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Anya holds something behind her back, a nervous smile playing on her lips.

It’s been two days since she was taken, and in that time, we’ve finally managed to uncover the name of the group that kidnapped her: the Lankovs, but I haven’t gotten to enact the grisly revenge I’ve been plotting since they kidnapped her.

Each night I dream of it, and each night it’s more gruesome than the last.

“I have a surprise for you,” she says, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

I cock one eyebrow. “A surprise? I must admit, I do not like surprises lately.”

“This is a good one,” she promises, pulling her hands out from behind her back and waving something at me.

My eyes track the movement, but it takes a moment for what I’m seeing to register: a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test. My pulse jumps and I search her face. She’s waiting, wide-eyed, for my reaction.

“You’re pregnant,” I say, stupidly.

“I’m pregnant,” she agrees, still waiting for me to come up with a real response, but I’m completely tongue-tied.

But I don’t need words to tell her how I feel, and I hate that she thinks I could be anything but fucking ecstatic over the news so I cup her cheeks and pull her into a kiss.

“You’re happy,” she says, sounding surprised. “I didn’t know if… if this was something you wanted.”

I drop my hand to her stomach, pressing my palm lightly against it in disbelief. Our baby is inside there. I’m going to be a father. A father. I’m still in a daze of disbelief. “I want you, princess. I want this life with you.”

She sets her hands over mine and smiles. “I was so worried. It’s why I ran to Ella’s, because I was too afraid to tell you. I wasn’t sure what to do. I just panicked.”

Now it all makes sense. Her evasiveness. The way she’d fled without a word. “I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t trust me with this before,” I say. “But I’m here for you, for this. For all of it.”

Even as she sighs happily and leans against me, I feel a fire burn inside of me. Those bastards put my wife and my unborn child at risk. I will wipe out every last Lankov in the city. Their deaths will be slow and painful. They will beg for mercy, and I won’t give them a drop of it.

“What are you thinking in there?” she asks, peering into my eyes.

I can’t tell her the truth. This should be a time of celebration and cheer, not my dark thoughts of revenge. “I’m thinking we get you to the doctor, and this time I won’t take no for an answer.”

***

“It’s only been a week and I’m already sick of bedrest,” Anya complains when I pop my head into the bedroom to check on her.

As usual, Zephir is curled up beside her on the bed. He seems to know something is different and has been clingier than usual, never leaving her side except for his trips outside. I approve of his extra vigilance and feel similarly.

“But look what I’ve brought you,” I say, waving a bag filled with her favorite snacks and another filled with a stack of paperbacks. I plant a kiss on her forehead and another on her lips when she pulls me back down.

“You spoil me,” she says, looping her arms behind my neck. “I just don’t know if there’s any amount of junk food that can keep me from losing my mind in here.”

“Let’s go outside then,” I say with a glance at the window.

Anya glances at me in surprise. “Really? I thought you were too paranoid for that.”

“Paranoid,” I reply flatly. “There have been two kidnapping attempts, one successful, in the brief time we’ve been together, Anya. It’s not paranoia if it’s grounded in reality.”

Besides, I’ve upped security since the kidnapping, and the chances of anyone breaking in are slim.

“Three, really,” she corrects me. “Since you kidnapped me the night we met.”

“And I have no regrets about that.” I hold out my arms to her. “Come on, I’ll carry you out.”

“Honestly, Matvei, I can walk that far.”

I shake my head. The doctor was explicit in her need for bed rest, and I can’t shake the image of her bleeding in the warehouse from my mind. I won’t allow anything that puts her at risk. For once, she’s listening and behaving, though I can see it chafes her to be kept from the thick of things.

“Why do I train if not for moments like these?” I scoop her up and carry her down the stairs to the back deck, depositing her gently in a lounge chair. “Are you comfortable? I’ll grab you some pillows.”

She catches my arm before I can leave. “I’m comfortable. Has anyone ever told you that you fret like a grandmother?”

“A man is allowed to dote over his pregnant wife.”

“You must have better things to do.”

I hesitate before responding, and she reads something in my face that makes her sit up. Holding up my hand, I forestall her questions. “The Lankovs will pay tonight.”

For the moment, my war with the Shevchenko is at a standstill.

We are aligned in our goals against the Lankov family, upstarts who seized a moment of opportunity and succeeded only in making a greater enemy for themselves.

Together with the Milovs, we’ve managed to map out their locations and are planning a targeted strike under the cover of darkness, hitting multiple spots in one go.

The wound in my leg has healed just enough for me to take part. In the end, it was a grazing strike that will scar, but cause no long-term injury. Even if it weren’t, I’d still find a way to go. I’m not missing a chance to give those bastards the punishment they deserve.

“Tonight?” She bites her lip, worrying it between her teeth as a furrow creases her brow. “Please don’t be reckless, Matvei. You have more than yourself to think about now.”

I smooth my thumb over her brow, sitting down on the edge of her chair.

“This is not about me, princess. This is about teaching them a lesson. You were in danger because of me. They took you because of me. Now they will learn that their actions have consequences, and that you are not to be used as a pawn.”

The fact that she was targeted because she is my wife has tormented me, doubly so now that I know she’s carrying our child.

I would do anything to protect them both, and right now that means removing a threat.

If that requires annihilating the entire Lankov family, so be it.

I will do so and sleep soundly, knowing I’ve protected her.

“When you talk like that, I worry that you’re so focused on revenge that you’ll be careless with your own life.”

She knows me too well, so I don’t bother trying to deny it. “I promise to come back to you tonight.”

“In one piece,” she clarifies, holding my gaze. “No more bullet wounds.”

I hold up one hand in a solemn vow. “In one piece. More than that, I cannot promise.”

She exhales and squeezes her eyes closed as if to steel herself. “It will have to be enough.”

***

“Are we sure they’re in there?” Timofey asks for the third time as we stake out the Lankov house.

“For fuck’s sake, yes.”

It’s a shitty old building, half falling apart, but apparently, it houses the majority of their drug business—if our intel is right.

Despite my terse response to Timofey, I’m harboring some of the same doubts.

We haven’t seen anyone enter or leave in the entire hour we’ve been sitting here, and there’s only one light on inside.

If we wasted all our time just to strike an empty building, I’m going to be pissed.

Across town, Anton and Viktor are hitting another establishment while the Shevchenkos take out their gambling den. It’s a three-pronged attack that should see the Lankovs effectively neutered in the city.

“Chill, man,” Timofey says, holding up his hands. “But you gotta admit this is looking pretty dead. Knew we should’ve gone for the gambling. It’s always a hit this time of night.”

“This is where Ivan spends most of his time,” I remind him, speaking of the head of the Lankov family. “And he’s the one I want.”

He must have been the one to order the kidnapping of Anya, and I’m dying to get my hands on him.

Still, I keep my promise to Anya in the back of my mind.

No unnecessary risks for the sake of revenge.

I’m strapped tonight, a gun on each hip and a host of knives tucked away.

I don’t want this to go too quickly. The man is going to suffer.

I left Anya back at home with Ella and the rest of my family, just in case the Lankovs got wind of what we are up to and try to strike while we’re distracted.

And partially because I don’t trust the Shevchenkos to not use this opportunity to hit me.

We might be temporarily allied, but I don’t trust them, and the moment this is over, it’ll be back to business as usual.

“There.” I point out the windshield to a shadowed figure moving across the lit window of the house. I bring up my binoculars and study the man’s face, comparing it to an image on my phone. “It’s Ivan. He’s in there.”

Timofey brings up his own binoculars. “And he’s not alone. Will the two of us be enough?”

“One Abashin is worth ten of their men.”

“Damn straight,” Timofey agrees. “Ready?”

I nod and we exit the car, moving in on the house. It’s always a risk, hitting an operation like this. Surveillance can be wrong. Mistakes made. From what we’ve seen the past few days, there’s never more than a handful of guys here at a time, and the numbers drop at night.

My blood pumps hot and eager, and even the pain in my leg fades to a faint twinge in the background. All I want is revenge on the men who took Anya.

“Leave Ivan for me,” I remind Timofey as we duck around beneath the windows toward the back of the house.

There are three cameras that we’ve spotted, but with our route, they won’t spot us until we’re kicking in the door, and by then it’ll be too late to call for backup. Hopefully.