Chapter 35
ALEXSEI
“You’re bringing her with us?” Emil asked me as we all moved outside.
I nodded.
“I thought it was just an idea,” he whispered.
I shook my head, aware that Kalina was nearby and could hear. I didn’t want her to think I was regretting my compromise to let her come today.
I’d texted them all that she would accompany us, but that she’d stay back and not be close to the danger zone. Maybe they thought I was being ridiculous and careless. But Luka didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. That was how much he trusted us all.
Still, I was tense. This was the love of my life. The mother of my unborn child. As of a few minutes ago, the mother Misha wanted too. When he asked her that pivotal question, I swore my heart would burst from overflowing with love.
“Nothing can happen to her,” I whispered back to him as we all got into the cars.
“Well, no shit.” He gave me a stern look. “It would obviously be safer for her to be here.”
I shook my head. “I can’t deny her a part in this. It matters to her.”
“Yeah, it matters that the fuckers are dead, but—”
I put my hand on his chest and shook my head again. “No. It matters too much to her. She’s thought about escaping and getting revenge for so long. I think it was all that kept her going. And I won’t refuse her a chance to be involved. Even as a witness close up. To see them be killed.”
“If they’re there.” He furrowed his brow.
I nodded. “She’s aware that they might not be.”
“And what if they’re watching and they—”
“Whatever you want to say, we’ll be there to protect her.” I raised my brows, daring him to argue.
He let out a deep breath, hesitant. Then he nodded. “We will. I’ll keep an extra eye on her. On you both.”
I patted his chest once and moved to join her in the car.
Maybe he was uneasy about bringing her, but I was confident I wouldn’t fail her. We were one step ahead. We had plenty of backup and resources.
She’d already put a vest on just in case. Luka had handed her a gun to use, again, just in case. After the farewell with Misha, we stopped in the garage to suit up and it proved how ready we were.
On the ride there, she didn’t go back to that shell of quietness. No vacant stare was shining from her eyes. While she didn’t speak, it was more like she was getting into the mood. It was go-time. Time to focus. To be ready to move and think quickly.
This was a critical moment for her, a huge turning point of her taking charge of her life in such a fashion that I wouldn’t be able to replicate or do for her.
Holding her hand didn’t seem appropriate. I didn’t want to placate her. I didn’t want to coddle her.
Like this, she proved more than ever that she wasn’t the skittish, timid woman she was when I discovered her freezing on that bench in Central Park.
She had grown and learned. She’d tested her boundaries and took chances.
So when we pulled up to the spot designated for our car, I wasn’t nervous and chanting a mantra that I couldn’t fail her. I wouldn’t, not with so much help surrounding me. Not when she was also ready to join in the fight if need be.
“Ready?” Emil asked before we opened the doors.
A guard in the passenger seat in the front would stay with her out here in the bulletproof car.
She had a comms unit in her ear and she could hear what the team said.
On the dash in the front, the screen would show the bodycams of the men on the frontline who’d infiltrate the building first.
“I’ve been waiting for this for fourteen years,” she stated coldly.
I nodded at my cousin to get out of the car.
He did, standing outside the vehicle and blocking the door.
I got out before Kalina could say anything.
Sticking with the plan, I stood on the other side, flanking the car as I joined Emil in looking out over the area.
We were higher-ranking men who would still be on the street, but this was an exercise for all the trained assassins Emil had been coaching to take his place in the field.
Over the comms unit, we heard the shouting and muted pops of the guns with silencers.
Every man who was killed was reported in live time.
A constant barrage of confirmed kills filled my earpiece.
All of them would be documented. It was already all on video, such that if anyone wanted to argue who had the glory of ending the last of the surviving Riveras, we would have the evidence behind it.
The Dubinins would always triumph. No one could dare to threaten any of us.
With each confirmed kill that was reported, I knew Luka would be mightily pleased.
He was still bitter and livid about their coming to the cabin to threaten me, Misha, and Kalina.
His anger would last forever that any loyal Dubinin was killed, like those men who’d tried to protect us that fateful night.
This was revenge, sweet and served with serious force.
Waiting with Emil for the final all-clear, that all the Riveras had been killed and were officially dead, I glanced through the slight crack of the window at Kalina sitting there.
Her gaze was locked on the dash screen. She sat still with a slightly furrowed brow as she witnessed the deaths. No sign of fear or trauma showed on her face. This wasn’t triggering her. In fact, it would likely do way more good than harm.
She needed this. To know she wouldn’t be hunted or abused ever again.
“They’re all down,” Niko reported, since he’d volunteered to come with us on this mission. He reported his location to one of the advanced hitmen inside the building with him.
All the while, I didn’t stop staying alert and remaining as the lookout at the street with my cousin. Further down, another car had two plainclothes men looking out. Then again on the other sides of the building. We operated as a team, an undefeatable team.
Listening to the reports as the men searched the building and conferred with each other, we waited yet.
Until…
“They’re here.”
I jerked my face up and found Emil watching me too, having heard the same thing.
“They?” I asked, needing complete confirmation.
“Erik Boranov and his friend,” Niko reported.
Shouts sounded in the background and some scuffle of a struggle came through too.
“No. Don’t kill them,” he ordered.
“Don’t!” I said, knowing the time had come for Kalina to exact her revenge.
Emil arched one brow at me over the hood of the car and I nodded once.
She couldn’t be hurt. I had compromised to let her be this close to the danger, but if they’d taken out all the Riveras and the scene was secure…
“The building is completely clear?” I checked. I would not allow any room for a mistake. Not like this. Not with her.
“Yes,” Niko replied.
“Check it again anyway,” Emil ordered. “Every inch.”
We waited again as the hitmen and soldiers swept through every floor.
When they came back to report, they confirmed the same thing.
“All clear. If she wants the honors…”
Niko didn’t need to finish that sentence.
“I definitely want the honors,” Kalina replied, speaking through the comms unit for the first time throughout it all.
Simon piped in, from another SUV parked on the block. “Don’t delay it. I’m watching the police scanner and it’s only a matter of time before something pops up nearby.”
Emil nodded at me, understanding this was the moment to really have our backs. Others would guard us too, but he was directly on it.
I opened the door and helped Kalina out. She wasn’t waddling yet, but with that baby bump, rising from any seated position was getting to be tricky.
In a long beige trench coat over her maternity dress, she stood and rounded the car with me. I didn’t need to coach her about hiding her gun. She held it, concealed in the folds of her unfastened coat and her sleeve.
Striding inside with me, she kept her head up. She stared straight ahead with a no-nonsense coolness, but if I watched her closely as we wove through the hallways and stepped over the dead bodies of the Italians they’d all killed, I could just barely catch the tremble of her lower lip.
Emil came with us, guarding her too, but he didn’t try to joke or lighten the situation. He used to be such a wise ass, but he’d calmed and mellowed since meeting Sadie and starting his family.
Somber and serious, we followed Niko’s directions to reach a small room on the second floor.
Upon entering the space, it was clear that the two men had been captured and held here against their will.
Serves you right, fuckers.
I stayed right next to Kalina, just in case something could still go wrong. Emil didn’t stray far from her on her left. But neither of us tried to block her or prevent her from being the main character here. Their threat.
Erik’s face was hardly identifiable with all the swollen areas, bruises, and cuts. Yusef didn’t look any better. He seemed to be missing a couple of fingers while Erik leaned heavily on one leg, as if he had been wounded so badly, he couldn’t fully stand on his own.
“You fucking wh—”
We all raised our arms and aimed our guns at them. Me, Emil, Niko, and two other soldiers.
Kalina did not.
She stayed put, eerily still, and stared at her brother who’d stolen half of her life.
“You hear me?” He sneered at our not shooting him. “You’re nothing but a worthless fucking whore. You got yourself some fucking losers to breed you and now what? Huh? Now what?”
“Now you cheated us out of the money we deserved for it!” Yusef yelled.
“We spent all that time and money on you, keeping you safe for so long, and this is how you repay us?” Erik screamed.
She lifted her arm now. “No. This is how I’ll repay you.” She pulled the trigger and fired one shot. Continuing her beginner’s luck of having a hell of an accurate aim—the close range notwithstanding—she killed her brother.
A red hole showed on his brow. Right between his eyes. It no longer mattered if his injured leg couldn’t keep him up. He slumped, his head dropping like it was too heavy, and he fell forward.
“You fucking bitch!” Yusef screamed. “You fuck— Fuck. You fucking good for nothing—”
“I’m good for killing you, too,” she stated calmly.
She turned her arm toward him and lined up the shot.
This one wasn’t as accurate. It landed in his eye, creating more of a gory splatter, but she only flinched a little.
She shot again, getting more central on his head, and he surrendered to the pull of gravity and death as well.
Once he fell forward, Kalina exhaled a long, shaky breath. Then she lowered her arm.
I hugged her to me, proud and worried about her. While I respected her need to kill her captors and tormentors, it was a very big thing to take a life. I had to watch her and make sure that the trauma of acting on such a lethal motive wouldn’t mess with her head now.
Before I could stress about her reaction to killing two men, I had to keep her alive.
“Alexsei! Go!”
Another Dubinin man ran into the room from a door to the side.
“Explosives are detected. We sprang a trap when they rushed through the windows in the basement.”
My heart pounded. Adrenaline ruled. I twisted, pushing Kalina toward Emil since he was nearest to the door.
I ran after her as we sprinted, jumping and stepping over the dead bodies that littered the hall.
We all scrambled, rushing to exit.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t fail her. I couldn’t fail Emil and Niko and the others. I couldn’t disappoint the family. Luka. Misha—he’d lose both of his parents.
Determined to defy fate and escape death, we charged out as fast as we could.
When Kalina landed sharply on her foot, twisting her ankle, she crouched down and was nearly plowed over by my running after her, Niko too.
“Hurry!” I grabbed her in my arms, clutching her tightly as I carried her the rest of the way.
Outside, men were positioned at the cars to drive off.
Like the team we were, we operated with the efficiency required to stay alive.
As soon as the bright grayness of the sky filled my vision, the instant we were out the door, I hurried to the car.
I landed on the sidewalk. We bounded forward, aiming for the open door of the car. In the time it took for me to lift off with my other foot and sprint the remaining distance, the explosions went off behind me and threw me forward.