Page 76 of The Pakhan's Kidnapped Bride

Except as I step off the beach and onto the sidewalk, I see Emmanuil.

He smiles tightly. It’s no mistake that he’s here. He came looking for me.

He walks towards me, his eyes flooded with emotion as I brace myself for whatever he has to say to me.

“Em—" I mutter, sighing.

Tires scream loud against the tarred road as a black SUV skids past me. A man wearing a mask hangs from the openwindow and fires, his handgun pointed right at me. I scream as two gunshots snap through the air, my ears ringing, my body waiting for the painful impact of the shots.

But Emmanuil dives in front of me.

In horror, I gasp as one of the bullets hits him and he stumbles backwards, landing hard against the sidewalk.

The car speeds away.

“Emmanuil!” I scream his name as I fall to my knees next to him. He’s already trying to stand, clearly in agony.

“Wait, don’t move,” I shout. “You’ve been shot.”

“I know, but we can’t—they might come back—must go,” he says through rasping breaths.

I slip my arm around his waist and tug him to his feet. He’s swaying and disoriented. There is blood gushing from his side, and I’m sick with worry.

“Where did you park?” I blurt out, knowing he can’t walk far.

He digs in his pocket and hands me his car keys, first pressing the button on his remote. Across the road, his car beeps and the lights flash twice.

He’s heavy as he leans against me, but I manage to get him into the passenger seat.

Bolting around to the other side, I climb in and start the engine.

“Can you direct me to a safe house?” I demand. I know he has them scattered all over the city.

He nods and gestures for me to drive as he pulls his shirt open to examine the wound on his side. I wince, and fresh blood spills from it.

“Cover it. Keep pressure on it,” I say, pulling out into the road.

The wheel spins as I accelerate, my eyes on the rearview mirror, waiting for my brother’s enemies to come back.

I was so stupid. Careless. Obviously, with him in the city, they’d be more alert, more eager to grab at any opportunity. They followed me, and I didn’t even realize it.

They tracked me down, and now Emmanuil is in danger because of me.

Why did he dive in front of that bullet for me? I thought he hated me.

“Left up here,” he says.

I turn. Following his directions until we reach an underground garage.

Chapter 23 - Emmanuil

We come to a stop in the underground garage beneath the safe house. She shuts the car off, and we sit in silence for a moment.

From the outside, the place looks like a business block, uninviting, grey, and bland. But inside is a luxury apartment with high security and bulletproof windows. Anya moves first.

“Come on, we have to call a doctor and get him to come see you,” she says, pushing her door open and hurrying around the car to help me out.

I lean my weight into the door frame to lift myself and stand next to the car. Breathing heavily, my hand is clutched against my side. “I don’t need a doctor. The bullet went straight through,” I tell her.