Page 46 of Arranged with Twins

Leo

R aquel’s voice crackles through my earpiece as we speed through Queens traffic. “I found them. There’s an apartment building in Astoria registered to one of Adrian’s shell companies.”

“How certain are you?” I check my weapon again, making sure the magazine is full and the safety is off.

I’m impressed by how much she’s learned, but I focus on logistics. Praise—and a raise—will come later. “Are they armed?”

“Assume yes. The NSA satellite probably has the capability to determine that, but I don’t have time to dig into all its functions.

I have to extricate myself before they realize I’m there and erase my backdoor.

” She’s quiet for a minute, but her keyboard keeps clicking.

“I’m sending building schematics to your phone now. ”

Ilya takes a sharp turn that throws me against the passenger door. Behind us, two more SUVs carry the rest of our team, which is twelve men total, all armed for war. If I waited a few hours, I could call on more, but I’m not leaving her in Adrian’s clutches any longer than I must.

I thank Raquel and hang up as my phone beeps with her email. I open it and study it for a long moment. “There are two stairwells. Once is the main entrance and the other is a fire escape.”

“We can split the team.” Ilya briefly glances at me before returning his gaze to the road.

“No.” I trace the building’s layout with my finger. “We go in together, fast and hard. I don’t want Adrian to have time to hurt her.”

“As you say, boss.” Ilya nods in agreement and completes the drive in record time for Queens traffic.

When we arrive, the destination is in a residential neighborhood with brick apartment buildings mixed with small businesses and corner stores.

It’s the perfect place to hide someone in plain sight where neighbors mind their own business.

It also makes our need for discretion and carefully selected shots more vital.

I don’t want any innocents injured in the crossfire.

“There.” I point to a six-story brick building with fire escapes zigzagging down its face. Two black SUVs sit in the parking area behind the building, partially hidden by dumpsters, and one has a damaged front fender, confirming this is the place.

Ilya parks on a side street where our vehicles won’t be visible from the target building. The other SUVs follow suit, and within seconds, armed men surround our position.

“Remember,” I address the team quietly, “Sienna is inside. She’s pregnant, and she’s been through enough. Anyone who puts her at additional risk answers to me personally.”

There are nods all around. These men have worked with me long enough to know my threats aren’t empty.

“Kozlov and his men are expendable. Adrian is mine.” I slide a knife into my boot and check my back-up weapon. “Questions?” No one speaks, so I nod. “Move out.”

We approach the apartment building using parked cars and building shadows for cover.

The lobby entrance is secured with a keypad lock, but these old buildings have weak security.

Mikhail produces a small device that bypasses the electronic lock within seconds.

The mechanism clicks open with barely a sound.

“Third floor,” I whisper into my radio. “Corner unit, apartment 3C. We take the main stairwell.”

We move through the lobby like ghosts, past mailboxes and faded carpet that’s seen better decades.

The stairwell smells like old cigarettes and industrial cleaner.

We encounter an older woman walking down the stairs, and she lets out a startled cry before turning around and rushing back to the second floor.

By the time we reach that landing, the door to that floor is closing, indicating she’s scurrying back to her apartment. Wise choice.

At the second floor landing, I hold up my hand to halt the team. Above us, I hear movement. There are footsteps walking across the floor above, causing telltale squeaks in the floorboards. Listening closer, I hear voices speaking in hushed Russian.

“There are at least two guards in the hallway,” I whisper. “Move quietly to the third floor and pause at the landing. We go on my mark.”

The group moves as one, quietly climbing the last flight of stairs. We hesitate on the landing as ordered, and I ease open the door to peek out. The third floor hallway is narrow, with apartment doors on both sides. At the far end, apartment 3C has two men stationed outside as expected. “Now.”

We exit the stairwell in perfect formation. The guards don’t see us coming until it’s too late. Ilya and Mikhail take them down silently, professionally, and efficiently.

I approach the apartment door, weapon drawn. From inside, I hear Adrian’s voice, calm and controlled, speaking to someone who doesn’t respond. It’s probably Sienna. I can’t imagine she’s feeling chatty in his presence.

I motion for the team to take positions on either side of the door. This is the apartment where Adrian waits with the woman I love and our unborn children. “On three,” I mouth to Ilya.

One. I grip my weapon tighter, finger resting on the trigger.

Two. Every muscle in my body coils like a spring.

Three. I hold up the third finger, and everything happens rapidly.

Ilya kicks the door open with explosive force. I’m through the opening before the door frame splinters, weapon raised and ready to fire.

The apartment’s living room has been converted into an interrogation space.

Sienna sits zip-tied to a metal chair in the center of the room with her wrists bloody from struggling against her bonds.

Adrian stands behind her with a pistol pressed to her temple, his finger on the trigger guard.

“Leo.” His smile is cold and triumphant.

“Right on schedule. I was beginning to think you’d lost your edge. ”

“Let her go.” I keep my weapon trained on Adrian’s center mass, looking for any opening that won’t put Sienna at risk. “This is between you and me.”

“Is it?” Adrian presses the gun harder against Sienna’s head, and she winces. “I think it’s about much more than that now.”

Sienna meets my gaze from across the room. She’s terrified but alert, and her expression tells me she is still fighting despite everything she’s been through. Relief floods through me that she’s alive, conscious, and still stubbornly determined.

“You always were too predictable, Leo.” Adrian touches Sienna’s hair in a creepy way while keeping the gun pressed to Sienna’s temple.

She tries to jerk away from him, so he grasps a handful and tugs until she whimpers.

“You’re too loyal and too concerned about collateral damage. It makes you weak.”

I glare at him. “It makes me human.”

“Same thing.” Adrian lightens his hold on Sienna’s hair. “Do you know why I really left your organization? It wasn’t ambition or impatience. It was because I couldn’t stand watching you care more about honor than power.”

I sneer. “You think I don’t know your priorities are screwed up? Honor is what separates us from animals.”

“Honor is what gets you killed.” His voice carries five years of resentment.

“You had chances to eliminate rivals, expand territory, and build real power. Instead, once you got revenge for your parents’ death, you were content to absorb the Chichnakovs’ territory and remain static.

You worried about debts to families like the Coopers instead of taking over other families when we had the numbers and the weapons. You let sentiment make you soft.”

I take a step closer, drawing Adrian’s focus entirely onto me by design. “Vincent sheltered me when I had nothing. That debt was real.”

“Look how he repaid your loyalty.” Adrian laughs bitterly. “He sold you out the moment it became convenient, just like I said he would.”

“Which is why you’re holding his daughter at gunpoint?” I try to sound calm as I say the words. “If this is about forcing him to pay you off, he doesn’t have the money, but I do.”

Adrian shakes his head, looking at me like I’m stupid.

“I’m holding your weakness at gunpoint. This is about you, not Vincent.

” Adrian’s grip tightens on the pistol. “Sienna has made you even more vulnerable than before, and the babies will tie you down permanently. It’s the perfect time to act against you. ”

He knows about the pregnancy, which chills me. Even her parents didn’t know, so Sienna must have been the one who told him, mistakenly thinking it might save her and them. She doesn’t understand he’s a monster.

“You can’t build an empire while worrying about family, Leo.

I learned that watching you make the same mistakes your father made.

” Adrian’s voice turns conversational, as if we’re discussing business over drinks.

“Your parents died because they cared too much about protecting their people. Now, you’re about to make the same choice. ”

“Protecting someone I love?” I keep my weapon steady despite the fury burning through my veins. “That’s not weakness, Adrian. That’s what makes life worth living.”

“Then you’ll die for it, just like they did.”

Sienna chooses that moment to act. She drives her heel down onto Adrian’s foot with vicious force while simultaneously throwing her weight to the side, knocking his gun arm away from her head. Her chair tips over, temporarily removing her from the line of fire.

The opening lasts less than a second, but it’s enough.

My shot takes Adrian center mass, the hollow-point round doing exactly what it was designed to do.

He staggers backward, shock replacing arrogance on his face as blood spreads across his expensive shirt.

He was so sure of himself he didn’t even wear a Kevlar vest, the fool.

The pistol falls from his fingers as he collapses to his knees, then forward onto the concrete floor. His eyes remain open, staring at nothing.

I’m across the room in three strides, pulling her chair back to an upright position before removing my knife from the ankle sheath to cut through the zip ties binding her wrists.

Her hands are free in seconds, and then she’s in my arms, trembling against my chest. “You’re safe.

” I hold her as tightly as I dare, afraid she might disappear if I let go. “You’re safe now.”

“Leo.” She clings to me with shaking hands, her face buried against my neck. “I knew you’d come. I knew you’d find me.”

“Are you hurt? Did he—” I pull back to examine her face, looking for signs of injury.

“I’m okay. We’re okay.” She places one hand on her stomach, and I understand she’s talking about the babies too. “He didn’t hurt me, not really, so much as scared me.”

Relief makes my knees weak. I pull her close again, breathing in her scent while savoring the solid warmth of her body against mine.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper against her ear. “I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you better.”

“You did protect me.” She pulls back to look at me, tears streaming down her face. “You were right about everything. My parents, Adrian… All of it. I should have listened.”

“None of that matters now.” I cup her face in my hands, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“I love you.” The words come out broken and fierce. “I should have trusted you when you tried to tell me the truth.”

“I love you too.” I kiss her forehead, her cheeks, and anywhere else I can reach. “I love you so much it terrifies me.”

Ilya appears in the doorway, weapon lowered but still alert. “The building’s secure. There are no casualties on our side. The men are gathering up Adrian’s surviving men for…off-site interrogation.”

I nod without looking away from Sienna. “Clean up here. Make sure there’s nothing that can be traced back to us.”

“Already on it.” His voice carries satisfaction. “What about the Coopers?”

The question lands like a lead balloon, creating instant silence. Vincent and Katherine’s betrayal led directly to this moment, to Sienna being tortured and threatened by a man who viewed her as disposable currency.

Seeing her haunted expression, I say, “We’ll deal with them later.

” She doesn’t need to be thinking about them right now, and neither do I.

My focus needs to be on her, rather than giving in to murderous rage.

I help Sienna stand, keeping one arm around her waist for support.

“Right now, I just want to get her home.”

“The safehouse?” Ilya asks, clearly referencing one of our properties in Brighton Beach.

“Yes.” I look down at Sienna, who nods against my chest. “Somewhere safe, where no one can touch her again.”

As we walk out of the warehouse, Sienna leans heavily against me.

The adrenaline is wearing off, replaced by exhaustion and the aftereffects of whatever drug Adrian used to sedate her.

She looks up at me with eyes that are clear despite her exhaustion.

“I was wrong, about you trying to maintain control, and your motives. You were trying to save me.”

“We both made mistakes.” I help her into the passenger seat, then walk around to the driver’s side. “What matters is that we survived them.”

“My parents?—”

“Can wait.” I start the engine and pull out of the parking lot, leaving Adrian’s body and the warehouse behind us. “Tonight, I just want to hold you and know you’re safe.”

Sienna reaches across the console to take my hand. Her fingers are still shaking slightly, but her grip is strong.

“Take me home,” she says simply.

Home. For the first time since my parents died, that word means something more than just a secure location. It means Sienna, our children, and a future I almost lost to someone else’s greed and my own pride.

I squeeze her hand and drive toward the penthouse and the life we’ll build together despite everything that tried to tear us apart. I won’t let anything happen to her or separate us again. A world without her is too empty to consider.