Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dmitri kept his gaze on the door Keira had disappeared through, half listening to whatever the hell Aiden said. He finally shook his head. “Excuse me.”
Aiden opened his mouth, seemed to reconsider, and nodded. “Go to her.”
He didn’t need the man’s permission, but he recognized it for the olive branch it was. He and Aiden had managed to get through an entire conversation without threatening each other, even if Dmitri had been distracted through the entire thing. He nodded. “I’ll be back shortly.”
He didn’t like Keira being out of his sight. The night had been going too well, and he didn’t trust that. The other shoe was about to drop, and Dmitri couldn’t stand the thought of Keira being caught in the crossfire.
The hallway outside the ballroom was empty.
He stopped short. It didn’t mean anything.
Keira would have wanted more space to get her head on straight, and the hallway was hardly offering in space.
He doubted she’d go upstairs, so he turned toward the front of the house and strode in that direction.
As he turned the corner, he half expected to find her in the foyer.
The foyer was empty as well.
Dmitri pulled his phone out of his pocket. He’d wanted to clear the house completely of his men, but it wasn’t an option. He didn’t have enough people he trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt, but he called Alexei all the same.
“Da?”
“You’re manning the cameras.” He didn’t wait for confirmation. “Where is Keira?”
A pause, a few clicks in the background. “She and Pavel walked out the front door five minutes ago.”
The front door? Why the fuck had she gone outside?
If she needed air, there was the rooftop patio…
Dmitri cursed. He’d never even told her about it.
It was October—too cold to utilize the space—and it had slipped his mind.
But Pavel knew about it. He should have known that was a safer option than standing on the street.
Alarm bells pealed through Dmitri’s head. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
He raced to the front door, not caring if any of the guests saw, and wrenched it open.
Pedestrians gave him a wide berth without breaking stride, but he couldn’t care less about them.
He looked right and then left, and Dmitri’s heart stopped cold in his chest at the sight of Keira pressed against the wall, Mae Eldridge standing too close in front of her.
To the outside viewer, they might have been lovers having an intimate conversation. Mae had her strong arm braced on the brick wall over Keira’s shoulder, and their faces were kissably close. It was only from his angle that he was able to see the gun in Mae’s hand.
He took a step forward, but stopped short as a hand closed over his shoulder. He looked at Pavel, one of the few men he’d trusted, and he might as well have been staring into the face of a stranger. The blond’s blue eyes were cold and distant. “That’s close enough,” Pavel ground out.
Fuck. He’d found his traitor, and far too late for the knowledge to help. One of the few men he’d considered to be trustworthy. Not trustworthy enough.
“Dmitri, go back inside.” Keira sounded calm and reasonable, as if asking him to run down to the corner store to grab some milk.
Mae shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ve got a pretty mouth, but you’re ultimately replaceable. He isn’t.” She gave him a snake’s smile, all cold eyes and tight lips. “Isn’t that right, Romanov?”
“Let her go.” Despite Pavel’s grip on him, Dmitri took a step closer. “Mae, point that fucking gun in a different direction.”
“Or what?” She leaned harder against Keira, eliciting a flinch despite his wife’s stoic expression.
She had to be terrified, but none of it showed on her face.
Mae laughed. “I think I’ll leave this bitch bleeding in the street.
How long do you think it will be until someone manages to tear their gaze away from their phones to call 911?
Will she live or will she die? It’s like a flip of a coin—all up to chance. ”
She’d do it. He didn’t doubt that she’d shoot his Keira and leave her to bleed to death on the street, mere feet from everyone in the world who cared about her. Who would find her first? Aiden? Carrigan?
Dmitri couldn’t think past the roaring of his thoughts. The sound morphed into two words, repeated over and over again. Save her. “Let her go. I’ll do anything.”
Mae’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “Anything.”
“Yes, anything. Just let her go. Don’t hurt her.” Desperation made his voice rough. He could picture Keira on the sidewalk, the life bleeding out of her hazel eyes. It couldn’t happen. He couldn’t lose her.
“Kiss me.”
“What?”
Dmitri ignored Keira’s protest and shrugged off Pavel’s hand on his shoulder. “Let her go first.”
Mae considered him. “Pavel has his gun on her. You try anything and he’ll shoot her in the stomach. You know what a stomach wound will do.”
He knew. Keira’s chance of survival would drop astronomically. “Let her go.”
Mae released Keira and stepped back, watching him closely. Keira started for him, but he shook his head. “Go back inside, moya koroleva.” Go to safety.
Her hazel eyes shone and she started for the door, her fingers brushing his as she moved past him. She got two steps when Pavel blocked her way. “You’ll watch.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Keira glared up at him. “We trusted you, Pavel.”
“You trusted wrong.”
The longer they stood on the street, the greater the chance that something could go sideways.
It felt like they’d been there a small eternity, but Dmitri suspected they were still well within the window of the previous tech blackouts John Finch had reported.
He marched to Mae and hooked the back of her neck.
She shoved her gun against his thigh, but he ignored it and kissed her.
She tasted of cigarettes and rage, and he wanted nothing more in that moment than to snatch the gun from her hand and put her out of her misery.
But there was Keira to think of.
He’d kill Mae, but Pavel would kill Keira.
Unacceptable.
Once the appropriate amount of time had passed, he raised his head. “You disgust me.”
The lust bled out of Mae’s eyes and she sneered. “You say that now.” She leaned into him, the gun never moving from where she had it pointed—right at his femoral artery. “You’ll change your tune before too long.”
“Dmitri, no.”
“Keira, get back in the house. Now.” He didn’t look at her, couldn’t look at her. I love you, moya koroleva.
Seconds passed, and she finally cursed and shoved Pavel out of the way.
He pinned the man with a look, daring him to make a move as she stalked down the sidewalk and into the house.
Safe. Keira was safe. He could bear any punishment Mae would deliver because he knew she was out of that bitch’s grasp.
“Let’s go, Romanov.” She laughed again, the sound dark. “I’m going to enjoy the hell out of playing with you.”
Keira couldn’t wipe the picture of Mae forcing Dmitri to kiss her out of her head. That bitch is going to pay. And Pavel, too. Traitor. Enemy. She’d trusted him, had worked with him to secure the reception, and he’d been planning to betray them all along.
Mae had Dmitri.
Keira bypassed the ballroom—she’d get to them in a moment—and headed straight for the lounge where the guards spent their time.
She threw open the door, startling half a dozen men into reaching for their guns.
A quick sweep of the room, and she found Alexei situated by a monitor.
Only get one shot at this. If she didn’t play it right, they wouldn’t follow her, and Dmitri would be as good as dead.
“That bitch took Dmitri.” She let the pause drag out a beat. “But we’re going to get him back.”
She held up a hand when Alexei started to speak. “Mae took Dmitri. She took Mikhail. She will kill them all if she’s given the chance, which means we can’t fuck this up.”
One of the men, a blond whose name she couldn’t immediately place, spoke up. “Why should we take orders from you?”
Keira iced over her tone the same way she’d heard Dmitri and her brother do. “Did I fucking stutter?”
He tried to hold her gaze, but chickened out halfway through. “Nyet.”
“Dmitri is gone.” She met each of their eyes in turn, holding their attention just long enough to make them uncomfortable.
“That means I am in charge for the duration. He’s my husband, and I want him back.
Alethea and her bitch daughter will pay for the insult they dealt us, and they’ll pay fully.
I don’t give a flying fuck what you think of me, but don’t you forget for a second that Dmitri chose me.
He married me.” He saved me. “That’s all that should fucking matter to you.
Obey and you will be rewarded.” She lifted her chin, focusing on ensuring her hands didn’t shake and her voice never wavered.
“If you can’t guarantee you will obey, then get the fuck out of the way for the men who will. ”
Not a single one of them stepped back, but she didn’t allow herself to breathe a sigh of relief. “We need to clear out our guests. I’ll handle it—just follow my lead. Then we’ll find Dmitri and deal with the Eldridge threat once and for all.”
Keira’s phone pinged, and she almost ignored it. But when she looked, she found a text from Dmitri.
I’m sorry, moya koroleva. This wasn’t how it was supposed to play out.
“Dmitri,” she breathed. She typed out a quick response. Where are you going?
We’re still in the city, but I can’t be sure of more than that. I’m in the back of a van with the windows painted over and they’ve blocked off the space to the driver’s seat.
Not good.
Another text pinged through. I love you. The various bank numbers are in the safe in our room. The code is 0693821.
“Oh, no you don’t.” She strode into the ballroom as she typed her reply. Knock that shit off. You’re living through this so I can scream at you later. Hold, please.