious of me, but he wasn’t turning me away or acting differently toward me. I couldn’t be sure what he thought and if his family members or coworkers were looking into me.
If they were, they’d find my connection to William and it would at the very least raise some questions. William Rossen was an important figure in society. With how wealthy and affluent the Orlovs were, it seemed too likely that they’d have heard of him, running in the same circles.
I didn’t ask Roman any follow-up questions about the men following me at the park. I trusted him when he said he was having it looked into. Blindly counting on him to keep me safe felt like a leap of faith, but I had no chance to ask him anything. Or talk to him at all.
He was busy with meetings and in the office, both the one here and others elsewhere.
The twins took up my time, too. Emily was teething already and Henry was acting like he wanted to be not only an overachiever to sit up independently before his sister but was also rocking and trying to scoot on his butt.
No one needed to warn me how much more chaotic life would be when they were crawling.
I recalled those days in foster homes. Mobile babies were such a game changer.
The main reason I didn’t ask—or hear—about any suspicions about my past or the men from the park was because Esmeralda finally lost her battle with cancer and other chronic illnesses. It was a grave time for us all. Even though I wasn’t close to her, I was sorry for the Orlovs’ loss.
Sofia was understandably upset, but she had been bracing herself for the inevitable for so long.
The funeral was planned in advance, and it didn’t seem like many details were left untouched.
I dressed the twins in appropriate clothes for the trip to the small church where the Orlovs would be gathered for the ceremony.
As best as I could tell, Sofia had only recently married into the family.
It was therefore more touching and moving how all of them came together to support her in this time of loss.
Roman stood with me, holding Henry, and I sat next to him with Emily on my lap. Owen behaved, likely bribed by Mikhail with a treat. Rose napped through most of it, and Andre held Esme while Sofia gave a short and sweet eulogy.
It didn’t seem like anyone from Sofia’s family was there, or her cousin’s, but it wasn’t my place to ask.
I knew all too well what it was like for families to break up, split up, be lost, and change.
I was a living example of that—orphaned, adopted, and returned.
Those last two had happened on repeat until I was introduced to William.
Don’t. Don’t even let your mind go there.
I breathed in a deep breath and willed myself to ignore the memories of the man who’d wanted to “adopt” me. Legally, he had. Yet, he had unconventional opinions about what that meant.
I scrunched my nose, then took in another deep breath.
Roman leaned toward me to whisper during a song that a choir sang. “I think he pooped,” he whispered.
Quickly and without making a fuss about it, I lifted Emily up so I could sniff closer to her diaper. “Nope,” I whispered back. “She did.”
He cringed, and I began to swap with him so I could take Henry to change his diaper.
Before we could quietly trade twins, Henry let out a wet one in a true hold my beer moment.
I deadpanned at Roman whose lips twitched like he was fighting not to laugh. We paused in the middle of swapping them and I sighed.
“I’ll take them both,” I whispered.
“You sure?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Makes no sense for both of us to deal with it at once.” I hoisted Emily to my right hip and accepted Henry on my left.
Trying not to draw attention to the disruption, I scooted out into the aisle and gave everyone apologetic looks as I toted the poopers toward the back. Stopping at where the diaper bag had been placed in the small coat room, I then carried them toward the bathroom near the vestibule of the church.
An usher winced and shook his head. “There’s only one narrow stall in there,” he whispered at the bathroom door.
He clearly guessed that I needed to change diapers with the diaper bag clutched in my hand. Henry reached out to grab the man’s tie, and I countered his slant.
“Is there anywhere with a changing table?” I whispered back.
“There’s more space in the room back there. They use it for weddings for brides to get ready. So there is a sink and a counter available.”
I thanked him and detoured to the other room.
“Stinky, stinky!” I told Henry as I dealt with his mess first. Emily sat on the same counter, kicking her foot at her brother and smiling at my silly expression.
Henry just grinned.
“Yeah, I bet that feels better, huh, sweetheart?” I snapped up his clothes and let him down on the carpeted floor so I wouldn’t worry about his being too mobile while I cleaned up his sister.
Emily shivered as I opened up her clothes to handle her diaper.
Just when I could tell she’d get cranky and fuss, I dragged a tissue over her face to tickle her.
Anything to entertain her. She mostly cooperated, for all of three seconds.
Then she resumed wiggling and kicking and acting like she’d fuss.
“Peekaboo,” I told her in a squeaky, goofy voice with a funny smile.
She calmed and sucked on her fingers as she smiled at me.
“Peekaboo,” I repeated while I cleaned her up.
I glanced down at the floor where Henry was patting my shoe.
“Peekaboo!” I told Emily as I closed up her clothes and finished the dirty task.
She behaved until I had her in my arms, but when I took too long washing my hands while propping her on my hip, she scrunched her face and whined.
“Peekaboo!”
She smiled again. I turned around to track where Henry was.
“Peekaboo.”
I sucked in a hard breath as I realized a man had said it. A deep-toned, sarcastic reply as he crept into the room.
My heart skipped a beat then hammered fast. He closed the side door behind him, slapping a bar over it from the inside.
That was how old this church was. With nothing but a sinister intent in his eyes, he sneered and crossed the room toward me.
It happened so fast that it seemed surreal.
Like an intrusive thought that shot into my mind.
But it wasn’t. He was really here, this stranger who was rushing toward Henry.
“No!” I shouted it, closer to the boy. Dipping low to grab him and hold him close, I sucked in a deep breath and let it back out as the loudest scream I could manage. The ceremony had been winding down and wrapping up with that last song, but they were all out there.
I retreated, swinging to the side as the man rushed after me. He thrust his hands out, snarling. “Give me that bastard.”
I screamed again, clutching the twins. Backing up so fast and dizzy from the adrenaline rush, I slammed my back against the counter I’d changed the babies on. I used the surface as leverage to kick out at the man. Anything for more space as I screamed again.
“Roman!”
The man curled over at my kick to his nuts, but it didn’t last. “Shut the fuck up. Give me that bastard!”
Emily wailed, no doubt scared by my scream and this man. Henry screamed too, tears rolling down his cheeks.
The man chased me across the room, pulling a gun up and raising his arm as I backed up to another corner.
“No!” I spun, giving him my back to block the babies in front of me. They clung to me. I hugged them tightly in my arms and prayed that if a bullet came, it would only hit me and spare their precious little lives that had only just begun.
A gun blasted, but I felt no pain. I tensed, a knee-jerk reaction, and squeezed my eyes shut tighter.
“Amber!”
Roman.
It sounded like a battering ram was hitting the door.
“Get back!” he shouted from outside the room.
The man charged at me, wrenching my arm around and nearly making me drop Henry, who wailed and cried so loudly, my ears rang.
“No!” I kept a hold on Henry and used the momentum against the man. Pushing my shoulder into him while tucking Henry and Emily against me, I shoved the man back.
That was when I realized I’d seen him before.
I recognized him up close.
He’s one of them.
I swallowed hard, frantic to understand the connection.
I’d seen this man before, this asshole trying to kidnap the babies. I’d spotted him at the mansion. He was one of the thugs who came with Willaim’s friends. Not the grungy guys, but the businessmen in suits.
A thug. A mercenary. Hired muscle.
He fell to the chair off to the side, but he didn’t go all the way down.
It no longer mattered, though. Roman had kept shooting at the door, busting it open.
I backed up, holding the twins and cowering near the wall to stay out of the way as their father came in.
He broke the door apart as it swung violently toward the wall. Pieces of wood hung lopsided as he entered, gun up and face furious.
Lorne followed him. Andre and Sergei, too. Guards were with them. Like the cavalry, they flooded into the room.
My back hit the wall, and I tried to stay plastered there, out of the way of violence.
Once, twice, three times.
Roman shot at the man.
I jumped, flinching at the rapport. I ducked my head down to try to press the babies’ heads against my chest to block at least one of their ears from the loud blasts, to protect them from the loudness.
They screamed.
Wailed.
Shook and burrowed against me, so terrified.
The man dropped. Lorne and Sergei approached me, as if to shield me while they scoped the rest of the room for a threat. Even with them blocking me from the gunfire, I saw the man fall to the floor, blood spilling out of the multiple bullets Roman had put in him without a second thought.
My chest heaved. My heart raced against my ribs. Witnessing such a violent death startled me, but it was the sickening nausea from the twins being near danger that made me want to pass out.
The guards fanned out, proving the room was empty. Mikhail ordered more to surround the building as he entered the room. Men rushed out the old door where the man had come in through.
Still, the twins screamed and cried.
Roman cut across the room, stepping over the man he’d shot. Without any delay, he locked his stare on me and approached. He set his gun in a holster—one I hadn’t even known he was wearing—and reached for me. I sagged against the wall, trying to breathe through the shock and fear.
“Shh,” he said, his face grim as he accepted Emily and cradled her close to him. Free to hold Henry, I bundled him tightly against my chest and swayed slightly to try to calm him.
“Are they—” Claire ran up through the crowd. “Are they—”
I shook my head, knowing that she’d heard gunfire and babies crying. She’d of course worry if they were hurt. “They’re scared. That’s all.”
She frowned and pressed her hand on Emily’s back as Roman shushed her, holding her and bouncing from side to side gently, almost like I did with Henry.
He had yet to take his eyes off me. An unspeakable bond clicked into place between us. This checking-in on each other. This silent acknowledgment of assessing whether the other needed anything.
He’d just killed a man.
He came in here and delivered justice as he saw fit.
Brutally, lethally, and without hesitation, he’d killed for us.
I strained to swallow, wishing I would stop trembling. As the twins cried on, sucking in gasps with how hard they’d wailed, Roman stepped closer to me as he shifted Emily toward the left. I anticipated his embrace.
I needed it.
I yearned for it just so I could stop shaking and breathe steadier and slow my heart. Moving Emily to the right, I held out my arm to Roman.
My protector.
We hugged, the twins between us. With them closer together, they calmed faster too, as if knowing their sibling was there and it would be okay.
“He just came in that side door and… and…”
He kissed my forehead. “It’s over. It’s all right.”
I forced another swallow. “He wanted to take the twins. He tried to grab Henry.”
He rested his brow against mine. “It’s okay now.”
But it wasn’t. Deep in the pit of my stomach, I was hit with guilt. With terror. Realizing that someone from William’s world was coming to kidnap these babies was the height of my worst fears coming true.
If I was the reason that they knew about these innocent babies, I would never, ever forgive myself for bringing danger to Roman’s home.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the familiar scent of him, trying to take this nightmare one second at a time. One step at a time.
No one was hurt.
No one was taken.
We were all alive and together.
Because once everything was calm again, I would need to explain that I recognized the dead man on the floor. That I knew him from the horrible years I’d spent as Willaim’s “daughter”.
And that he very well could have had this man sent here to entice me to come “home” again.