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Alia nodded again, and as soon as she turned— Sienna grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face against the wall with a sickening crack.

Alia collapsed, unconscious, a massive bump already forming on her forehead. “Eat the wall. A change from all the dicks, bitch,” Sienna spat before joining us.

Oh. My. God.

“Let’s go,” Sienna said, pushing open the door just as Sasha was about to enter, probably to come check on us. She crashed into him, and he instinctively grabbed her by the waist, stopping her from falling backward.

For a brief moment, he held her there, eyes locked onto hers. Then, he glanced over his shoulder at Alia’s unconscious body sprawled across the floor.

His gaze snapped back to my sister, questioning. Sienna shrugged nonchalantly.

“She was hungry,” she said before shoving past him to exit the room.

Sasha watched her go, then closed his eyes and exhaled sharply, as if he had mustered all his patience to stop himself from doing something reckless.

“Fire escape is at the end of the hall, left side,” he muttered through clenched teeth, his gaze never leaving my sister.

We followed his directions, rushing down the dimly lit hallway until we reached a red emergency door.

“Eighteen seconds,” Sena reminded us as we pushed through and descended the metal staircase, Sasha took Rafael from myarms so we could move faster, and a cold shiver ran down my spine as we stepped into the night air.

We reached the SUV, and Sasha didn’t waste a single second before speeding off, putting as much distance as possible between us and the monster who, by now, must be losing his mind.

I clutched my son against me, breathing in his scent, feeling his little body relax against mine.

He was safe.

He was home.

Present

I wilted under Nikolai’s gaze, his eyes brimming with hurt.

I had hurt him.

But it had to be done—because if he had known, he would have stopped us.

“Dad ?”

Rafael’s voice echoed in the room, and Nikolai’s gun slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor.

He lunged forward, grabbing Rafael and holding him so tightly it was as if he was afraid to ever let go again.

“Dad…”

And Nikolai embraced him like one. His head bowed, his face pressed into Rafael’s small shoulder, breathing him in, as if trying to convince himself that he was real, that he was here.

Tears burned in my eyes as Elif stepped up beside me, her hand gentle on my shoulder.

“Are you okay ? Did he hurt you ?” Nikolai asked, pulling back slightly to study Rafael, his large hands checking him over for any injuries.

Rafael shook his head vigorously.

“No ! I wasn’t even scared, Dad ! I knew Mama was coming—she promised !” He grinned brightly, throwing his arms around Nikolai’s neck again.

“And Aunt Sienna smashed the witch’s head against the wall—it went BOOM !”

His voice bubbled with excitement, retelling his adventure.