Chapter 26 – Kaz
She slips in my arms, breath catching once—then nothing. Her eyes roll back.
“Maxim!” I shout, turning just as he appears beside me. Smoke curls behind him, screams still echoing down the hallway, and somewhere above us, the ceiling groans from the force of our explosives.
“She fainted,” I growl. “Take her. Keep her breathing. If anything—anything—happens to her, I’ll put a bullet through your skull myself.”
He nods, face grim, and scoops her from my arms with the care of someone who knows how much she means to me. He disappears through the chaos.
Now….
Now it’s just me.
I rise, slowly. Crack my neck. Draw my twin blades from my back holster. My guns are holstered on either hip. Blood’s already coating my gloves from the earlier kills. I don’t care. I want more.
They took her. They touched her. They drugged her.
They will bleed for it.
I move through the smoke like a phantom. A bidder sees me—he turns to run. A shot to the back of his head sends him crashing down. Another tries to duck behind an overturned table—I slit his throat before he can even scream.
One guard rushes me with a blade. Rookie.
I twist his wrist, yank the knife, plunge it into his thigh, then again into his stomach. I don’t even pause as he falls. I hear him choking behind me. Let him die slow.
Gunfire erupts to my left—LaFarge’s men trying to retreat toward the back.
Cowards.
“Don’t let a single one escape!” I bark into my comm.
Niko responds instantly. “Copy that. Front is sealed. We’re thinning them out.”
Good.
The main auction hall looks like something out of hell now. Velvet chairs are overturned, chandeliers shattered. Blood pools on the marble floor like spilled wine.
I move like death itself. Every target I see goes down in seconds—neck snapped, bullet in the skull, spine cracked. I don’t flinch. I don’t pause. I don’t hesitate.
This isn’t vengeance.
It’s judgment.
One of the Solokov brothers tries to beg. “Wait—wait—Kaz—”
I shoot him twice in the knees and once in the chest.
“No more Solokovs,” I whisper.
Another tries to crawl toward the door. I shoot him in the back, walk over, and stomp his skull into the floor until there’s nothing but pulp.
I’m not just ending them.
I’m erasing them.
One by one, room by room, I wipe this place clean. I become the monster they whispered about. The shadow in the dark. The ghost in every war story from Moscow to Milan.
Because they made the mistake of taking what was mine.
By the time I walk back into the main hall, the bodies are everywhere—sprawled over velvet cushions, slumped against blood-stained marble, throats slit, skulls caved in. No survivors.
Only silence.
And me.
Drenched in blood. Still breathing. Still burning.
Niko approaches, gun still smoking. “You got everyone?”
I nod once. “Anyone left?”
He tilts his head. “Only you, brother. Only you.”
I roll my shoulders, every inch of me aching, buzzing, alive.
“Let’s go home.”
The stench of smoke and blood clings to my skin as I storm out of the building, boots crunching over shattered glass, the night air slapping me in the face. My hands are still slick with someone else’s blood, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop.
She needs me.
Maxim is waiting just outside by the car as the back door opens.
Violet is slumped in the seat, her body loose with exhaustion and drugs. Her head tips against the window, lips parted like she’s breathing in fragments. My chest twists violently.
“She’s semi-conscious,” Maxim tells me. “In and out, but…she keeps saying your name.”
That does it.
I walk straight to her and take her, gently, like she’s made of light and glass. Her arms move, just barely, like she recognizes me even in this haze.
“Shh,” I murmur. “I’ve got you now.”
She settles in my arms instantly, her cheek resting on my collarbone, her fingers twitching against my chest.
Niko appears beside me, blood streaked across his jaw, shirt torn at the shoulder. He claps a hand on my shoulder, eyes sharp but satisfied.
“That’s it,” he says. “We’ll head home. You go.”
I nod once. “I owe you a big favor.”
He smirks. “You do. Don’t worry—I’ll cash it in.” Then he turns, barking orders to his men, fading into the night like smoke.
Maxim’s already behind the wheel by the time I slide into the backseat with Violet in my arms. I don’t let go of her—not even for a second. She murmurs my name again in her sleep, soft and cracked, and I press my lips to her forehead.
“I’m right here, kotyonok,” I whisper. “You’re safe.”
Maxim speeds through the streets, straight to the airstrip. The runway lights are already glowing in the dark like a path back to sanity. Our jet is waiting, engines on, doors open. No delays. I told them I’d be back with hell behind me—and I am.
I carry her up the steps of the plane like she weighs nothing, like she is everything. Because she is. And this time, I will never let her go again.
As soon as we’re in the air, I take her straight to the jet’s private bedroom.
I lay her down gently, then grab a warm cloth and begin cleaning her body—carefully, methodically.
I won’t let anyone else touch her. Not right now.
Not while she’s still trembling. Not while her body still smells like smoke.
I wipe her arms, her legs, her scraped palms. Her breathing is steadier now, the furrow in her brow softening slightly. I clean her face last—tracing gently over her jaw, her lips, the faint bruises marring her cheek.
She stirs again.
“Violet?” I lower beside her, brush her hair away from her face.
Her eyes crack open, wide and glazed. Then suddenly—recognition.
And then—tears. A sob catches in her throat as she launches into me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She clutches me like I’m the only thing keeping her from drowning.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” she chokes out.
I hold her tighter. “You will always see me again. I will always come for you.”
She nods against my shoulder, still crying. I close my eyes and press my lips to her hair, breathing her in.
“I’m sorry.”
I blink, not sure I heard her right.
“I’m sorry, Kaz.” Her voice cracks. “I was wrong about you. I should have never doubted you. I thought…I thought you wanted me gone because I kept bringing chaos. Because I’m always the problem.”
“No,” I breathe, tightening my hold around her. “Never. Don’t say that.”
She pulls back just enough to look at me, her eyes glassy but clear. “But I thought—”
“I don’t care what you thought.” My hand cradles the back of her head, my voice low and rough. “I will never want you gone. You’re not the problem, Violet. You’re the reason I still know how to feel anything at all.”
Her lip trembles.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” I say. “No rings. No grand words. No perfect moment. Just this.”
I cup her face, my thumb brushing a tear away. My forehead rests against hers.
“Marry me,” I whisper. “Or kill me. But please don’t leave me again.”
For a moment, we stay silent, then the moment shatters and we’re all over each other.
We kiss like it’ll be our last time. Deep down, I want to take it easy with her.
She’s been through a lot in such a short time.
I owe it to her to be gentle, but she climbs into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck, her lust for me obvious and desperate.
“Vi—”
“Kaz, please,” she begs, moaning into my mouth. “Please.”
I don’t waste any more time.
I lay her on the bed, quickly pulling off her clothes, our lips dangling together in a passionate battle neither of us wants to lose. As soon as she’s naked in my arms, I drag my mouth away from hers and kiss down her neck, sucking, licking, sucking, until I suck one hard nipple into my mouth.
She writhes beneath me, little moans falling out of her mouth, intoxicating me until I’m mindless with the need to bury myself so deep inside her.
“Violet, fuck,” I run my tongue across her nipple, teasing until they’re like hardened stones in my mouth.
I trail kisses down her body, holding her legs apart the lower I go. She’s trembling, her hands sinking into my hair, instinctively pushing me lower until I’m eye level with her wet, dripping pussy. The evidence of her arousal is instant, and it soaks the sheets and drips down her thighs.
I lick the entirety of her clit, my tongue moving leisurely along the bundle of nerves before sucking it into my mouth. She cries and whimpers, her eyes squeezed shut. I love seeing her come undone like this and knowing it was my doing.
I continue to alternate between teasing her with my tongue and sucking her gently, until her legs are clamped over my head, her ass lifted off the bed.
I flatten my tongue and lick her from bottom to up, paying close attention to her engorged clit.
The moment I sink my teeth into it, she erupts in an orgasm that almost suffocates the breath out of me.
Her eyes meet mine, and the next words that leave her mouth turn me into a sex-crazed madman.
“Fuck me, Kaz. Please.”
I yank my pants down so fast, I almost trip over myself.
I remind myself to be gentle again, but Violet palms her breasts, wrapping two fingers around her nipples so hard, her lips part.
The view is gorgeous, and it erodes all semblance of control.
I seat myself so deep inside her, she cries so loud, I know the crew heard.
I wrap her hair around my hand and snap her head back. “Look at me.”
She obeys, and the sight of her so completely wanton pushes me closer to the edge. I pound faster, feeling her clench around me like a hot vice. She thrashes like a tsunami hits her as she comes the second time, and I slam into her one last time, filling her with my seed.
She’s quiet beneath me, our breaths still uneven as the last tremors of our bodies fade. Her skin is flushed, damp with sweat, her lips parted. I kiss her softly—her shoulder, her collarbone, the corner of her mouth.
“I love you,” I whisper.
She stiffens slightly. Just enough for me to notice.
Her eyes meet mine, wide with something between disbelief and awe. Her lips move, but no sound comes out. She swallows hard, then whispers, “You…you do?”
I nod, brushing her hair off her face. “I’ve loved you longer than I’ve known how to say it.”
She stares at me, blinking fast. “I didn’t believe you the first time you said it.”
I raise a brow. “Do you believe me now?”
She exhales shakily, her cheeks flushed deeper, eyes glimmering. “Yes,” she says, barely audible. “I do.” Her voice trembles. “I love you too, Kaz. So much. I didn’t even know it until I thought I’d never see you again. And then—then I realized it’s always been you.”
Something shifts in me. Something deep and sacred.
I pull her closer and press my forehead to hers. “Then never leave me again.”
“I won’t,” she whispers. “Not unless you ask me to.”
“I’d rather die,” I say, fierce and low.
She smiles, shy and wrecked and beautiful. Eventually, her body stills. Her breaths slow. She drifts into sleep, her cheek pressed to my chest, one hand curled near her mouth.
I slip out carefully, reach for my jacket folded on the chair nearby. I’d kept it with me this entire time—through every betrayal, every fight, every moment she hated me.
The ring is still inside.
Simple. Classic. Platinum. A stone that catches the faint light.
I sit beside her and take her hand gently. Her fingers are soft, relaxed. She doesn’t stir.
“I bought this the night I brought you to the estate,” I whisper. “Before I even knew how badly I’d fuck it all up. But I’m happy you’re giving me another chance. I’ll savor this for life.”
I slip the ring onto her finger.
It fits perfectly.
She doesn’t move. She just breathes—steady and peaceful for the first time in a long time. I lower myself next to her again, resting my head on her stomach, both arms circling her waist.
“I love you,” I say quietly into the silence, with a quiet understanding that this is what peace feels like.