Page 70 of Thorns of Love

She shifted on her seat, her eyes narrowed on me. “Are you leaving him?”

I swallowed. Was I? No, I wasn’t. Although I wasn’t certain if he’d want me when all was said and done.

It was clear that Illias fell in the same category as my brothers. Protect me at all costs. Keep the truth from me. I could see it in the way he protected his sister that Illias wouldn’t change that. The same way that my brothers wouldn’t change their stance in the protection of me. It was ingrained in them.

“No, but I need to find out something and your brother won’t help me,” I explained.

She raised a brow, studying me. Then she let out a sigh. “Tell me the plan then,” she said dryly. “Obviously, I’m a glutton for punishment because Illias will find us and then he’ll lock us up.”

I smiled.

“He’ll have to catch us first.”

And sports cars and Russian winter roads didn’t go hand-in-hand.

TWENTY-FOUR

KONSTANTIN

Istood with my legs slightly parted and my fists behind my back.

It took all my willpower not to explode right now. Not to kill every single one of the men working for me. Lazy, incompetent motherfuckers.

She left me. Took off.

Reaching for my phone, I pulled up the app that tracked her. She was still on the move. By the speed she was going, she had to be in an airplane. Not my airplane. I couldn’t envision her in a commercial airplane so I called up Vasili.

“You got some nerve calling me.” Vasili’s greeting was so fucking heartwarming, its frostbite was worse than Russian winters. “Where is my bloody sister, and why isn’t she answering her phone?”

Fuck.

That meant they didn’t help her. I would have actually preferred to learn they did. Tatiana coming up with her escape plan on her own might not bode well for our future together. Jesus fucking Christ! She destroyed the entire fleet of my vehicles, leaving only the useless sports cars behind.

My phone chimed, signaling a text message. *The plane is out of pocket. The flight log shows him going to South Africa.*

What-the-fuck… South Africa?

“She’s fine,” I grumbled ready to hang up when Vasili’s laugh boomed through the headset. “What the fuck is so funny?”

“She escaped you, didn’t she?”

“You know?”

“No, but you just confirmed it. She did that a lot during her college years.” The fucker could have warned me. “I’ll give you one piece of advice, Konstantin. Only for the benefit of my future niece or nephew.” If nothing else, I knew my brothers-in-law would protect Tatiana’s and my children as if they were their own. Not that there would be the need for that. I was here and I’d burn this planet to the ground for my family. But there was something comforting in the knowledge that if something were to happen, they’d be there for our children. Just like they were for their sister. “The more you try to lock her down, the more she’ll run. Let her be free, and she’ll never leave her cage.”

“You could have told me that before,” I hissed.

He chuckled. I saw fucking nothing amusing in this scenario. My wife was out there, vulnerable and open to be attacked. With our babies in her belly.

“I told you Tatiana will never be forced to do anything,” he retorted dryly. “She might have fooled you and went along with it, but all along, she’s been scheming how to get out of it.”

Perfect. Just fucking perfect.

“It was nice chatting with you.”Not. “But I have my wife to find and ensure she’s safe.”

“I’d check your men's weapons. I’d bet you money she stole a gun. And not to worry, she knows how to shoot and defend herself. You can thank Sasha for that. And her escape routines.”

I’m gonna kill Sasha Nikolaev.