Page 48

SISI

" I can't believe they tried to shoot down our plane." I shake my head, taking the harness off.

The trip down had actually been exhilarating, and at no point had I been worried about my life, or anything, really. I knew Vlad would get us out of there and that he'd know exactly what to do. My trust is firmly placed in him.

And he hadn't disappointed. No, he'd actually made everything fun. From the moment we'd jumped, he'd tried to distract me from the distance to the ground by keeping my attention on him, offering up silly jokes and trying his best to make me laugh, so I’d forget the situation we're in.

If that's not sweet, then I don't know what is.

But that's just Vlad. My sweet killer.

Throwing the gear to the ground, I turn to look at him, surprised he's not replying.

He has an ominous expression on his face as he watches the plane going down in the distance.

"Vlad?"

"They dared," he starts, a deep rumble that has the hairs on my body stand up, "they fucking dared to endanger your life. Again," he seethes, an aura of danger unlike any other emanating from him. "I'm going to end them," he states, blinking twice before his features are back to normal.

"Yes, you will," I tell him, grabbing his hand in mine, "but first we should get home before we get another attempt on our lives," I add playfully, but he's not smiling.

"We're going straight to your brother's. We need to fix this mess before something worse happens," he says.

"He's going to kill us," I mutter, but Vlad doesn't seem to mind that.

"I'll deal with Marcello. He'll probably throw a few punches and then we'll be able to talk. But since I'm even more of a pariah than before, I'll need his help to figure this out," he sighs, rolling his eyes.

"Really?" I tilt my head to look at him. "Who told you to start this bloody war with the Russians? Should I remind you that you provoked them by sending them the heads of their men via mail?"

"I provoked them?" He sounds offended as he mutters something under his breath. "I merely played a little with them, looking to confirm my suspicions about their involvement. Which ended up being true, so it's not like I was wrong." He shrugs.

"But you still started it."

"Did I? Maybe they were going to attack me anyway since they certainly didn't like me being so nosy." He shrugs again, mentioning the warehouse incident where the leaders of all the East Coast Bratvas had banded together to try to kill him.

Alas, he'd just proven to them that he's not killable.

Not by a human, anyway.

"Vlad," I purse my lips at him, amusement threatening to spill over. "Just admit that you wanted to kill them in the first place," I say and I watch a small blush envelop his features.

"Maybe." He looks away, and I can't help myself as I raise myself on my tip-toes to kiss his cheek.

Sometimes he's too cute.

Hand in hand, we walk a couple of miles through a never ending field before we reach the main road.

Already tired, I ask him to take a break until I catch my breath, the sun already coming up in the sky which means that cars should start circulating in the area.

"Why do you think Meester keeps on trying to kill us?" I ask.

He's looking in the distance, scanning the horizon for any movement, and for a second I don't think he heard me.

"I have one hunch," he finally says, plopping himself in the grass next to me.

I simply raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

"He's protecting his interests."

"What do you mean?"

"I've gone over all possibilities in my head, hell girl. I haven't had contact with Petro in years, a decade even. For him to suddenly send people out to kill me? Going as far as to blackmail Maxim into betraying me?"

He purses his lips, tearing the top of the grass straw and placing it in his mouth. "There's only one explanation. And it might be jumping the gun, since I have no other evidence for it. But…" He shakes his head.

"Damn it, I hate making baseless conjectures," he curses.

"You think he was the third man involved with Misha and Miles, don't you?" I ask and he nods, his expression grim.

"There's no other reason why he'd be so adamant about wiping me off the face of this Earth.

First the house in New Orleans, and now the plane?

And something tells me he was behind the warehouse incident too.

It's urgent. He's scared about something and he's trying to get rid of me as soon as possible. "

"So you think he's just protecting his business interests?"

"Most probably. But that also means that there's something to protect. We need to find out how Sacre Coeur is involved with Miles and after that maybe we can get a clue into the bigger picture."

"This seems awfully complicated," I remark. There are so many connections, and it boggles my mind to try to think how each thread connects to the other.

"If it weren't, it wouldn't have stayed hidden for so long. I have a bad feeling about this, hell girl."

"I'm just surprised that you've never been able to stumble upon it until now."

"Me too. But except for my quest to find Katya and Vanya's killer, I was never in the human trafficking scene. I was never supposed to be in the loop, and it seems that they were watching me carefully to make sure I never found out too much."

He shrugs, and I realize he's trying to digest all the information, a small part of him undoubtedly disappointed in himself for failing to see what was right under his nose.

"I told you before, love. Even you are not omniscient. Stop beating yourself up over it." I lay my hand over his, trying to give him some semblance of comfort.

"I just don't understand how I could have missed so many signs. Retrospectively, things are starting to make sense…"

"But that's just the thing. Miles knows you. He knows how your mind works. And by all accounts, his own mind works in a similar fashion. It wouldn't be too farfetched to think that he planned everything to lead you away from them. Not toward."

"You're right," he grunts. "No wonder I spent almost ten years looking in all the wrong places. Why, the fact that I found Mr. Petrovic and I got some information out of him was a miracle."

"I think Mr. Petrovic was the glitch in Miles' plan. Remember the goons at the restaurant," I point out and he nods.

"Yes, I don't think he wanted me to find out about him just yet. But that's the thing, Sisi. The more I remember about those years I spent with him, the more I wonder if I truly want to find my sister alive," he says, his voice dripping with vulnerability.

"Vlad," I whisper his name, caressing his hand with my own. "We'll figure it out. We'll find your sister and you'll be able to avenge Vanya too," I tell him, leaning my head on his shoulder. "We'll do everything together. One step at a time."

"Sisi," he takes a deep breath, his head touching mine as he scoots me closer, "I'm so happy you're with me.

In all this hell, you're the only thing that's ever brought me joy.

True joy." He raises my hand, linking our fingers together.

"Even when my judgement gets cloudy, you're there to scare the storm away," he continues, and my heart does a somersault in my chest.

"You know, you can still abandon your life of crime and become a poet," a smile pulls at my lips, "you'd become an instant bestseller," I tell him, trying to lighten the mood.

"Of course," he instantly replies. "You'd be my muse and I'd channel all your loveliness into my words.

" He turns toward me, and I finally see his lips quirking up in amusement.

"But then I'd also have to kill more," he continues, a wicked expression on his face, "since I can't ever share you with the world. "

Brushing the hair off my face, his knuckles caress my skin, slowly moving lower until his thumb skims my lips.

"It's already enough that I want to kill every man who's ever glanced upon you." His words inflame me even as I realize the precariousness of our situation—stranded in the middle of nowhere with no means of getting home. "But to have the entire world in love with you too?" He shakes his head.

"The entire world in love with me? Aren't you jumping the gun?"

"Nope," he answers immediately, "because there's no way anyone would take one look at you and not fall in love with you." His voice sends shivers down my back, his words reminding me that Vlad doesn't see me like the rest. In his eyes I'm so precious there's no way others would see me as less.

I raise my gaze toward him, catching his hand in mine as I bring it to my mouth, my lips skirting around his knuckles.

"Thank you," I whisper, "for making me feel so loved."

His regard for me never fails to surprise me, the way his love can be so pure and yet so wicked at the same time.

He treats me better than a queen. Me, the girl who everyone looked down upon—the cursed, unwanted one.

Yet when he looks at me with those dark eyes of his, I finally feel like I matter.

That all I endured so far was never a misfortune, but rather a test. I had to earn the fortune I now have, and frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Because not only did my past shape me into who I am, but it also helped me recognize just how lucky I am to have this unusual man's love.

"You should never thank me, Sisi, for treating you like you deserve. Hell, you deserve so much more than I can give you. Sometimes I worry that you might find someone else. Someone… better."

His voice is low, his forehead slightly creased as he admits this. The vulnerability behind his voice astounds me and I realize that I'm not the only one thinking I'm not worthy.

He is too.

"Vlad," I softly call his name, his dark eyes on mine as I lose myself in those depths. "There's no one better than you. There won't ever be anyone else. Period."

There's a slight twitch in his upper lip as he regards me intently, almost without blinking.

"For me, you are the other half of my soul," I say, and his features relax, a lightness appearing on his face.

"You are the one requirement I need to live, just like I know I am yours.

" I place his hand over my heart, letting him hear how it beats for him.

"Don't ever think you're less, Vlad. Because to me you are everything. "

"Sisi," he releases an anguished sound, "my darling Sisi," he says as he draws me into his arms, holding me so tight we might melt into one. "I can't help myself from wondering what I did to deserve you. You're just…" he trails off, his fingers moving up and down my back in a slow caress.

"Perfection," he finally says, and I snuggle closer in his arms, allowing his heat to seep into my skin, his love into my heart, his adoration into my soul.

And as the sun comes up into the sky, a reddish hue staining the horizon line, we stay like that—wrapped in each other and pretending we are indeed one. That we're not separate bodies, nor separate entities. No, as my cheek rests on his, my body molded to his, we are one being.

"Ya lyublyu tebya," I murmur softly into his hair, telling him I love you in his language, the only reason I'd wanted to learn it.

He stills, shocked.

"Isho," he says, urging me to say it again, "isho."

"Ya ochen lyublyu tebya," I repeat it and he crashes his mouth to mine, prying my lips open and breathing in the words from my mouth.

"Ya tozhe," he rasps. "Ah, milaya, ya tak tebya lyublyu… v etu zhizn mne nuzhna tolka ti odna." His voice breaks as he tells me that I'm the only thing he needs in this life, the sound of his promise of love never sweeter as I know he means it from the bottom of his heart.

I don't know how long we stay like this, but eventually we decide we need to keep on walking until we find a car willing to take us into the city.

Seeing the fatigue on my face, Vlad doesn't even let me try to walk, swinging me over his shoulder and giving me a piggyback ride.

I hold tightly onto his shoulders, letting myself absorb the heat of him.

He keeps on walking, and after some time I start feeling guilty that I'm an added weight on his back. No matter the evidence to the contrary, he's still human.

"You should put me down now. I'm well rested," I tell him, but he simply refuses, stubbornly continuing forward.

"I mean it, Vlad. You can put me down." I tap his shoulder, but he doesn't even reply this time, trudging his way forward.

By chance, I see a car approaching and I start waving my hands in the air, hoping to get their attention.

A couple in their mid-forties stop by us, giving us a one over before inviting us to share the car with them. Luckily, they are also heading upstate, so they can drop us somewhere close to Marcello's house.

Once inside the car, both Vlad and I start relaxing a little. Still, I don't think he knows the meaning of loosening up, and I can see the way his mind is once more at work, most probably working theories and mentally testing future scenarios.

Sighing deeply, I can only hope that the confrontation with Marcello won't be too bad. And before I know it, my eyes drift closed, a deep sleep claiming me.