41. Lila
Lila
It takes every ounce of willpower I have to move toward the door. I can’t believe I’m leaving him.
But I’m not.
This is part of the plan.
One of Arlind’s guards shoves open a door, and I see the moon reflecting off the water. That’s what I focus on until I’m standing alone in the dark.
Where’s the cavalry?
“Lila.”
I turn to see Damien emerge from the shadows. Relief washes over me. I knew there was no way Maksim would go in alone.
I run toward him. He’s very calm. Two more men emerge from the shadows. I recognize them as Maksim’s.
“Are you hurt?” Damien asks.
“He said to tell you to take care of Ember,” I blurt out.
He stills like he's just been given an order.
I wait for the action. He should be shouting into a mic I can’t see. Making a phone call. Whistling.
Something!
“Okay,” he says quietly. “Okay. Let’s go.”
The guards move behind me as Damien takes my arm and drags me away from the warehouse.
“What does it mean?” I pull him to a stop. “What does it mean, Damien? Is it a signal? Does it mean to go in? Because if it means to go in, we need to go right now. He’s in there alone, and Arlind will not let him walk out of there. We have to go back!”
“No.”
Panic rolls through me. One of the guards puts a hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off, hard. “Don’t touch me. Nobody touch me. We need to go back in there.”
“We are not going back in.”
I stare at him. “Excuse me?”
“He told us to wait. If we go in, we blow whatever he’s setting up.” Damien’s voice is calm and careful. The voice of a man talking someone back from a ledge. I’m coming apart at the seams. “Trust him.”
“Trust him.” I repeat it because I need to hear how insane it sounds. “Arlind wants him dead. He’s going to kill him.”
“Maksim isn’t that easy to kill.”
“Go to hell.”
I turn back toward the warehouse, and this time, all three men grab me.
“Move,” I say.
They don’t.
“I will go through you,” I say. “I mean it.”
“Mrs. Sokolva.” The taller one has the decency to look sorry. “Please.”
“He is in there alone.” My voice cracks on the last word, and I hate myself for it. I clench my teeth and breathe through my nose. “He’s alone in there because of me. I can’t just wait and see.”
“Lila.” Damien’s hand is on my elbow. “Get in the car.”
“No.”
“Get in the car.” He steers me toward it, and I dig in my heels. He’s stronger than he looks, but I’m not weak. “I know,” he says quietly against my ear as he maneuvers me toward the open door. “I know. Get in the car. This is what he wanted. You have to let him work. This is his plan. His wishes.”
I get in the car, knowing what’s happening but refusing to accept it. I think of the passport and the money. There is no rescue. He’s getting me out of the country while Arlind butchers him. He’s sacrificing himself for me.
I lean my forehead against the cold window and watch the warehouse get smaller as Sampson pulls away. I’m going to be sick.
Tell Damien to take care of Ember.
It was his goodbye. A choked sob escapes my throat. The men hear, but none of them acknowledge it. They’re all lost in their thoughts.
Cinder is on the front steps when we pull through the gate.
Her arm is bandaged, and someone’s jacket is over her shoulders, even though it’s warm out. She looks older.
She stands when I get out of the car.
I walk straight to her. She opens her arms, and I walk into them without thinking. Her good arm comes around me hard, and we stand there on the front steps of Maksim’s house and hold on.
“Ava?” I manage.
“Surgery,” she says. “She’ll be okay. Bullet went through clean. She lost some blood, but she’s strong.” She tightens her arm around me. “She’s a fighter.”
“I know.” I saw Ava put herself between me and the door and take a hit that was meant to slow me down.
Cinder pulls back and looks at my face. Her eyes are red. She’s been crying, and I don’t think Cinder cries easily. “He’ll be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” she admits, “but I know him. He doesn’t walk into rooms without knowing the way out. He always jokes that he has a crystal ball and can see the future. He knows what’s coming.”
That has fresh tears streaming down my face. We all know what’s coming, and I don’t think I can live with the guilt.
Cinder leads me inside. The house is full of men. Some I recognize, but most I don’t. They part when I walk through.
I’m the reason for all this. They’re looking at me because they know who Maksim willingly walked into hell to save. Their futures are tied to his. And now mine.
Those futures are uncertain because one man saw me and decided I was worth saving.
I find Damien in the kitchen on his phone. He holds up one finger when he sees me. I lean against the counter and wait.
“What’s happening?” I ask as soon as he lowers the phone.
“We have people watching the warehouse. No shots fired. No movement.”
“That could mean anything.”
“It could.”
“What’s your plan, Damien?” I’m firm. Digging deep and trying to be the wife of the man in power. “You did not let him walk in there without a plan.”
Damien remains silent.
“Fine. Then I’ll come up with a plan.”
“Lila, I’m following Maksim’s orders. He wants us here. Everyone. Locked down.”
“I want to go back with enough men to end this.” I push off the counter. “He went in there alone so I could get out. I’m out. His plan worked. Now, we need to go back and get him.”
“He said to wait.”
“No. Am I not his wife? Do I not inherit his position if he’s gone?”
“That’s not how this works,” Damien replies.
I assumed as much, but I had to try. “How long does he have to be in there before you decide we go in? And don’t you dare tell me there was never a plan to go in there and get him.”
Damien’s jaw tightens.
“Fuck!” I shout and throw my hands up. “Fuck you! Fuck all of you!”
“Lila, please,” Damien says.
“I’ll go alone,” I say.
“You won’t.”
“Watch me.”
“You don’t have a weapon. You don’t even have a vehicle.”
“I’m going, Damien. Either you come with me, or you get out of my way.”
He stares at me.
I stare back.
The front door opens. I hear multiple deep voices. Damien stiffens, his shoulders go back, and suddenly, he looks like a soldier preparing to meet his commander. He walks out of the kitchen. I follow him.
Two men stand in the doorway. They’re both tall. Both dark. Both look like avenging angels with murder on their minds.
Sergei and Nikolai.
Our eyes meet.
Sergei exudes power like a king striding into court. No one is talking. I’m not sure anyone is even breathing, myself included. Nikolai has the look of a man who murders without breaking a sweat.
The danger I see in their eyes is terrifying and just what I need.
Sergei steps forward. “You’re Lila,” he says.
“Yes.”
He turns to Damien. “Brief me.”
“I’m going back for him,” I say.
Sergei slowly turns back to me.
“No,” he says.
Just that. One word. End of the conversation.
“He’s my husband,” I say.
“And he is my brother,” Sergei says. “Which means I outrank you in this particular decision.”
“With respect,” I say, “you don’t outrank me when it comes to him. You can take your men and your authority and your one-word answers and get him out of that building. I will be right beside you when you do.”
Nikolai makes a sound. I can’t tell if it’s amusement or annoyance.
“You’ll stay here,” Sergei says. “Where it’s safe. Where he put you.”
“He put me here so I could get out. I’m out.” I step forward. I’m shorter than both of them by at least a foot, and I don’t care even a little bit. “I know what I’m walking into. I know the layout of that building. I’m an asset, not a liability. Take me with you.”
I feel the house holding its breath.
"You're also the reason he's in there," Sergei says quietly. "Don't make it worse."
Nikolai looks at his brother and then snaps his fingers. Two men the size of houses step forward and grab me.
“You’ll do what you’re told,” Sergei says. “We’ll bring our brother home.”
“No!” I scream and thrash as the two men haul me to the same room I was put in the first time I came to this house.
They shove me inside and lock the door as I scream and kick. My heart is shredding in my chest. I grab anything I can find and smash it against the door.
Nothing works.
I sink to the floor and let the helplessness pull me down.
I’ve lost the only person who’s ever truly loved me. Loving me is deadly.
I don’t know how much time has passed when the door opens. I jump to my feet, ready to kick the shit out of the assholes who put me in here.
It’s Cinder. She puts a finger to her lips, and I nod. She slips into the room, wedging her foot in the door to keep it from closing.
"Nobody ever saved anybody by locking them in a room. I know that from experience." She pulls a key from her bra. "Promise me you won't get yourself killed."
She reaches behind her and hands me a pistol. “You know where you’re going?”
“I do. How long ago did they leave?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Thank you!”
I’m out the door before she can say another word. I should let the men handle it. This is what they do.
But every instinct I have is screaming at me that I have to be there.