Chapter 21
ALEXSEI
Earlier that day, Kalina and I ended up sitting on the couch together. We were careful not to show too much intimacy, or any at all, and we weren’t. She was trying to do a crossword puzzle and I was on my phone, reading through the updates that the men sent me.
I must have tired her out too much the night before, though, because she fell asleep. Napping peacefully, she rested against me, as if it could’ve been one of the most natural things to do. She had that much trust in me to rest her head on my shoulder.
Misha noticed.
He was right there, doing a puzzle on the table in front of the couch. But he didn’t seem bothered. He wasn’t confused or alarmed.
Not a lick of surprise showed on his face.
But he noticed.
“I miss Lev,” he said.
It came out of the blue.
“I miss Andre and seeing everyone at Luka’s house. I miss my bed at home, Daddy.”
He wasn’t complaining. He was merely stating his feelings, and I would always welcome them.
“I miss them all too,” I said quietly.
“Do you think that we will go home soon?”
That was an awfully loaded question, and one I didn’t know how to answer.
He didn’t push me for an immediate answer on it. He followed up too quickly with another question, something I was at even more of a loss on how to answer.
“Will Kalina come home with us? Can she stay as part of our family?
“I don’t know,” I replied, giving him the best answer that I could.
Deep in my heart, I wished that she could. That she would.
After I left her in her bed, waiting until she’d fallen asleep after I’d made her come three times, I walked past Misha’s bedroom to see how he was sleeping before going to my own room.
There he was, sleeping away without a care in the world. But he did have concerns. About her. About wanting her to stay with us.
Knowing that he was opening his heart to her, I had to double down and make sure that I didn’t screw this up.
He needed a mother. I wanted so badly for him to have a solid and steady female role model in his world who would always be in his life. Not my cousin’s wives or anyone else in the large organization we were a part of, but a mother. Someone who could be his.
But can that be Kalina?
She was so against the idea of getting pregnant.
I respected her wishes, but I was saddened each time she mentioned how strongly she did not want a child with me.
When she worded it as a wish not to be bred, I didn’t need any further clues to understand that was the garbage that Erik and Yusef fed her, that she would be used like that.
But that doesn’t have to mean she doesn’t want children at all. It can’t mean that she never wants her own child. Right?
There was no doubt that she cared about Misha. Just yesterday, she kissed the top of his head and gave him an affectionate look. They’d been teasing each other lightheartedly after a loss at a board game.
She cared.
But I would be a fool to assume too much of her or how she felt about children or a family.
I—
Narrowing my eyes, I noticed a flicker of light.
I had just turned away from Misha’s doorway and happened to glance out the window.
Darkness blanketed the landscape, only mutely brighter with the snow. Without any buildings or roads around us, there was no reason for headlights to be flashing in the distance.
Or growing closer.
But they were.
Someone was coming.
No guards would be driving on an unscheduled trip. If any of my family had plans to visit, they would’ve arranged it so I would know.
Fuck.
As quietly and quickly as I could, I ran back toward my bedroom. After I grabbed my gun, I took off once more. Pausing only to ram my feet into boots at the front door, I sprinted outside to stop this invasion.
The second I landed in the snow, I was firing. Whoever drove up toward the cabin was already aiming out the windows of their SUV to shoot the guards. Too precisely. They fired and took out two of them positioned in the wood line.
Flashes of gunfire shone too brightly against the pure navy blankness of the night.
Fuck!
My pulse roared in my ears. The thud of my heartbeat droned deafeningly loudly.
But I didn’t wait. I didn’t flinch or choke.
Pushed to run forward and help the remaining guards hold back these intruders, I fired at the SUV that came too close.
Masked men filed out. They rushed into the snow, guns up, bullets flying. I did my best to pick them off. Crouching behind the snow fort that I’d made with Kalina and Misha, I aimed and didn’t stop firing.
Too many rushed at the cabin. With only my gun and what sounded like another guard still standing, the defense that stood between me and the cabin wore down.
I won’t fail.
I can’t.
They won’t hurt you.
I'd promised to keep Kalina safe and I would until I was no longer able to breathe and fight back.
I would give my life for my son.
Nothing would stop this determination to be their savior. But when a rocket was launched in the direction of the cabin, I had to reassess.
Fuck!
Glass shattered as the window broke. Through the opening left behind, flames licked out from where the kitchen was.
Fuck this.
I wasn’t saving them by shooting at the men out here when the whole place could go up in flames.
“Go!”
I caught Niko’s shout. He was alive, the only one left out here. The others were shot dead and lying in the snow. One man couldn’t fight off all these attackers.
“Go. Go get them,” he shouted louder before shooting.
We were outnumbered, but he was right. There were two of us and I couldn’t count on Kalina and Misha escaping the fire on their own.
I turned, counting on Niko to have my back. As I dashed back into the house, my heart seized at the sound of more gunshots coming from inside.
They were shooting their way in, using the side door. They were coming in to get them!
Running fast, ducking low, and resisting the sting of smoke on my eyes, up my nose, and into my throat and lungs, I barreled forward, aiming for the sound of my son’s voice.
He was dragging something. No, not a thing. Someone.
Kalina!
It was so hard to see through the smoke, but I knew it had to be her.
It was impossible to make out much, but knowing he was out here with her was all that mattered.
Based on the position of the house, he was clearly trying to reach the panic room.
And the closer I got, I saw that he was indeed dragging Kalina because she was out.
She strained to get up, her eyes squeezed closed.
“I don’t think so!” A masked man roared it as he lifted his gun to shoot Misha.
“Get down!” I shouted it as loudly as I could, knowing that the second he heard my voice, he would listen.
He did.
Hunching over, as if he wanted to protect Kalina, I fired one shot over his head. I aimed at the man who was blocking him.
With a single pull on the trigger of my gun, I sank a bullet between his eyes.
He tumbled down, almost falling on both of them. Misha tensed, turning his head to the side, and cringed.
I hurried toward him. Spinning so that no one would have a free shot at my back, I passed Misha and kicked the dead man out of the way. “Go. Go on.” I slammed my hand against the small panic room door that was hidden with the set of wood panels on the wall.
He didn’t wait. He didn’t hesitate. As another masked man came forward, meeting the end of my gun barrel, Misha scooped up Kalina with all his might and pulled her into the room.
That was exactly what he was supposed to do. No matter where we went and stayed, I made sure that he always knew where to go in case of any danger.
Safe.
He had to be safe.
So did Kalina.
“Daddy, wait!” His frantic cry reached my ears as I shoved the door shut tight once more with one hand. In my other, I kept my gun firing at the three additional men who'd dared to come in here to hurt either of them.
As the smoke continued to clog up the cabin, I waited. I hunched low to breathe. And I waited. My heart pounded. My lungs ached for clean oxygen.
But I waited.
No one else burst out through the smoke. No other intruder stepped forward to try to get to me or the ones behind me.
Still, I had to know.
Time was running out. Kalina was unconscious. Misha was terrified. It would’ve been too risky to assume that the coast was clear to get them out of the building. Danger was imminent no matter which way I went. The cabin was burning down and we had to get out of here.
With another shout, I didn’t need to wonder if it was safe to move.
“Alexsei!”
Niko was here. He ran forward, covering his mouth with his shirt. “I’m coming!”
“Over here,” I yelled back.
“Where are they?”
“Are they all down?” I replied, not wanting to give away Kalina or Misha’s position. Then again, he wouldn’t have asked that if he wasn’t sure it would be safe to speak about them.
“Yes. All of them are dead. I’ve hit the call for SOS to Simon.”
“Good.” I wouldn’t bother double-checking with him if he was sure the men were dead. I would take his word for it because that was what I was trained to do. What we were all trained to do. To work as a team.
With his help, we found the panel to disengage the panic room’s door. A few more clicks sounded, and the lock was released.
Niko and I both reached in to get them out.
“Daddy!” Misha sobbed. He ran toward me, hugging my leg as I leaned over to get Kalina. “She won’t wake up. She—she—she—”
“It will be okay.” I wasn’t lying. As I grabbed Kalina and hoisted her into my arms, I saw her chest rising and falling. She was breathing, but if we waited a few more minutes, none of us would be able to inhale anything but smoke.
“He hit her and she fell,” he sobbed.
Niko reached for him, scooping him into his arms. “Then let’s go.”
While he carried him out, I clutched Kalina to me as tightly as I could. Running back through the house wasn’t an easy way out. Stepping over dead bodies, slipping in blood, smacking into furniture. It was a messy, clumsy, and blind escape, but we forged ahead and ran out into the snow.
Niko had a lighter load and could run further. I wasn’t far behind, but as we raced to the SUV in the small barn that stood detached from the smoking and burning cabin, I glanced down at the woman I couldn’t lose.
You didn’t fail.
She’s alive.
She will make it.
You didn’t let her die.
Repeating that mantra was all I could do as I locked down and focused on getting us the hell out of here.
Niko got Misha into the back seat, and between all three of us, we managed to get Kalina in with him.
The sight of my son wrapping his arms around her to keep her upright would forever be seared into my mind.
The display of terror and shock on his young face was proof that I had failed to protect him.
I shouldn’t have let this even happen.
I should’ve been ahead to anticipate this and prevent—
“I’ll call this in,” Niko said as he got into the back. Phone in hand, he was with it, not breaking down with guilt or emotions. He was on the job. On task.
As I was supposed to be.
I nodded once, not wasting another second to throw myself into the driver’s seat.
Speeding away from the cabin, I vaguely listened to Niko calling and reporting to Simon.
Then Emil. Back to Simon. Then Ivan. Even though they were far away, they would begin the process of securing the situation and handling cleanup, as well as investigating who the fuck had dared to come and ambush us at this secure spot.
I drove as fast as I could over the icy roads.
I had to get them to safety.
Kalina needed to be checked out.
Misha was due comfort and a chance to decompress.
With every glance up at the mirror, I checked that he was still with us. With me.
He was watching Kalina, worry in his eyes.
But when I got a glimpse of her, unconscious and so still, I hated myself all over again.
You didn’t let her die.
You didn’t fail her.
I couldn’t convince myself of either of those thoughts.
She still could. She might.
It was up to me to bring her to safety once more. And then I could reassess how I’d almost lost her.
You didn’t fail her.
It wasn’t sticking, not with the nauseating dread of her staying unconscious in the backseat on the way back home.