Page 27

We run along the side of the house and immediately, I can see how badly outnumbered we are. One of my men is already dead, the others are fighting hard.

We’re using knives and trying to sneak in quietly, but there are so many guards it’s almost impossible.

“There’s too many,” someone shouts from behind me.

“Keep going,” I shout back.

I slam the blade up into the chin of one of Danil’s men and his eyes roll backwards as he falls to the ground.

Behind me, someone fires a shot.

Now they all know we are here.

I throw the knife to the ground next to the body of the man I just killed and pull out my gun.

No more stealth. From here on out we just have to fight harder.

From around the side of the house, a large group of men comes running towards us.

“Keep them busy,” I shout to Ivan and the rest of my team as I bolt in the other direction.

I see them taking cover and start to shoot.

The noise is deafening.

I run away from the chaos towards an open window, throwing myself through it and crouching low inside the house.

After a few seconds, I’m confident that I’ve managed to get inside unseen.

I can hear my men fighting for their lives outside and I hate the fact that they are facing so many men alone.

Maxim better hurry. I know we won’t be able to survive long without him.

Somewhere inside this house Sasha is being kept prisoner.

That is what I need to focus on.

I stand up, looking around the room. I’m in a dining room.

I stay close to the wall as I move towards the door, my gun held in front of me.

I hear screaming and a commotion from somewhere nearby. Sasha .

All caution leaves me as I run towards the noise.

I skid into the living room at the back entrance, and near the other door, I see Sasha pointing a gun at Rico, an older woman ducking behind her.

“Sasha,” I shout as she squeezes the trigger, and a bullet fires from the barrel of her gun and slams into Rico’s skull. His head explodes against the wall behind him, and his body falls limp to the floor.

Sasha turns towards the sound of my voice, her eyes locking with mine, wide with horror and shock.

I see her father walking through the doorway behind her and I scream again, but he grabs her and wrestles the gun out of her hand, and before I can reach her, he has it pressed against her temple.

I freeze, my gun pointed towards Danil, my eyes focused on him.

“Leon, welcome to the party.” Danil grins a sly and evil smile.

“Let her go.”

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that. I think if you don’t want her to die, you should lower your gun, boy.”

The last thing I want is for him to hurt Sasha, and at this point, I know without a doubt that he would kill her without hesitation.

Slowly, reluctantly, I lower my weapon.

“Aw. Isn’t that sweet? I mean, you know you’re going to die, right? You know I’m going to shoot you and you’ll never get to see your little baby grow up?”

“Baby?” I say, confused as fuck.

“You didn’t know?” Danil laughs. “You didn’t know she's pregnant. I can’t believe she hasn’t told you yet. I guess congratulations are in order.”

My eyes lock with Sasha’s again. “You’re pregnant?”

She nods. “I wanted to tell—"

“Shut up.” Danil shakes her and pushes the gun harder against her head. “I didn’t give you permission to speak.”

My heart is beating so hard it feels like my rib cage is going to explode. Sasha is pregnant. She’s carrying my baby.

My throat is tight with fear.

Danil tilts his head, watching my reaction. I can see him savoring the moment.

“It’s a pity, really. I didn’t plan on killing you today.” He chuckles as he changes position to point the gun at me, his other arm locking around Sasha’s throat.

“But I guess it doesn’t really matter. A win is a win, and you dying is a big win for me.”

His finger tightens on the trigger and my entire body tenses.

But just as he fires and the sharp snap of the bullet sounds in the air, Sasha pushes him, throwing this aim off. Instead of feeling the bullet slam into my chest as I was expecting, it hits me in the arm and throws me off-balance.

Danil swears and Sasha starts fighting against him. I don’t waste a second; ignoring the searing pain in my arm, I run straight for them. I grab Sasha and pull her away from his grip, then slam the weight of my body into Danil. He falls to the floor with me on top of him. The gun slides away from us and I wrestle with him. He reaches for it, his fingers touching it, and I slam my fist into his face, but he has it in his grip and he’s about to aim for me again when I hear Maxim’s voice.

“Leon,” he shouts, and Danil’s body tenses as he tries to see where Maxim is. I grab the gun from him, and he reaches for a knife in his belt, but I’m not taking any chances.

At close range, with him still fighting me, I fire a bullet into his stomach.

A loud huff of air slams out of him and he gasps, choking on blood. I lean back and fire another shot into his head and his body flops, lifeless, on the tiles of his floor, blood oozing around him in a thick red pool.

I drop the gun and run to Sasha.

Gunshots are still firing around us as our men fight against Danil’s inside the house. Sasha pushes away from me. “I have to stop them,” she says with concern.

“No, what the hell are you doing? You can’t go out there.”

But she’s already running towards the chaos.

I bolt after her.

“Stop,” she screams over the noise. “Stop.”

Men turn towards her, unsure of what is going on. Both sides have clearly been given instructions not to harm her.

“Danil Balakin is dead,” she says in the tense silence.

Danil’s men and ours are all standing with their guns raised towards each other in a standoff. Sasha keeps talking. “He’s dead. My father is dead. I am the heir to his estate, and that means that right now, I am in charge of what happens here.”

The men stare at her, shocked and nervous.

“I command you to stand down,” she shouts.

I take my place next to her.

“The Dubrovs and Balakins are now allies,” I confirm.

My men begin to lower their weapons, and the men who are now Sasha’s start doing the same.

Sasha leans against me, taking a shaky breath of relief.

“He’s dead,” she whispers.

“He’s dead,” I confirm, pulling her into my arms.

I hold her close against me and bury my face in her hair.

“Everything is going to be okay now,” I say gently. “Your father is gone. It’s all over. We can be together without worrying about anything.”

She pulls away from me and looks up at me with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. “I’m pregnant,” she laughs.

“Oh, you are?” I laugh too, pretending like I’m hearing it for the first time. “You’re really pregnant?”

“I’m really pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”

“This is the most incredible news I’ve ever heard.” I wrap my arms around her waist and lift her into my arms. “It’s the best news I’ve heard in my life.” I laugh again.

***

Back at home, the doctor visits and stitches up my arm, which was luckily just a graze thanks to Sasha’s quick thinking. He does a quick checkup with Sasha, who keeps assuring me that she feels fine.

“Well, make sure you go to the doctor tomorrow for a proper scan,” the doc insists.

“Oh, I’ll definitely make sure she does that,” I promise, walking him to the door, leaving Sasha sitting in the bedroom.

After closing the door to let the doctor out, I stand alone in the hallway for a moment and a sudden realization hits me.

Danil is dead.

The man who tore my family apart is dead.

All my life, all I ever wanted was to have my revenge on him—and now that he’s dead, I haven’t even taken a moment to acknowledge that.

That’s when I realize how much I’ve actually changed.

That is the moment when I realize that the obsession was over long before he died. And even more so now that I know Sasha is pregnant.

Killing Balakin was never going to bring my family back or bring me any kind of joy. It was never going to take away the pain or make any of it ok.

I chuckle to myself.

I had it wrong all this time.

The best way I can honor my family is to live the life they would have wanted to see me have. A life filled with love and laughter. The life my parents worked hard to give us.

I will be the best father in the world. And the best husband—and that is how I will honor my family.

That is what will bring me happiness.

I head back up to our bedroom and finally Sasha and I are alone, and I can take a breath.

“Come on, let’s go soak in a hot bath,” I say, pulling her closer to me.

I lead her upstairs, and while she undresses, I fill a bath with hot water, bubbles and lavender oil.

We lie in it, my back against the edge and her back resting against my chest. I play with her hair and keep thinking to myself over and over again how lucky we are that both of us made it through today without getting too badly hurt.

“Sasha,” I sigh softly. “I should have told you earlier, and I never ever want a day to go by without having the chance to tell you again—"

“What?” she says after I pause for too long.

“I am in love with you.”

She rolls over in the bath so that she is lying with her stomach against my chest.

“You love me?” she says with a massive smile on her face and her eyes glittering.

“I love you. More than I could ever describe with words. I love you, and I promise I will always protect you and our baby. I don’t want any secrets between us. I’ll always be honest with you. I want to spend every day for the rest of my life making you smile.”

“I love you too, Leo. I want the same thing. I want to be with you forever.”

I wrap my hand around her jaw and pull her face closer to mine.

She grins as I press my lips against hers.

“So, you love me more than you can describe with words?” she whispers against my mouth.

“Yes.”

“Can you show me without words?” she giggles.