Chapter Fifteen Alina’s POV
Chapter Fifteen
Alina’s POV
I knew something bad must have happened when the bald man rushed in. Of all the urgent words he spoke to Konstantin, the only things I got were ‘attacked’ and ‘someone knows.’ It made me wish I’d communicated more with my colleagues and patients in Russian.
Before my eyes, Konstantin’s body language shifted from calm to lethal. He asked the bald man a few more questions as I rose to my feet.
“Call all of them. To the front right now!” Konstantin barked at the man, who nodded fervently.
“They’re all doubling ammunition right now, boss.”
Konstantin turned to me again before telling the bald man, “Have your men take her to the basement. And not the main basement, the enclosure in the back. Not even a hair on her head must be touched!”
“Yes, boss.”
The two men pushed a shelf I’d assumed held a collection of books by the door open. They tossed the wooden cover to the floor, revealing guns and arms of different sizes. Konstantin lifted the hem of his black tee and pulled a gun out of the holster attached to the band of his jeans.
So he had a gun with him while we talked?!
Okay, I guess that shouldn’t be so surprising for a mafia boss.
He put a different gun in the holster and carried a much bigger one in his arms.
Everything I was looking at screamed at me to panic, but I didn’t. Instead, I pushed the chair back and went to the windows on the far left of the library.
I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was clearly not a crime movie scene. And the view I was met with as I leaned closer to the window was nothing short of that.
Black cars rolled along the wide expanse of land, dust dancing in the air as they approached the manor. The cars were not a battalion in number, but they were military in their movements. I could see heads pop out of windows as they got closer.
I might not know much about criminal stuff, but one thing was clear, even to me: Whoever sent them knew exactly where I was.
“Alina!” Konstantin yelled. “Get away from the window!”
Right.
I should have known that.
I left the window area and approached him and the bald man, where they were still gathering arms. Two men rushed into the library, heavily armed, too.
“Sir!” they chorused, facing Konstantin.
“Take her to the basement enclosure. Her safety is on your lives,” the bald man told both of them.
“Yes, boss,” they answered.
“Alina, go with them. Stay close to them as you guys leave. Behind them,” Konstantin instructed, strapping on a shoulder holster. “One wrong move and you’re dead.”
I felt fear, but there was something else, too. Defiance.
Straightening my spine, I shook my head side to side. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Konstantin raised a brow, and I told him, “I won’t be treated as cargo. I’m not going to head silently over to the basement with your men. I’ve been in this war since you took me. I want to fight.”
His gaze held mine for a few heartbeats before he turned to the two men.
“Go join the others.”
They left, and the bald man told him, “I’ll go put them into formation.”
Konstantin nodded, and the man left, guns in his hands.
Then he turned his gaze on me again, his blue eyes calculating.
“Once you get into a fight like this, it follows you,” he warned, like he was pleading. “There is no going back from it.”
I nodded, and he sighed. He didn’t say anything else as he picked a compact pistol and placed his hand on a small protrusion. “Safety,” he said, showing me. “You pull this back and press the trigger.”
He handed me the cool metal.
“Two shots if you have to. Stay behind me. Do not run.”
I nodded in understanding, curling my fingers around the weapon, which felt bigger than it looked in his hands.
That was when I heard the first round of gunshots. Konstantin didn’t falter; he picked another gun from the open shelf and looked towards me.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch leaving tingles in its wake, as he told me in a soft tone I could have sworn I’d never heard him use, “You’re under my protection now.”
I could see guards running through the halls, and Konstantin had an order to bark at almost everyone he saw. Sirens wailed outside, and the sound of gunshots rang out downstairs.
Then he led the way out of the library, and I followed. The pistol shook in my hands as we moved to the main hallway.
“Where are Greta and the others?” I asked Konstantin, raising my voice above the din as we raced down the stairs.
“They are being moved to safety,” he disclosed before warning, “Don’t move away from my back.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
As we left the second flight of stairs and got to the sitting room, Konstantin's right arm suddenly came around me as he moved me to duck. The gunshots shattered the front windows, making shards of glass rain over us.
“Duck lower,” he instructed as he stood straight and started firing shots out the now-absent window, and I bent lower.
“Cover me, Devlin,” he called to the man to our left.
As the manor was thrown into chaos, I saw that I was no longer a nurse caught in a war.
I was now a part of the fight.