by Fox, Nicole
I’m not going to lose him.
I’m not going to lose her.
I let the pain consume me for a split second before I stomp on the gas and jerk the wheel, switching lanes. The sedan tries to outspeed me, but I reach close enough to the driver’s side that I can see Marco’s hand on the steering wheel.
I yank the wheel to the right, slamming into his door. The sedan lifts off the road before crashing down on the roof and rolling off the road.
* * *
Shattered glass surrounds the overturned sedan. I run to the car, stopping on the passenger’s side. Allison is hanging upside down, her seat belt on. Her eyes are wide, but she appears fine. My thoughts race to our baby, but I can’t let the panic overwhelm me. That won’t help them.
I grab her shoulders before unbuckling her seat belt, guiding her so she doesn’t crash into the ceiling, then lifting her out and carrying her a few feet away from the totaled vehicle.
“Are you okay?” I ask, helping her to sit on the ground.
“Fine,” she says, but she’s cradling her arm. I run my hand over it. Blossoms of red are spreading near her elbow and wrist. Broken. She grabs me with her other hand. “You should be in a hospital. Call an ambulance.”
“I don’t have my phone,” I say. I look down the road. No cars now.
A flicker of movement.
I spin around, my leg killing me.
Marco points his gun at me, blood trickling from the crown of his head. “Tell your whore to remove any of your weapons,” he rasps.
“I don’t have anything,” I say. He shifts his body, aiming the gun at Ally. I slowly lift my shirt, showing there’s nothing in my waistband. I lift my pants legs, pain burning up the sides of my body. “Nothing.”
Ally steps in front of me. I try to push her out of the way, but she only steps closer to Marco.
“Please don’t kill him, Marco,” she begs. “I can get Lev sent to prison. He’ll be more humiliated there than if he’s dead. You know my father is the chief of police and I’m close to the district attorney. I’m getting an internship at the DA’s office. Once I’m there, I can help you and your men get out of any legal trouble.”
“Bitch, you think I trust you?” he sneers. “You’ve fucked me over every step of the way. Once you’re in the hands of the cartel, it’s your turn to get fucked over until you’re dead.”
Ally gets onto her knees. She crawls to him. I grind my teeth, my fist clenching together so tightly I expect my fingers to break. I’d kill him now, but the sudden movement might cause his trigger finger to move. She’s alive right now. That’s what matters.
“Please,” she says, on her knees. “There’s a part of you that knows this is wrong. I know it. What Lev did to your father is unforgivable, but you don’t need to do the same thing. Don’t let his actions affect yours. It’s—”
“It’s too late,” Marco interjects, his gaze switching between her and me.
“I’ll do anything you want,” she says. “We could get married. I’ll convince everyone that you saved me from Lev. I just don’t want anyone else to die. I’ll even let you sell me to the Mexican cartel. I’ll be a willing participant. I’ll be their best slave. I’ll let them fuck me in every way possible and I’ll act like I love it. I’ll do anything if you—”
She jerks upward, grabbing Marco’s arm that’s holding his gun. His arm swings wildly, his other hand punching her head and neck. I dive toward the car wreck, grabbing a piece of twisted metal.
I see nothing except Ally, too close to the gun and Marco’s fist, but I manage to grab his head, gripping his hair. I yank his head away from me. He struggles, the sound of gunshots ripping through the air.
Then I stab the piece of metal into his throat. It cuts into my hand, but I swing again and again, until I’m bleeding and he’s bleeding.
Until there’s no blood left in his body to escape.
Then I let him go. He crumples to the ground, pale and dead.
I grab Ally. “Are you okay?” I run my hand over her body, searching for gun wounds, but all I do is leave a trail of blood. Some of it mine, some of it not.
“He didn’t hit me,” she murmurs. As my hand ends on her one good wrist, I stumble. She grabs my elbow, helping to lower me to the ground. I see her face, a glowing light as everything around her turns blurry. “You’re good, you’re good. We just need to find a phone …”
I get back onto my feet, though everything feels illusory now.
“The car,” I say. “Your father’s car. Come on …”
I lead her back to the police car, my hand on her back and her hand on my arm. I open the driver’s door.
Then I fall, the world slipping by me and Ally’s anxious face bending closer before darkness takes over.
24
Allison
The baby is okay. In the space of an hour, I not only learn that there is, in fact, a baby for sure, but also that everything that happened tonight didn’t hurt it. I want to weep with relief but can’t. Lev is in surgery. He needs me to hold it together so I can be there for him when he wakes up.
The splint on my arm lies awkwardly on the waiting room chair’s armrest. I watch Garner Hospital’s staff move back and forth through large swinging doors. I try not to feel frustrated as they chat with each other, laughing and flirting. People are dying in this hospital and they’re trying to get laid.
I move my splinted arm up, clasp my hands together, and close my eyes.
God, I’ll give up my dreams of being a prosecutor if Lev survives. I’ll do anything. Just don’t let him die.
I open my eyes. Nothing feels different, just more desperate. If the Holy Spirit dropped by while I was praying, it didn’t linger.
I stand up, walking down the hall to the vending machine. I don’t have any money, but the multitude of choices seems like a decent distraction.
I have no idea what Lev’s favorite food is. Somehow, it’s never a discussion we touched on when we were quizzing each other.
“Ally!”
I turn. My father comes running to me. He hugs me, carefully avoiding my splintered arm.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“The officer who arrived at the scene called me,” he says. “Are you okay?”
My mind flickers to Lev, still in surgery. “I’m fine.”
He checks my splint and my face.
“You told the first responders … you said that Alekseiev was kidnapped by the Italian Mafia and that he saved your life,” he says. “Is that true?”
His apprehension gets under my skin. I tap against the vending machine’s glass, biting back all of the sarcastic answers I want to give.
“It’s the truth,” I say.
“Is it the full truth?”
He wants me to tell him about the Bratva. It means, at the very least, he suspects I know more than I let on I knew at the gala. And, if everything hadn’t changed, I might have broken down and told him everything.
“It’s the truth,” I repeat. There’s a flicker of disappointment across his face, but he hugs me again.
“I’ll deal with everything,” he says. “The media has already caught wind of what happened. One of the EMTs must have talked. I’ll have to tell them what you said.”
He hesitates, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Are you waiting for Alekseiev to get out of surgery?”
I nod.
“I’ll stay with you.”
I take a deep breath. “When you talk about Lev, can you refer to him as my fiancé?”
He looks down at his hand, which is holding mine. “If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”
“You need to know,” I say. “He only stole your car to save me.”
His forehead furrows. “Alekseiev didn’t steal my car, darling. I gave it to him.”
I replay the scenario that had been in my head. My father handing over his keys had never entered my imagination.
“Why would you give him your car?” I ask.
He shrugs. “He and I were both willing to do what it took to get you back safely. And, if we’re being honest, Alekseiev was willing to do a lot more terrible things without thinking twice than me, so it only made sense to give him the keys. I never thought having a criminal working for me would be a blessing.”
A man in blue scrubs walks up to me. “Miss Harrington? Mr. Alekseiev is out of surgery. It was touch- and-go for a while, but he made it through. It will take him some time to wake up from the sedatives, but considering what happened, we’re willing to let you see him now.”
“I’m going to go talk to the press,” my father says. His hand rests on my shoulder and he kisses my forehead. “I’ll make sure they know about you and your fiancé.”
* * *
At Lev’s hospital bed, I watch him. The bruises on his face and the tubes sweeping over his body don’t make him appear any less strong and he still makes me feel like I’ve taken every amphetamine under the sun. Everything is different, but all those euphoric feelings have only amplified.
His hand twitches over his thigh. I lean forward, placing my hand over his and kissing his cheek. His other hand slides up into my hair, pulling me closer. I get into his hospital bed as he carefully shifts to make more space for me.
He kisses the side of my mouth, stroking the side of my face. His eyes stay closed.
“I want you to be the one to prosecute me,” he says, his voice hoarse. “I’ll tell the police that I’ll only confess if that’s the case. It will ensure that nobody connects the two of us in a way that will hurt your reputation and it will be a great start to your career.”
“You’re not going to be arrested,” I tell him.
“It’s fine, Ally. I deserve it for a thousand things I’ve done.”
“That’s not what I mean,” I say. “I told first responders that you saved me from Marco. I told them everything that happened—I just didn’t mention why he was coming after you. I made it sound like he only went after me because of my father. My dad knows all that, too. He’s going to take care of it. And your plan is going to work because my father is going to refer to you as my fiancé. Nobody will question the story after that.”
His eyes flicker open. The green of his eyes sends a shock of electricity under my skin.
“I can’t risk your career and your father’s career like that. You deserve—”
“I deserve every damn thing I want,” I snap. “And I don’t want you to go to prison.”
“Ally … you’re confused. This whole thing was my fault. I deserve life in prison just for that. I’ll plead guilty. I don’t have a problem with that. If—”
“If you don’t go along with my plan, I’ll go to the media and tell them the whole truth,” I say. “That includes the fact that I caused a man to die and collaborated with you to cover it up. And then I covered up your involvement in a certain criminal organization when I talked to my father and first responders.”
He frowns at me but it slowly twists into a half smile. “You’re learning fast.”
“You taught me well. Never thought I’d use your blackmail against me to blackmail you, did you?”
“Can’t say I did.” He kisses me, his lips dry, but it still makes me want more. He pulls me closer to him, his fingertips finding a home on my hips. “If that’s the path you want to go down, then I have to ask you something.”
“Mmm?”
He takes my hand, one of the thinner tubes nearly getting caught on the side rail.
“I know our relationship didn’t start in a good way,” he says, his thumb rubbing the skin between my thumb and index finger. “I know I forced you to agree to marry me. That’s off the table. It doesn’t matter. But I want you to know that the moment you want to marry me—to really marry me—I’m ready. I’d drop everything to make you mine. I want everybody to know you’re mine, not as a bargaining chip, but because I want to be able to point to you and proudly say that you’re my wife. I want everyone to know that I love you and I’m committed to that for the rest of my life.”
I lay my head on his arm, letting his words sink in. He caresses my hair as the sound of beeping and the bustle of the hospital surrounds us. Thoughts of the baby tumble through my mind but I don’t tell him yet. He’s dealt with enough shocks today.
Finally, I look up at him, tears of happiness in my eyes. “How about next month?”
Epilogue
Lev
A month later
When Ally walks down the aisle, it scares the shit out of me. I could spend a fortune on an army of bodyguards and jiujitsu training for Ally, I could have every preparation in place, and my enemies could still find a way to hurt her.
She is so beautiful, so intelligent, and so good that it’s terrifying. Her dark hair is decorated with various small braids and beads, pulled into a bun. Her white dress is embellished with the same beads. The Tide & Shore Hotel’s beach carries a strong breeze as she walks toward me, but it still feels like it’s the undertow filling my lungs. It feels like an impossible task to keep her safe and the risk is impossibly high.
As she stops, turning to face in me in front of the pastor, the expression in her eyes is a riptide of love. My panic calms. All the pieces I’m juggling in my head—her protection, the Bratva, Mariya’s Revenge, my physical rehabilitation—fall away and all that’s left is this deep-seated need.
Ally makes faces at me as the pastor speaks about love and other promises. It reminds me that Ally is dedicating her love to me, in front of all of our closest friends and families. Out of everyone on earth, she’s decided that I’m the person she wants to be united with. It’s not something I deserve—she’s not someone I deserve—but I’ll take it because I’m a selfish asshole.
In the front row, I see Ally’s parents and I know that, even though there’s little love lost between us, we all love Ally and they’re entrusting me to take care of her. That’s a trust I will never break.
“Now, you’ve both written vows,” the pastor says. “So, I’ll let you take over. Lev?”
“I love you,” I say bluntly to Ally. “I’ll do everything within my power to protect you and take care of you. You’re letting me into your life in a way that is more than I could ever ask for and you’re trusting me to be a good husband, so that’s what I’m going to be. I promise you that I’m going to be good to you for the rest of our lives.”
She smiles at me, the faintest shine in her eyes.
“Allison?” the pastor prompts.
“I love you,” she echoes. “Sometimes, I’ve had this fear that one day we’ll drift apart—that we’re swept away by infatuation or everything we’ve been through. I’m afraid to lose this intimacy that I’ve never had with anyone else because I can’t imagine feeling it with anyone else and it’s … it feels like part of me. It’s the only time I feel complete. But when we’re together, that fear is gone. And I know we might go through hard times, but I also know I want to spend the rest of my years with you. I want to struggle with you, to feel pain with you, to feel that intimacy with you, and I want to love you forever. It’s all I want.”
“Wonderful,” the pastor says, clapping his hands together. “Lev, do you swear to love Allison, to cherish her, and to walk with her throughout her best and worst days? If so, say I do.”
“I do,” I say.
“Allison. Do you swear to love Lev, to cherish him, and to walk with him throughout his best and worst days? If so, say I do.”
“I do,” she says.
As the pastor talks about the wedding rings and how they’re a sign of our love, Ilya steps up to give me Ally’s ring while Julia steps up to give Ally mine.
When we exchange them, her hands are shaking. I grasp her fingers, squeezing them for a second before I let my arms drop and her hands clasp in front of her. They stop trembling.
The pastor claps his hands together again. “Beautiful. By the power vested in me by the city of New York, it is with great pleasure that I declare you hu
sband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
We kiss. I scoop up my new wife and she wraps her arms around my neck. We kiss again, only letting the wind come between us.
* * *
After everyone has fallen asleep and the exterior lights behind Tide & Shore have shut off, Ally and I run out onto the beach.
She unzips her wedding dress as she runs. All that remains after it falls is her underwear—white lace—as she bounds toward the beach. She glances behind her, giving me a shameless smile as she runs straight into the waves, barely letting them slow her down before she dives.
I shed my tie, my shirt, and my pants. I take a deep breath before running into the ocean with her.
Ally has swum out further, her dark hair nearly invisible in the water but her skin glowing like a reflection of the moon.
I swim out toward her, the water starting to feel warmer. She sinks down, so only her eyes are visible above the water. Bubbles form in front of her. Then she launches herself at me, grabbing my shoulders and wrapping her legs around my waist.
We kiss, the taste of salt on her lips. The wedding was intense and gratifying, but I’d rather be alone with Ally for a night than have a dozen weddings.
I am in love with this woman.
She dives under the water. She tugs on my boxer briefs until she gets them down to my knees. Treading water, I pull my knees up to get them off the rest of the way. Her head bobs back up to the surface, her dark hair slick as it clings to her shoulders. She tugs on my arm until it’s straight in front of me. She slides her underwear onto my wrist before diving back underwater. I watch her swim back up, heading back toward the shore. I pursue her, deeply invested in whatever her intentions are.
When her feet hit the sand, I watch her ass bounce as she runs. She settles onto her dress, lying down on her back with her knees up.
I collide against her knees, but she quickly opens them, inviting me in. My hard cock rubs against her wetness. I’m drunk on everything—her beauty, her warmth, the night, the ocean, the thought of making love to her on her wedding dress on our wedding night.