Page 26

We pour into the warehouse from the front and back entrances. They didn’t stand a chance. Their overconfidence in our ability to find them left them low on guards and lacking when it came to security.

The gun fight is short but brutal. We move though Marat Enzo’s men easily, incapacitating them, doing our best not to kill them, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

My eyes dart towards Jade when I see her standing up and looking bewildered. I want to go to her, but I have to focus. Where is my brother?

There.

Behind the crates.

“Blue crate,” I shout to Rodion, who nods, his eyes locked onto the scope of his rifle as he moves forward, the Dubrovs tight in formation with us.

Jade runs across the line of fire and I wince. Fuck. She’s reckless. She’s trying to escape. But I hear her shout Ruvim’s name and then see her duck down with him to check if he’s ok.

My heart clenches.

A few moments later Marat’s men are surrendering. They set their guns down and stand with their hands in the air.

Marat snarls, displeased and looking sour.

I pull my face mask off and walk across the warehouse floor towards him.

“Did you honestly think you could take on the Kuznetsovs and the Dubrovs?” I ask coldly.

He clenches his jaw and shrugs.

Rodion and Renat run over to the blue crate to lift Ruvim. He groans loudly as he stands.

“My ribs are broken,” he complains. He looks like shit, but he’s alive. A tidal wave of relief washes through me when I see him, and Jade, walking towards me.

Marat sneers at Jade.

“Don’t even look at her,” I warn him. “It turns out that I don’t need to kill you to settle this little issue you’ve created.”

“You should kill me,” Marat chuckles darkly.

“Roman?” I glance over my shoulder and my younger brother steps forward. He reaches inside his Kevlar and pulls out a flash drive. A small USB stick.

Marat catches it when he tosses it towards him.

“What is this?”

“That is some very sensitive footage of you. Videos I am very sure you do not want leaked in any way. Both your enemies and the authorities would love to get their hands on that. But especially your enemies,” I smirk, as cold as ice.

Marat’s mouth goes tight.

“Stay away from us, and away from Jade, and that footage won’t be leaked,” I warn him, ensuring that there is no miscommunication whatsoever.

My brothers and the Dubrovs file out of the warehouse, I watch Marat for a moment, but he is looking defeated and broken. Still angry, but not willing to risk moving. He watches us leave.

Outside, we help Ruvim into the back of Rodion’s car and Jade stands to the side, looking lost and unsure what she should be doing.

“Get in,” I say sternly.

She hesitates.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Jade,” I sigh.

She pulls open the passenger door and climbs inside.

“Rodion,” I shout to my brother. “I’m going to stop at home and then come see Ruvim.”

Rodion throws me the thumbs up as he climbs into his own car.

The drive back to my place is so heavy with silence that I keep shifting uncomfortably in my seat. All the words I want to say to her are stuck in my throat again. She saved my brother, but it was only to redeem herself. Everything between us, everything I believed in—it was fake. Manipulation at its finest.

Jade climbs out of the car quietly, walking with her head low as she climbs the steps to my front door. I tug it open and gesture for her to go inside.

“I’m going to see Ruvim. You should be safe in there until I get back,” I say, numb and distant.

She nods.

My phone rings, and I tug it from my pocket.

“Roda?” I mutter tensely.

“Ruvim is exhausted. He’s already passed out. The doc is coming to check him over in an hour, but I think it’s best you come see him tonight or maybe tomorrow. Let him rest.”

“Yeah, sure. I imagine he didn’t sleep at all there. Let me know when he’s ready and I’ll come straight away. And let me know if I need to bring anything. Food, or whatever—”

“Cool man, I’ll talk later. Uh, tell Jade we say thank you,” he says tightly.

“Sure.” I nod, my eyes lifting towards her. She bites her lip and shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “I’ll tell her.”

I toss my phone onto the kitchen counter as I walk past it.

I need a drink. Something strong.

Jade follows me into the kitchen, unsure of herself.

“Radmir—”

“Tomorrow morning you can go. I suggest you stay the night just to be safe, but tomorrow you and your family should leave the city and go somewhere safe until Marat’s anger simmers down.”

“But you—the footage—he wouldn’t—”

“He’s an arrogant idiot, Jade. The footage doesn’t guarantee your safety. You have no obligation to me anymore. You redeemed yourself, you helped get my brother back and now you can go and live your life in whatever way you choose.” I speak sternly, doing my best to keep the emotion from my voice.

I don’t want her to leave, but I know she doesn’t feel the same way I feel about her. For her it was all a means to an end. A game to trick me.

I sigh heavily as I throw vodka into a glass of ice blocks, watching the alcohol splash onto the cubes.

“Radmir I don’t want to go.” Her voice is weak, quiet, nervous.

“You don’t want to leave the city? You should. You should go somewhere safe.”

“The safest place for me is, um… It’s with my husband.”

I narrow my eyes, my brows knotting as I turn to look at her.

Tilting my head, my jaw clenches tightly.

She steps towards me.

“Your husband—” I mutter.

“I’ve never felt safer in my life, than I did with you,” she says quietly. She steps even closer. I don’t move.

When she reaches out and brushes her hand gently over my side I tense, but I don’t push her away. Her touch is the drug I’ve been craving. The warmth of her hand against my skin.

“Radmir, please, forgive me for what I did. I thought—” she stammers, her voice choked away by tears. “I thought you killed my brother,” she cries quietly.

“I’ve come to terms with why you did what you did, Jade. I understand and I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes, I’ve accepted that, and I understand. But at this point, I can’t be around you. It hurts ,” I sigh heavily.

“Why? If you can forgive me, then why can’t you be near me?” she looks up at me, her eyes are bright and red around those intense hazel beams.

“Because, for me it was real ,” I confess. Letting the truth out is a relief I didn’t know I needed.

“It was real?” she asks quietly, lifting her other hand and laying it against me. An intense current of electricity drifts through my body.

“What happened between you and me—it was real for me, Jade. I fell in love with you. The version of you that you let me see in order to manipulate what you needed out of the situation.” Her betrayal still cuts deeply into my heart. The fact that she was so good at pretending to feel something for me.

She gasps, throwing herself against my chest and crying.

“It wasn’t fake, Radmir. I fell in love with you. Even knowing you killed my brother, I fell in love with you. And then when I found out you didn’t, I hated myself for what I’d done.”

For a moment, I can’t move.

Her arms are wrapped tightly around my waist and she has her face buried against my chest.

My arms are lying limp at my side.

I want to hold her. But I’m frozen.

Did she just say she loves me, too?

Is this real?

Am I just falling for another trap?

I take her shoulders in my hands and pull her away from me so that I can look into her eyes.

“Jade, why would you say that?” I ask, tight with emotion.

“Because it’s true. What reason do I have to lie to you now? I love you, Radmir. I love you and I am so sorry for what I did.”

Her eyes are filled with sincerity and regret, and hope. So much hope. My hearts melts.

My arms wrap around her.

I tug her against me and hold her so tightly she can barely breathe.

I can’t not love her. I can’t push her away. Losing her would destroy me.

I might have met her in the most bizarre way, but for whatever method the universe chose, we are together now. And I can’t be without her.

“I love you, Jade,” I whisper against her hair.

She melts against me, taking a deep breath and then letting out a sigh of relief, tainted by a small laugh.

“You love me,” she repeats with relief.

I chuckle, finally accepting that this is real. That she also fell for me, despite the weird circumstances.

I lift her up and set her down on the kitchen counter, with her legs hanging over the edge. I step between them and grab her face in my hands, lifting it towards me.

Our lips brush against each other, slowly, intimately, and then I press my mouth over hers and kiss her.

It turns feverishly heated almost instantly.

The pain and torment I have been going through these last few days, worried that I had lost my heart forever, and that I would never be the same again. It all comes pouring out of me, into that kiss.

Jade runs her hands up my back and pulls me tighter against her. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I taste the salt of her tears as they drift down her face and onto her lips.

We kiss for ages, tangled in each other, expressing the wild, untamed emotions that have been locked inside of us. Words are a fumbled weakness when it comes to trying to explain to her how I feel. But I can show her. I can kiss her.

She tugs at my shirt and instantly the passion escalates.

We pull at each other’s clothing, throwing it to the floor, desperate and fueled by desire.

It is the most intense, aggressive and passionate expression of love I have ever shared with anyone.

When it ends, Jade and I are both gasping for air, her cheeks flushed bright pink and sweat glistening over her body.

Breathless and hot, I rest my finger under her chin. She lets her legs untangle from around my waist and stares up at me.

“Jade, I want you in my life. Forever. You are my wife, but I want to renew those vows properly—a real wedding, a real commitment.”

She grins, holding back tears of joy.

“I want the same thing,” she nods, pressing her lips together, she licks them and my heart beats faster.

“You have to promise me something, and I will do the same thing.” I say sternly.

She stares straight into my eyes. “Anything,” she says.

“Promise me that we will never lie to each other. No matter what it is, we will be honest, and face it together.”

Tears of relief flood down her cheeks and she pulls me close to kiss me. “I promise,” she whispers against my lips. Her voice soaks through me like warm flames on a cold night.

“I love you, Radmir.”