Even if I could talk, I don’t know what I would say. Lie? Don’t? Would it matter? Would he care?
“Uri Bugrov’s woman and his baby. I really have hit the jackpot, haven’t I?”
I wish I could see. Or move. Or do anything but sit here behind this veil of darkness and listen to the most monstrous beast I’ve ever encountered murmur under his breath about my baby.
And then…
Wish granted.
I hear a huge bang. Like the world being ripped apart at the seams. I smell smoke and debris and Boris’s surprised intake of air. Then another huge explosion and the keening wail of a bullet.
Screams. Thumps. Splintering wood and billowing smoke. It’s all happening just on the other side of this drug-fueled shadow. I don’t know who the hell is coming—someone worse?—until a familiar scent hits my nostrils.
Scotch and cinnamon.
It’s Uri.
Never have I been more relieved, more grateful, more overjoyed to see someone—well, to figuratively see him—in my entire life.
“I warned you about touching my woman, Boris. I wasn’t joking.”
“I was just—”
I’ll never find out what Boris was just about to do, because before he can finish his thought, I hear the swish of Uri storming across the room and the violent crunch of fist meeting flesh. It rings out a dozen times or more, accompanied each time by a grunt or scream from Boris, until he isn’t making any noise at all anymore.
One more bang. The final bang.
Then… silence.
I feel Uri’s fingers stroke my face. “I… I can’t s-s-see…” I try to say. I’m not sure if my lips move or not.
“It’s okay. Hush now. You’re safe.”
Hearing those words, feeling his arms around me, breathing in that deep, oaky scent of his—it’s all too much. I try prying open my mouth to thank him and only a big, ugly sob comes out. I shouldn’t be feeling so much relief right now. Not when Polly’s still gone. Not when she’s in imminent danger.
I need to tell him. He’ll go back to hating me, but I have to tell him. Except, every time I open my mouth, another sob comes out.
“It’s okay,” Uri tells me. “You’re safe now, Alyssa. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” He tucks me close into his embrace. “It’s going to be okay now.”
Then he bends his lips to mine and kisses me. It’s the lightest of kisses, so soft that it might as well be a dream. I’m Sleeping Beauty in this one and he’s my prince—but this is no fairy tale. Because even though his kiss brings me back to life just enough to make out the hazy, blurry outline of his frame silhouetted against the light spilling through the door, the things I have to say to him are terrible.
“Polly,” I whisper.
Uri stiffens instantly, his eyes growing wary. “What about her?”
“Sh-she’s gone.”
6
URI
I let my relief get the better of me.
Seeing that I arrived just in time to stop Alyssa from being violated by that lecherous mudak… it made me lose my head. It made me touch her and look at her and hold her in a way that I had vowed never to do again.
And that kiss…
Big mistake.
Especially because now, I can feel it on my lips as I pace the house wildly, trying to figure out where the hell my sister is.
“Well?” I demand every time I pass one of my men in the corridors.
“No sign of her, sir.”
“This room is clear, sir.”
“The house is empty, sir.”
I’m ready to blow the whole place up, Boris right along with it. The only reason I don’t is because he’s the key to finding out where Polly is.
The basement door bangs open and Nikolai appears with Alyssa in his arms. She’s got a blanket wrapped around her body. I had the forethought to cover her up a little before my men appeared. But after that, I’d gotten as far away from her as possible. Her eyes roll strangely as Nikolai coaxes her towards the front door of the safehouse. She keeps fading in and out of consciousness, murmuring, mumbling, and twitching sleepily.
“Uri.”
I turn to my brother reluctantly. “We’ve got to get her back home so we can flush her system. The motherfucker drugged her.”
I flinch away from looking at her. Despite how pissed off I am right now, I feel the possessive beast inside me rear his head. She should be in my arms right now, it’s roaring. Not his. Mine.
“Get her back home. Send her with Stepan and Josef. I have to find Polly.”