He coos softly, and I plant tear-stained kisses all over his face. “My boy,” I cry. “My beautiful boy. I’m so sorry I left you. I’m so sorry.”
The woman watches us for a moment, and then sits back down in her chair and opens a book.
Pasha has gotten so much bigger the last few months. I ache at the realization of how much I’ve missed. I’ll never get those moments back. They’re lost to time forever.
“I’ll never leave you again,” I promise him.
I bend down and press a kiss to his cheek. I want to tell him that I’ll get him out of here. That I won’t let him grow up thinking that monster, Belov, is his father.
But I can’t risk saying it out loud.
So I just say it with another kiss. I press my lips to his chubby cheeks. “I’ll take care of you,” I whisper.
Then, in the distance, I hear an explosion.
Followed by gunfire.
The woman jumps to her feet and rushes to the window. I follow, Pasha still in my arms.
We both watch as smoke billows from the far right of the compound. Then, black jeeps appear through the smoke like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, raining bullets as they approach. Mikhailov men fall dead on the grass.
“Jesus,” the woman breathes.
Wrong, I think to myself. Leo.
He’s come for us.
A few minutes of chaos and gunsmoke pass by. It’s hard to make out anything, just the vague, thrashing silhouettes of men doing violence to one another.
Then I see him.
Tall and confident, he fights his way through a line of men. To my surprise, he veers left and jumps onto the roof of one of his own jeeps.
The men before him stop fighting and turn to him, enamored with him the way I am. He was born to be a leader. Born to the power he wields like a deadly weapon.
I strain to hear what he’s saying, but I can’t make out his words. Whatever it is, it seems to get through to the men fighting.
When I see Leo jump down from the jeep and walk into the house, I want to flee the room and run to him. I want to meet him at the front door.
But this fight isn’t over.
Not yet.
The door clicks open, and I pray it will be Leo, even though I know it’s too soon for that. My heart drops when I see the nurse enter the room. She is still wearing the blood-speckled uniform she had on when she slit Semyon’s throat.
Pasha’s nanny rushes forward. “What’s going on? Where are our men?”
“Dead or deserted,” the nurse says coolly. Her eyes flicker to me.
“Oh God… they’re going to kill us…”
“Don’t worry, dear. They won’t kill you,” the nurse says calmly. “I will.”
Then she pulls out a gun and shoots the nanny in the head.
I barely have time to turn and shield Pasha. When I look back, the nanny is on the floor, a pool of blood growing around her.
I face the nurse. I don’t even know her name “Please…”
But before I can finish my thought, we hear footsteps approaching. The nurse turns the gun to me. She closes the distance between us and presses the muzzle to my head.
I squeeze my eyes closed, say a silent prayer, and kiss my son’s forehead.
Whatever happens next is out of my control. I can only cling to my son and think of Leo.
38
LEO
I find him in a boardroom.
“Watching your legacy go up in flames?” I ask. “Seems a little masochistic, even for you.”
Spartak turns to me, his gun lying casually in his hand. “You think this is the end?”
He’s sitting at the end of a long table. The room is empty apart from him. His men have either abandoned him or died.
“I know it is.” I brandish my gun. “It’s time for your final speech, Belov.”
He gives me a smile. “You think because you’ve got me cornered, I’m done? You don’t think I have a contingency plan?”
“I’m sure you do,” I say. “I never thought you were stupid. Merely misguided.”
His eyes narrow as he tries to brush off the insult. “I have your wife. And your son.”
“They’ll be fine.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Just show me where they are,” I say. I don’t want to play any more games. I’m ready for this to end.
He smiles. “It would be my pleasure.”
Belov rises slowly and leads me out of the room and down the hall. He heads up a flight of stairs, seemingly unconcerned that his back is to me and I’m armed.
On the way, we run into Gaiman and Jax.