Page 69 of King of Malice

She nods, and I reach for her hand, lacing my fingers through hers. “I’m sorry if I set your progress back. I’ll leave you alone to?—”

“Don’t you dare,” she leans into me. “Every time I leave you, I remember why I need you. I’m sorry that I keep disappearing. That’s my shit, not yours.”

“Cade,” I breathe, my throat catching as it closes. “I love you forever. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to help you be your best.”

Slowly, Zane lowers his hand over the tops of ours. “I think I’m starting to understand.”

“Ava,” Dimitri calls from the door. “Milaya.”

I stick my head out from behind the cabinet, my eyes catching his. “Dimitri.”

His two sisters stand on either side of him as I let go of Cadence and scramble to rise and launch myself into his arms. “You did it.”

He catches me to his chest, dropping his face into the crook of my neck. “I did not.”

I lean back, my eyes going wide as they meet his.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Dimitri

I holdAva in my arms, equal parts relieved and afraid.

I’ve got my sisters. My woman.

It’s almost everything I hoped for.

But my father has escaped. I have no idea how wounded he is, there is blood but until the light of day, I won’t be able to tell how much.

His men closed around him, leaving my sisters as they made their escape.

Tazz was shot, and Gris nearly so, but that’s the total of our damage.

All in all, it’s a win, but I wanted to end this. I take solace in the fact that he can’t hurt any of the women I love, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try again.

I’ve won a battle but not the war and the next time we fight, there will be nothing holding either of us back.

“What do you mean you didn’t do it?” Ava asks, her eyes wide with her fear.

“He means,” Sasha scoffs, “that our father still lives. Unfortunately.” Her disdain is completely evident. Who can blame her? He just held a gun to her head.

Sasha has always been…special. Intelligent beyond belief, she lacks a certain filter that other people inherently have. I agree with her, of course. But perhaps everyone doesn’t need to know we want our father dead. Then again, if ever a crowd of people would understand, it’s this one.

“We’re still in danger?” Ava asks.

Katarina looks over at me and asks me in Russian, “You couldn’t have chosen a Russian woman? She’d be able to fight, not just hang on your neck like a child.”

I grimace, but don’t answer. I don’t need to explain to my sister the choice of my heart. “You’re welcome,” I say in English. “I’ve thought of little besides your safety.”

Katarina narrows her eyes at me. These past five years of being trapped with my father have hardened both my sisters, and I hurt for them. What they’ve lost will be nearly impossible to replace.

Gris steps in next to me, his sleeve singed from the bullet that almost landed in his arm. “We should find somewhere hidden and secure to take all of you until we know your father isn’t in the city any longer.”

I nod, taking one hand from around Ava to clap Gris on the shoulder. “Thank you, brother.” It’s my way of telling him I know what he’s done for me. For us. And that we are bonded now.

Gris gives me a single nod. He understands.

His phone rings and looking at the screen, he picks up, speaking quietly. When he’s done, he waves me toward him. I set Ava down, reluctantly, as I take a step toward him. “It was Killian.”