Page 16

16

SAbrINA

The second I hear the soft click of the nursery door as Carla closes it behind her, something inside me breaks.

I can’t believe my mother is actually going to walk right into the lion’s den. I pinch the bridge of my nose—she’s really going to do it and I’m racking my brains to come up with ways to stop her.

She’s going to walk into that meeting with Yelena tomorrow like a lamb to the slaughter, and we’ll never see her again. I don’t care what she says about leverage, strategy, or paying dues. They’ll kill her. Quietly. Efficiently. Just like they probably tried to kill my father. If not that, they’ll lock her in some ghost-facility so deep she may as well be dead.

Defection isn’t something the RMSAD forgives. I may not know all the inner workings of Russian intelligence, but I know enough. And every second ticking by feels like a countdown.

I push off the edge of the dresser and pace the room. My nerves are shot. My brain won’t stop spinning. I know I should sleep, but I can’t. I can’t stop picturing that final look on my mother’s face when she squeezed my hand—that quiet resignation.

God.

A wave of panic wells up in my chest, and I rub my sternum as if I can press it down. I need a distraction. Something, anything to keep my hands busy. I glance around and spot Oleksi’s hiking duffel slouched against the closet. He’s in the shower, water still pattering against the tile.

I pop my head into the bathroom. “Hey, do you have any more of those thick socks? My toes are freezing.”

He pushes the shower door open just enough to peer out. Drops of water glisten on his chest, sliding down in rivulets, and my brain stutters.

“You mean my thermal ones?”

“Yeah.”

“Check the green duffel,” he calls back. “Bottom pocket. Bag with my underwear.”

“Classy.”

He chuckles, and I pull back into the bedroom, making my way to the duffel. The zipper sticks for a second before giving way. I tug out the fabric bag and shake it. A pair of black thermal socks tumble onto the bed, but so do two small plastic SD cards.

Frowning, I pick them up.

What the hell are these?

Why are these stashed with his underwear? I glance toward the bathroom. The water’s still running. Curiosity claws at me, but something deeper—instinct maybe—tells me not to ask yet. I shove everything back into the duffel and slip the SD cards into the pocket of my jeans, then pull the socks up to my knees. They’re massive, but warm. My toes immediately thank me.

The shower shuts off. A beat later, the door swings open, and Oleksi emerges, towel slung low around his hips. Water beads on his chest and shoulders. He looks like a fucking Greek god, and the tension inside me shifts from panic to something far more primal.

His eyes flick to my legs, and a grin spreads across his mouth. “Those are my favorite socks.”

“They’re mine now.”

His gaze darkens as it drags over me. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

A jolt of heat coils in my belly. Without breaking eye contact, I rise to my feet. My fingers move quickly—shirt, fleece, bra, jeans, socks, panties—each item folded and tossed neatly on the chair beside the bed.

By the time I take the eight steps toward him, I’m naked. Every nerve in my body buzzes with anticipation.

His mouth curves in approval, but he doesn’t touch me yet. He lets me come to him.

I place my hands on his chest, then trail them slowly down his abs. I follow with my lips and tongue, tasting the soap on his skin. When I reach his hips, I drop to my knees.

He sucks in a breath as I wrap one hand around his cock and the other gently cups his balls. My tongue flicks over the tip, swirling, tasting the bead of arousal there.

“Fuck,” he mutters, threading his hands through my hair.

I take him into my mouth, working him slowly, teasing, licking, sucking, until he’s groaning and flexing his hips.

Just before he comes, he pulls me off with a growl, hauls me up, and tosses me backward onto the bed. My back hits the mattress with my legs dangling over the edge.

He kneels between my thighs, trailing kisses from my breasts to my belly, his fingers stroking upward along my thighs until they’re gliding between my folds at the apex of my legs.

“God, you’re already so wet.”

“For you,” I whisper.

His mouth replaces his fingers. He licks and sucks until my hips are bucking, my breath ragged. When he knows I’m close—right at the edge—he flips me over.

I brace on my elbows, and he drives into me from behind.

The stretch, the heat, the burn—it’s everything. At this angle, he’s so deep inside me, it’s like he’s touching my soul.

He fucks me hard and fast, his hips slapping against mine. His hand wraps around to stroke my clit again, and I break apart with a scream, shaking as the orgasm hits me like a tidal wave..

He follows me seconds later, groaning my name as he pulses inside me.

We collapse into a tangled heap on the bed, limbs entwined, panting as we ride those tiny waves of pleasure to the end.

My breath slows—my heartbeat steadies. But my mind doesn’t. Oleksi pulls out of me and then rolls us onto the bed, pulling me against his chest and gently tickling me with his thumb.

“What are we going to do about my mom?” I whisper, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Oleksi exhales, rolling onto his side to face me. “My team and I are working on it. Nikolas gets back tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”

I sit up abruptly. “We can’t just erase her again. I’m so fucking tired of this cloak and dagger shit. My parents spent their lives hiding. I won’t do it. Not for me. Not for our child.”

His brows lift. “I agree. But we have to be smart. This isn’t just a rival crime family or a crazy aunt—okay, maybe it is—but it’s also the RMSAD. That’s not a game we win with brute force.”

I groan and fall back against the pillows. “I wish we had leverage... something to bargain with.”

He pauses. “You think the General knows his son is dead yet?”

“I hope not,” I mutter.

He shoots up from the bed, rushes to his duffel bag, and begins tearing through it.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for the SD cards. Nadia and Valeska gave to me. They said there’s enough on there to give us leverage over the RMSAD, the General... and Ruslan Dragunov, Nadia’s older brother.”

My stomach knots. Guiltily, I slide out of bed and reach for my jeans. “You mean these?” I hold them up. “I found them when I grabbed your socks. They fell to the floor, and then I heard you coming out of the bathroom, so I panicked and shoved them into my pocket. I didn’t want you to think I was snooping.”

Oleksi stops in front of me and takes them from my hand gently. “It’s fine, Sabrina. No secrets, remember?” He kissed my forehead.

He sets them on the desk and pulls me close, kissing me softly. “You can snoop through anything I have. I love you. And once this is over, I want to get married to you.”

My heart stutters. “You want to marry me?”

He grins. “Of course. But not now. I want to do the whole sappy romantic thing when I propose.”

“I thought you hated that vanilla romantic shit.”

“I do. But only with you,” Oleksi tells me. “You’ve melted something inside me. Something I think froze over after my father nearly beat me to death because I didn’t believe in the same values he did.”

My heart slams against my ribs. I remember Radomir telling me about that. I lift my hand to his face, go up on tiptoes, and kiss him. “I’m sorry about your father.”

“Don’t be,” Oleksi says. “He was an evil man.”

“I can now say I can relate,” I tell him with a laugh. He kisses me again, then points to the chair. “Get dressed before I forget we need to check those disks.”

We settle on the couch in the sitting room of the suite, wrapped in a shared blanket. Oleksi loads the first disk into his laptop.

The screen flickers.

Nadia’s face fills it.

Oleksi. Sabrina. I told you I had a plan. This is it. Watch this to the end. You will understand why it will give you all the power you need. I will narrate as the scenes unfold, giving you some ideas on how to use the information most effectively.

Disk two is a copy, meant for my brother, Ruslan. Deliver it to him personally and ensure you are in the room with him when he watches it. He is the best person to approach to get your message not only to him, to ensure he doesn’t break the alliance when he realizes I’m gone, but also to get it to the General and the RMSAD.

My breath catches. Oleksi and I look at each other, startled, as the scene shifts and we see what’s on it. There is a lot of information, so we fast-forward until we see Nadia’s face again. She has a smug smile. I think that’s a checkmate for all of us. She pauses for a moment. Oh, and if you’re wondering why I’ve told you to take this to my brother first? Remember I told you that the RMSAD has a feared attorney and an enforcer who fixes messes—the attorney is none other than my dear older brother, and the fixer is his best friend and loyal subject, Konstantin Romaov.

Oleksi curses. “Fuck.”

“What?” I ask.

He grabs his phone and opens a photo. “I thought the man looked familiar, I just couldn’t place him.” Oleksi turns his phone to me, and I flinch at the picture of my sister with a tall stranger. “Remember this?”

I stare. My blood runs cold, and I nod.

“The man with your sister is Konstantin Romonov.”

My heart stops. “Then the RMSAD has her.”

We turn back to the screen, staring at it in stunned silence.

As the screen fades to black, an idea has formulated in mind. It’s something risky. Something bold. But it just might save my mother... and Tara and all of us.

Oleksi looks at me. “What are you thinking?”

But I don’t tell him. I know he would disapprove.

Instead, I say, “How are we going to use this to help us?”

He shuts the laptop. “We’ll sleep on it. In the morning, we gather the team.”

I nod, but my mind doesn’t stop. Oleksi takes my hand and leads me back to bed.

This time, as our clothes fall away and our bodies entwine beneath the sheets, we take our time exploring each other’s bodies until the need becomes too much and I straddle Oleksi, letting him sink deep inside me. I breathe out in pure pleasure, feeling him stretching me, filling me. And I start to move. I ride him slow and deep, kissing him like he’s my oxygen, like our lives depend on the way we move together. He holds my hips and groans my name. We chase our high like we’re burning down the world.

When we come, it’s like the Earth tilts. I scream out his name until we collapse together, wrapped in sheets and limbs, and I rest my head on his chest.

But even as I drift off, my brain is still working out the details of my plan.

God, I hope it works. Because if it doesn’t, I might never see my family or the light of day again.

That thought alone almost makes me want to scrap the whole thing. But then I see my father in my mind’s eye, and I’m transported back to when I was twelve. To that single, shattering moment when he threw himself in front of the bullet meant for me. I still remember the sickening thud, the way his body jolted, the warmth of his blood spraying across my face. The way I held him afterward, trying to hold his skull together with my hands as he struggled to breathe.

His final words haunt me: Look after your mother. Look after your sister.

I won’t fail him. I can’t.

Tears leak silently from the corners of my eyes and trail down my cheeks. The guilt has never gone away. If I hadn’t taken those damn journals—Leigh’s mother’s journals—he might still be alive. Leigh might never have been hurt or lost her memory. Oleksi’s father and uncle, no matter how twisted they were, wouldn’t have died the way they did. That one impulsive choice set off a chain of events that led us all here, resulting in blood, war, and grief.

And now? I won’t let it happen again.

No more deaths. No more sacrifices. Not if I can help it.

I turn toward Oleksi’s sleeping form and snuggle closer, needing the contact. His arm instinctively wraps around me, pulling me in. I press a kiss to his shoulder and whisper against his skin, “I love you… more than I’ve ever loved anyone. You’re my heart, Oleksi. You, Elena, and our little bean—you’re everything.”

My voice trembles, but I steady it. “I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you all.”

Then I close my eyes, heart heavy, mind racing.

My aunt doesn’t want my mother. Not really. What she wants is the next Jewel of Russia.

And tomorrow… I’m going to give Aunt Yelena exactly that—I’m tired of hiding.