Chapter 35
Kara
A little while later, I woke up alone in the bed, but the sheets were still warm. The ache in my limbs was a delicious, pleasant throb, a reminder of the beautiful passion that the Markov brothers and I had shared together.
I sat up, pulling the silk sheet around me. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a panoramic view of the city, a glittering jewel box in the desert sun.
The sound of their voices drew me from the bedroom. They were in the living room, their tones quietly serious. I slipped into one of Roman’s discarded shirts, the fabric soft on my skin, and padded out to join them.
The three of them looked up at me when I walked into the room and smiled broadly.
“Hey, princess,” Lev greeted me first. ”Did we wear you out?”
Roman chuckled. “I’m not sure she’ll be able to walk straight after that.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help smiling. “I’m fine, you two.”
“Are you?” Dmitri asked softly, his eyes searching mine.
I met his gaze, my heart fluttering. “I am.”
He nodded, a flicker of relief in his eyes. “Good.”
“So,” I said, moving to the bar and pouring myself a glass of water. “What’s next?”
Roman leaned against the counter, a lazy grin spreading across his face. “Today…” He trailed off, his eyes dancing with mischief. “Today, we’re trapped in a multimillion-dollar penthouse with nothing to do. I think we should explore it to the fullest.”
Lev arched a brow, but a hint of amusement touched his lips. “Explore how?”
Roman’s grin widened. “I don’t know. Find the panic room. See if the hot tub works. Raid the wine cellar. I bet they have a wine cellar hidden somewhere.”
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
For the next several hours, the brothers and I explored the rest of Revenant’s idea of ‘temporary housing.’
Roman led the charge, of course. He found the hidden door first, pressing his palm against a panel beside a window until the wall clicked and shifted outward.
Roman tugged the panel open fully. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you—paradise.”
Beyond the glass was an open-air terrace that looked like something out of a fever dream.
The marble floor flowed seamlessly into a wide infinity pool that curved around the edge of the building.
Water spilled endlessly over the rim, a perfect illusion of falling into the city below, but that wasn’t even the most impressive part.
The pool was split into two levels, connected by a sheer glass cascade. The upper pool shimmered in the sunlight, its far edge dropping straight into a lower one twenty feet below, surrounded by palm trees and sleek lounge chairs. From here, it looked like water floating above water.
“Holy hell,” I whispered, stepping out onto the terrace. “This is insane.”
Roman grinned, stripping off his shirt with zero hesitation. “Correction—it’s perfect.”
Lev sighed. “You can’t be serious. You want to swim here? In Revenant’s penthouse? You do remember they probably have cameras everywhere.”
Roman winked at me. “Then let them watch.”
Dmitri, who had been watching all of this from the doorway, finally stepped forward. “You realize this is probably the only time in the foreseeable future we’ll have peace, correct?”
Roman gestured grandly to the pool. “Then we should spend it like civilized people. Half-naked and in the water.”
Lev shook his head. “You’re a child.”
“Maybe,” Roman said, “but I’m a happy child.”
Before Lev could argue, I walked past them, dipping my fingers into the surface. The water was warm, sunlight glinting across the small ripples. “We could use a little peace,” I said softly.
Dmitri’s gaze flicked to me, then to his brothers. “Fine,” he said finally. “One hour.”
Roman whooped in victory. “That’s the spirit, brother!”
The moment my toes hit the water, everything else melted away.
The pool seemed to stretch out into the sky itself.
Honestly, it was like swimming at the edge of the world.
Below, the city shimmered, skyscrapers catching the light.
The sound of the water spilling into the lower pool was soft and constant, a heartbeat against the hum of Dubai far beneath us.
Lev joined me first, quiet and graceful as always, while Roman cannonballed into the deep end like an overgrown teenager. The splash drenched Dmitri, who hadn’t even taken off his shirt yet.
“Dickhead,” he intoned, his voice perfectly calm and his face not betraying a thing.
Roman grinned, pushing his wet hair out of his face. “You needed cooling off.”
Dmitri’s only response was to step into the pool fully clothed, the water lapping at his chest as he stalked toward Roman.
Lev and I exchanged a look.
“He’s going to kill him, isn’t he?” I murmured.
Lev smirked faintly. “Probably.”
I laughed, the sound echoing off the glass walls. It felt good—real and human, something I hadn’t felt since before ARCHEON blackmailed me into their service. For a few stolen minutes, I wasn’t the spy, the survivor, or the weapon. I was just me.
Roman backpedaled through the water, grinning. “Come on, Dmitri, don’t ruin the mood. You know you want to swim.”
Dmitri reached him, one swift hand shoving his head underwater. Roman came up sputtering, still laughing.
“Okay, I deserved that.”
“Yes,” Dmitri said evenly. “You did.”
Lev shook his head. “I can’t believe these are my brothers.”
“Admit it,” Roman said, floating backward. “You’d miss us if we were gone.”
Lev glanced at me, his mouth curving in a small smile. “Maybe,” he mouthed the word, shrugging.
Roman laughed, then turned his attention back to me. “You having fun yet, Kara-with-a-K?”
“Maybe,” I teased. “If you can manage not to drown your family for five minutes.”
“I promise, I promise,” he said, splashing water my way.
I splashed him back.
For a little while, it was easy to forget. Easy to laugh, to breathe, to just be. The sunlight danced on the water, and the whole world felt weightless.
Then a faint, rhythmic hum. Mechanical. Out of place.
Dmitri noticed it first. He froze, his head snapping toward the horizon. “Do you hear that?”
Lev straightened immediately. “It’s a drone.”
Roman frowned, squinting into the glare. “Revenant’s?”
“I don’t think so,” Dmitri said as he climbed out of the pool, scanning the sky as he did so. Lev followed him out of the pool and looked out with him.
The hum grew louder. The water in the pool trembled slightly, concentric ripples spreading from the center.
Roman swore under his breath. “We can’t have one peaceful moment, can we?”
And then I saw it—just a flicker at first, a dark shape slicing through the sunlit air. It came in fast, angling low over the balcony.
“Get down!” Dmitri barked.
It shot at us and the glass edge of the upper pool shattered like a mirror. For a heartbeat, it was beautiful, sunlight caught in a thousand fragments of glass and water suspended in the air. Then gravity took over.
The world dropped out from under us.
Water surged downward in a violent rush, dragging Roman and me with it. I barely had time to gasp before the current pulled me through the collapsing surface. The noise was deafening, the force slamming into me from every direction. I couldn’t even scream before gravity pulled me under.
“Kara!”
Lev’s voice cut through the chaos, raw and desperate.
I broke the surface of the water below a split second later, gasping.
Miraculously, the lower pool caught us, the water surging as the cascade from above poured down like a waterfall.
The upper pool’s glass wall collapsed completely, shards raining into the lower level, but at least we were still alive.
“Kara! Roman!” Dmitri’s shout echoed from above.
“I’m fine!” Roman called back, coughing.
“Me too,” I yelled, sputtering a little.
Lev was at the edge, looking down. Dmitri appeared beside him a second later, scanning the sky.
The drone hovered above us, silent now. Sleek, black, and too serious looking to be designed for anything but violence. Then another joined it. And another.
Roman pulled himself out of the pool, dripping and furious. “Someone really doesn’t like us.”
Dmitri’s jaw tightened. “No. Someone wants to make a point.”
The first drone tilted forward, its lens focusing. A small speaker clicked to life, crackling with static.
Then a voice—cold, mechanical, and inhuman—filled the air.
“Kneel,” it said. “And put your hands up.”
The words echoed across the ruined terrace, mixing with the sound of water still spilling from the broken pool.
Roman looked at his brothers, then at me.
Lev’s jaw flexed. Dmitri tensed.
No one moved.
The drones hovered closer, their red lights blinking in rhythm. The sky glowed gold, the city stretched endless below, and the robotic voice spoke once more.
“Kneel.”
To Be Continued…