Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Valery?” Her voice quavers. “What the fuck is this?”
Interesting. Is she not in on this part of the plan?
Maybe not. Her youngest brother is known for his convoluted, impenetrable plans that are often only revealed as such at the end. Though Konstantin clearly knew about the drones because he calmly adjusts his glasses, not the least bit surprised by what’s happening.
“Tell your people to back the fuck up and drop their weapons,” Valery repeats, his tone hardening further, and I grit my teeth but do as he says.
I don’t want bloodshed. Not in front of Alina. Not when she’s been doing so much better mentally and emotionally.
Even as rage burns in my veins, I tell myself that this is just a temporary setback. There’s a plan D. No matter where they take her, no matter how well they try to hide her, I will get her back.
I’ll uproot the whole fucking world to retrieve her if I have to.
At my command, my guards leave their visible weapons on the ground and step away, clearing the path between Alina and her brothers. I expect her to bolt toward them, but she doesn’t.
As Konstantin starts toward her with long strides, she throws herself at me.
Reflexively, I catch her, my heart thudding as she wraps her arms around my waist, clinging to me with a death grip. Remembering the drone overhead, I try to separate her from me, but she doesn’t let go.
“Alina.” Konstantin stops a few feet away. His voice is tense. “We need to go. Now.”
“No!” Still clinging to me, she turns her face toward her brothers. Her eyes are narrowed and her teeth bared, a tigress in battle mode. There’s no hesitation in her voice, nothing but furious conviction as she hisses, “Take your fucking drones and your bombs, and leave! This is my home, my husband, my people”—she flings her hand out toward my guards—“and you are fucking trespassing.”
Konstantin glances at Valery, clearly uncertain as to how to proceed.
Alina’s youngest brother steps forward, his tone turning soothing. Like he’s cajoling a small, unreasonable child. “Alina… I know this is scary, but he can’t hurt you anymore. We’ll ensure he doesn’t come after you. You’re going to be safe and—”
“I don’t want to be safe!” She’s all but vibrating with fury at my side. “I want him. I’ve told you that, over and over again, but you don’t fucking listen! He is my husband, the man I love, the man I’m meant to be with, and you two need to accept that, once and for all!”
My heart pounds madly, each word detonating in my brain with the force of a nuclear warhead. This is it. This is her chance to leave me—for good as far as she knows—and she’s not taking it.
Because she doesn’t want to leave.
This wasn’t her initiative.
She… actually loves me.
That wasn’t a lie or a ploy.
Valery must realize it too because he stops, all emotion leaving his face. His voice is toneless. “So you truly wish to stay? To be married to him?”
“Yes!” Alina all but spits the word at him. “Like I’ve told you a million times before. Yes, yes, yes! Take your drones and fucking go. Both of you. Now!”
Valery looks at Konstantin, and some wordless communication passes between them. Then they turn and leave, disappearing through a hole in the fence some ten meters away. The red dots disappear from my men’s chests as the drones soundlessly lift higher and vanish into the blue sky.
Releasing a breath I was holding, I signal to my men, and they disperse to do damage control and salvage what remains of the burning building. Then and only then do I press the button in my pocket, informing Ruslan that plan D—the final contingency—won’t be needed.
That he and his men, who were to follow Alina in case her brothers succeeded in taking her from me, can stand down as well.
Breathing shakily, Alina moves to separate from me, but I don’t let her. Instead, I turn her to face me. For a beat, we just stare at each other, and then, in a single instant, we come together, our mouths fusing violently, our hands ripping at each other’s clothes as we sink to the ground, heedless of the crackle of flames in the distance and the icy snow melting under our bodies.
Oblivious to anything except each other.
Chapter 32
Alina
I know we need to get up and deal with the fallout of my brothers’ rescue attempt, or at least get ourselves out of the cold, but after three soul-shattering orgasms, I can’t move. All I can do is lie on top of Alexei, feeling his powerful chest rise and fall beneath me as I try to still the residual trembling in my body and stop reliving those terrible moments when I thought Alexei was dead, or hurt and trapped in a burning building.