27. Victor
VICTOR
Dimitri's men are regrouping. I cut the power and took out the guards, but there are more coming.
I run over, grip the edge of the door, and slam it shut with every ounce of strength I have. The heavy steel crashes into the frame, rattling the hinges, and I slide a deadbolt into place.
I exhale, my chest heaving, and turn back to Danika.
She's leaning against the cabinet, her arms wrapped around herself, her shoulders hunched forward.
The dim glow of my tactical flashlight, still lying on the floor where I dropped it, casts harsh shadows across her face.
Her blonde hair is a mess, tangled and damp with sweat.
She has clear marks across her face where they've no doubt hit her.
Every bruise is catalogued in my brain for when I kill Dimitri.
But despite everything, she looks beautiful.
"Can you fight?" I ask, my voice rough as I force myself to focus.
She straightens, rolling her shoulders back with a wince. Her jaw tightens, and she meets my gaze.
"Always."
"That's my girl," I say, picking up my flashlight and pulling a spare pistol from the back of my waistband. I took it off one of the guards on my way here, the first one who didn't see me coming.
I hand her the gun, and she takes it without hesitation, her fingers brushing mine as they close around the grip. She checks the magazine herself, ejecting it, inspecting the rounds, then slapping it back into place. Her thumb flicks the slide, chambering a round, and she looks up at me.
"You were right."
I glance over my shoulder at the door and then back at her.
"Say that again," I say, unable to stop the smile tugging at my lips.
She rolls her eyes, but there's no real annoyance in the gesture.
"Even now, you tell jokes."
I smile wider, stepping closer. "If I knew that door would hold, I'd be down for doing a lot more."
She ignores the flirtation. "About the drugs and trafficking. You were right."
I tilt my head, studying her. "You saw the intel on the drive?"
She shakes her head. "No. Dimitri told me. It's not the Volkovs, though, Victor. It's him using..."
"Using the family name as cover," I finish her sentence. "I know now."
She blinks, her lips parting slightly. "How?"
"The intel you left. By the way, do you still have it?"
She holds up her hand, the diamond ring glinting in the flashlight beam.
Relief floods through me. "Good. Because I may have lost what you gave me."
Her brow furrows. "What do you mean?"
"I had some unexpected visitors after you left. A bullet went straight through my laptop. I did manage to look through it, though. On that note..."
I stop as we hear voices outside the door.
I turn my flashlight toward it, and the handle moves slightly.
I turn back to her, lowering my voice. "Why'd you leave me a copy anyway? And why did you leave? Did you not have a good time?"
She stares at me for a long moment, and I see the walls around her drop. Just slightly. Just enough.
"I had a great time," she says. "I think that's why I left. And I gave you a copy because I wanted to show you the Volkovs weren't what you thought they were. So that you'd see and not try to get yourself killed."
My chest tightens, and I step closer. "You care if I die?"
She holds up her gun. "Shut up. If anyone's going to kill you, it'll be me."
I laugh.
"Granted, we've got to walk through hell to get out of here alive, but now that it's all out in the open, we're not really enemies anymore, are we?"
She takes a moment, thinking. I watch the wheels turn in her head, the way her jaw tightens, the way her fingers flex around the grip of the gun.
"Once Ivan learns the truth," I say, "and Lucian learns it wasn't the Bratva but a rogue defector, we can end this, and no one else dies."
She smiles, and it's genuine. Beautiful. "Always the diplomat, are you?" she says, then sighs. "It's a shame I won't get to hunt you."
I lean into her space, my chest brushing against hers. "Oh, we can still hunt one another. It'll just be me trying to pin you down and repeat what happened back at my hotel."
She leans in, lifting her chin. "Is that a fact?"
I reach up, my thumb gently stroking her cheek. The skin is soft and warm.
"Tell me you wouldn't want that."
She's silent for a moment, and she bites her bottom lip, and I want to bite it myself.
"I like you, Victor," she says in a low tone. "You're the first man I've ever told that to. And it's fitting that I have to say it here in a dark basement."
I smile, finally finding the words that have been swirling in my head. "Hey. Would you like to get out of here? Come back to Romania with me? I'm running for office in the spring, you know. I'll need someone beside me. Could be fun to trade in your guns for more of those dresses you wear so well."
She leans up and kisses me passionately, her free hand gripping the back of my neck. I kiss her back, hard, tasting her.
"When we get out of here," she says against my lips, "I'll do a lot more than that to you."
I kiss her again, harder this time, my hand fisting in her hair. Then I break away, my eyes blazing with lethal determination.
"Well, shit. You just sentenced everyone outside this door to death."
I raise my gun and start looking around the dark room with my flashlight, scanning for anything useful.
Danika steps forward beside me, her weapon raised.
"Well, exactly how do you plan on getting us out of here?"
"I'm working on that," I say as I shine the flashlight around the room, taking in every detail.
The walls are bare concrete. The ceiling is low, maybe seven feet high, with exposed pipes running along the length of it.
There's a grate in the floor near the far corner, probably for drainage.
And in the opposite corner, above Danika, is an air vent.
"There," I say, pointing with the light.
She follows my gaze up, then looks at me, skeptical. "That vent is barely big enough for a person."
I smirk. "Good thing you're small."
She glares at me. "I'm not crawling through a vent."
"That's what you said about the dumbwaiter at the casino, and that turned out fine."
"Victor!"
"You have a better idea?"
Suddenly, a volley of shots slams into the door. We duck as the sound of metal groaning and ricocheting bullets fills the room, and I flash my light over to see if any passed through.
Luckily, they haven't.
"Dammit," she says and sighs. "Help me up."