by Jagger Cole
Viktor’s mouth thins.
“Is Dimitri…”
“Dead,” he growls. “Very, very dead.”
“Good.”
He looks away, then back at me. “There were pictures of you, at Kostya’s place, Nina. Maps of your route to work, the key codes to your building’s front door. And then there was a bunch of shit about all of us—me, Fiona, Lev, Zoey, Nikolai.” He brow furrows. “He had everything on us, Nina. I mean it was like a one-man FBI surveillance room in there.”
“He…” I trial off. I know I’m trying to find a way to gloss over Kostya’s original interest in my family—in wanting to hurt them, before he understood the truth. But I don’t know how to word that.
“There were diagrams that I understand, Nina. They were kill zone maps. He had places marked near all of our homes that are perfect sniper spots. He had the rifle, the scope, the—” Viktor snarls. “He was at that rooftop party, wasn’t he?”
I look away. Fiona sucks in a breath of air.
“Nina?”
“Yes,” I whisper. I turn back to them. “He was. But it’s… it’s complicated.”
“Un-complicate it, Nina,” Viktor growls. “Because I’m very, very close to going down to the room where he’s being worked on right now and putting a fucking bullet in his head.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You do that, and you will never see me again.”
His mouth thins, and we stare at each other. He finally takes a breath. “Please, Nina. Make me understand.”
I nod slowly. “The shooting wasn’t him. Neither was the car crash, or the hospital shootout. That was Dimitri, trying to finish what Kostya wouldn’t do.”
“Which was?”
I bite my lip. “Kill you. All of us, actually.”
Fiona’s hand flies to her mouth. My brother grimaces. “You’re not making this much better, Nina,” he hisses quietly.
“It’s hard to explain, Viktor. Fyodor Kuznetsov was like an abusive father to him. Him breaking out of prison in Russia was for vengeance, even though the man Nikolai killed spent most of his time abusing, gaslighting, and using Kostya.”
“And yet he decided to break out of a fucking inescapable prison, come here, and kill us for it?!” Viktor snaps.
“You’re the one talking about Stockholm Syndrome, Vik,” I retort. “That’s kind of what it is when you live like that. That man was awful to Kostya. He made him what he is or was. But Fyodor was still the only family Kostya ever knew.”
I look down at my hands. “Vik, I know you had it beyond rough growing up. But when you’ve got someone who’s supposed to be family…”
“Bogdan,” he growls quietly.
I nod. “Yeah.” I look up at him. “Look, I had you, at the end of the day. After everything, I got to find a family. Kostya didn’t. He had Fyodor, and then he had prison. So, when he heard about Fyodor…”
Viktor hangs his head and shakes it. “Nina, it’s just… it’s a lot. There’s a lot weighing against him.”
“Viktor, he saved me.”
“Nina—”
Tears well in my eyes. “I don’t just mean the last few days, Viktor,” I whisper. “In Moscow, when Bodgan…” I choke. Fiona takes my hand and squeezes. Viktor put his on my shoulder.
“Nina, you don’t have to—”
“That was Kostya.”
The room goes silent.
“What?” Viktor breathes.
“The man—the stranger from that day…” I look up at my brother. He’s heard this story, of course. So has Fiona. But they’re about to get the missing piece of the puzzle, like I just got.
“It was him, Vik. The day he was going to prison for that robbery. He ran, he came to our apartment block, and he freed me from the monster I lived with. That’s the man I hugged when the police were going to shoot him. He went to prison instead, for the last ten years.”
Viktor stares at me. “Kostya—”
“He saved me, Viktor. He’s saved me again and again, and I—I—”
I look down.
“Nina—”
“I love him, Vik,” I whisper. I look up. My brother’s face is grim.
“It’s not fucking Stockholm Syndrome. It’s that I get him, and he gets me, on levels that most people won’t understand. You might not understand, but I need you to at least understand that it makes sense to me, in a way nothing ever has before.”
He looks away, taking a deep breath.
“I love him, Viktor. And sometimes, how you got there—”
“Nina, come on, he—”
“Hey Viktor,” Fiona takes his hand in hers. She pulls him around to look at her. “Tell me that doesn’t sound familiar?”
He frowns. But I see the corners of his mouth turn up. He glances at me. “I don’t like it.”
“I know.” I swallow. “Is he…” I take a breath. “Is he going to live?”
My brother looks down. He takes my hand in his. “I don’t know, Nina. But I will promise you this. If he does…”
“You won’t kill him?”
“I’ll at least hear him out before I do,” he grunts.
I smile and squeeze his hand. “Thank you.”
“Only because he saved you, though.”
I nod as I sink back into the sheets. I feel weak, and tired.
“Rest, baby sister,” Viktor says gently. “Rest for now.”
19
Kostya
For a while, all I know is darkness and pain. Then, slowly, I see light. At first, I think it means I’m dead—entering the light of wherever the next place may be.
But then I feel pain again. Lots of it. I try and scream, but I’m mute. I try and move, but I cannot. I go to lift my arm, but it’s deadened, solid. The sound of machines beeping and whirring filter through my head. The smell of antiseptics, the murmur of concerned voices.
“Where…”
“Lie still, please,” a woman’s voice says gently. The beeping goes on. The concerned voices and the smell of antiseptics are constant.
“Where…”
“You are safe. You are in a safe place. Let me—”
“Not me,” I groan. “Where is Nina?”
There’s no answer. I hear the beeping rise faster and faster as I start to panic. The voices get more concerned, and louder. There’s a tightness in my chest—a feeling like a knife slicing through my heart. I groan. The beeping intensifies along with the pain.
And then suddenly, it slows. And then slows some more. The pain flares hotter and deeper. But then that goes numb. The beeping chimes again, slower, more drawn out. And I suddenly realize I’m listening to myself die.
“Nina…”
“She’s fine, Kostya,” The woman’s voice says gently. “She is fine. Please stay with us. Fight, Kostya. FIGHT.”
But I can’t. Not anymore. Not after a lifetime of it. Nina is okay. My angel lives. My butterfly will fly again.
That’s enough for me.
One good thing.
The beeping turns into one long sound. Then, there’s nothing.
* * *
Chapter 20
Kostya
Somehow, beyond all reason and likelihood, I wake again. But this time, I know I’m not dead. Or at least, not yet I’m not.
But there’s a gun pointed at me. And at the other end of it is a man who has several reasons to kill me.
For one, because not that long ago, I had a gun pointed at him, with every intention of pulling the trigger. For two, because he thinks I shot up his family’s party. But most importantly, because I’m guessing he’s under the impression that I kidnapped his sister to brutally have my way with her in my hideout.
Which I did sort of do.
Viktor Komarov glares at me down the barrel of his gun. Next to him, Lev and Nikolai stand looking equally has livid, also with guns.
“There is one, single reason you aren’t dead yet,” Viktor growls.
“And that is?”
“Because I’d l
ike my sister to actually speak to me again.”
My jaw tightens. “Where is she.”
“You took her, Kostya.”
“Where is she?!” I roar. Even Viktor seems taken aback by the burst of fury. But he doesn’t lower his gun.
“She could have been hurt or killed.”
“Which is exactly why I took her,” I growl. “And I was never going to hurt—”
“Please,” Viktor hisses dangerously. “Don’t patronize me, and don’t lie to me. You tried to kidnap my sister to get to me.”
My mouth thins. “Yes, I did.”
His lips pull back in a sneer. “So why shouldn’t I kill you right here.”
I glare at him. “How did you and your wife meet, Viktor?”
He snarls. “I would tread very carefully here, Kostya.”
“I am not frightened of you, Viktor.”
“That’s a mistake.”
I smile. “But I do respect you.”
“The feeling is not mutual. Keep going.”
I shrug. “You took her—your wife, Fiona, I mean. Yes? To settle a debt?”
His jaw grinds.
“I know everything about you—all of you—”
“I’m aware of that,” he snaps.
“Which is even more reason to kill you,” Lev grunts next to him.
I turn my eyes to him, and then to Nikolai. “Fyodor was your father.”
Lev says nothing.
“In the most technical sense of the word,” Nikolai grunts. He steps closer to me, looking me in the eye. “I shot him, you know.”
I nod.
“Right in the head. And do you know what?” He smiles. “I enjoyed it. It was freeing, and I’d do it again, every time.”
My mouth thins.
“Does that anger you?” Nikolai says with a smile, testing me.
I meet his gaze evenly. “Fyodor raised me, mostly. He was more a father to me than he ever was to you, or maybe to you, too,” I grunt, turning to Lev.
Viktor’s hand clenches. “I would pick my next words very, very care—”
“So I hope that gives some gravity to me telling you that I agree,” I say quietly. I turn my gaze back to Nikolai. “I know what he did to your mother.” I frown. “I’m sorry for that. And I’m glad you found your closure.”
Nikolai narrows his eyes at me. “You understand that I lied to him to gain his trust, so that I could shoot him in the head, in cold blood.”
“If you’re trying to get a reaction out of me, you won’t,” I growl. “He was both of your’s blood father. He was the man who raised me, and beat me, and gaslit me, and turned me into a shield for his cowardice.” My eyes narrow. “I broke out of that prison to avenge an idea. I have since realized that the idea I had was flawed and twisted.” I shrug. “I don’t weep for the man you shot, Nikolai. And I have no desire to avenge anything about him, to anyone.”
The younger man’s jaw clenches. But he slowly nods. I turn my gaze to Lev. He too slowly seems to relax. Only Viktor still seems tense—still glaring at me, still pointing a gun at me.
“Vik,” Lev says quietly. “We traced Dimitri’s trail back to the apartment he was operating out of. It’s all there—schematics of my roof garden, the remote controls for the tripod guns.”
“I know that,” Viktor grunts.
Lev puts a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Viktor…”
“Give me a reason, Kostya,” Viktor growls quietly. “You can be as contrite as you want. But you came after my family. You brought this danger on top of them. You took my sister,” his lips curl. “I’ve done far worse to men who trespassed far less against me. So give me a reason I shouldn’t put a bullet between your eyes, right here, and right now. One fucking reason, Kostya.”
I don’t need any time to think about it at all.
“Because I love her.”
Viktor’s jaw ticks.
“I love Nina, Viktor. Entirely, with all that I am. Because I love your sister, and I will protect her with my life, always.”
His eyes narrow. “She told me about Moscow.” He breathes slowly. “Was that really you, who took out her foster father?”
I nod. “Yes. And she’s the reason I didn’t die that day.”
His nostrils flare as he breathes deeply. “Why did you do that, that day? I mean what made you go to their apartment and kill him? Some kind of beef you had with him?”
“I did it for her.”
Viktor’s eyes narrow.
“Not for the same reasons I would protect her now, Viktor,” I growl. “She was a child. I wasn’t in love with her, if that’s the dark road you’re headed down in your head. I did that that day because I knew I was going away, probably forever. And in the dark hell of the world I lived in back then, she was the one speck of goodness. The one bright light that took the edge off the shadows.”
I wince as I sit up straighter in the bed.
“I lived in the apartment block across the courtyard from her. We never spoke or met. But she would smile at me sometimes, and it felt like for a second, there was hope left in this world.”
Viktor’s brow furrows.
“I killed that man that day, because I’d watched the abuse for too long. I know what it is to be tread on daily. I know what it feels like to be under a heel, every fucking day. And I snapped that day. I’d seen him try and cover up that one bright spot of goodness in my world one too many times. I had nothing left to lose, and I knew if I was going out, I’d go out doing one good thing in this world—making sure he never touched her again.”
I look down at my hands.
“That’s all I wanted to leave behind when I went away forever. One good thing. One good deed, in a life of bad.”
The three men are silent. But suddenly, a voice croaks from the doorway.
“Good enough for me.”
My head snaps up, and I grin widely. I try and slide from the bed when my eyes land on her, but the pain is almost overwhelming.
“Nina,” I groan.
The three others whirl, and Viktor swears as he rushes to her. She’s leaning against the doorway, but she waves him off.
“I’m fine.”
“You should be in bed—”
“I should be here,” she says softly. “With Kostya.” She turns her gaze to me. Her smile erases all the pain I’m feeling. And suddenly, the world is bright again.
Viktor frowns. He glances back at me, then back to his sister.
“Nina—”
“I love you, Viktor,” she whispers. “And I love you for all that you’ve done for me, and given me, and continue to do for me, and give to me. But…” She smiles weakly at him. “I’m not a child, Vik. And I know what I want.”
“Him,” her brother grunts.
She nods. “Yes.”
He glowers, breathing slowly.
“Lev—”
“We’re gone.”
Lev elbows Nikolai. The two of them glance at me, and then quietly leave the room. Viktor looks up at me.
“This will not be an easy road. I want you to understand that. My trust is not easily given. I love my sister, and for that, I’m stepping back from this. But if you want my trust—and you do, believe me—it will need to be earned, over time. I’m trusting you with her, because you’ve proven what you’d do to protect her.”
His eyes level on me.
“My trust, and the trust of the rest of this organization, will not come so easily.”
“I don’t expect them to.”
The room is quiet again. Nina clears her throat. “Vik, you did steal Fiona as a bargaining—”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he grunts.
She grins at him. “Just saying.”
He frowns, but then he slowly smiles. He glances back at me. “For what it’s worth, you have my gratitude. For saving her. Several times over.”
“You don’t need to thank me for that.”
“For now, I’ll thank you by not killing you.”
&nb
sp; I shrug. “I can work with that.”
Viktor smiles and shakes his head. He turns and gently hugs his sister.
“You should be in bed.”
“Well, I’m trying to get there, except someone’s blocking the way.”
Viktor grunts and rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t looking for your permission, Vik.”
He chuckles. “Whenever I have any doubts that we’re related…”
“Happy to remind you,” she smiles.
He glances back at me once more. “Kostya,” he grunts.
“Viktor.”
He nods, and then he’s gone from the room. Nina looks up at me from the doorway and grins.
“Hi.”
My brow furrows as my eyes sweep over the bandages on her arms, her legs, and on the side of her bruised head.
“Fuck, Nina…”
She half runs, half falls towards my bed. I surge from it, trying to stand, but the pain in my chest takes my breath away. But it’s no matter, because in seconds, she’s sobbing as she collapses into me. I ignore the pain. Or maybe the feel of her in my arms takes it away.
Her mouth finds mine, and I groan as I cup her face and kiss her deeply. I kiss her with all that I am, and all that I have.
Because she has all of me.
“You’re alive,” she breathes into my lips.
“I’m tough to kill,” I smirk.
“Yeah, apparently.” She grins up into my eyes. “Kostya—”
“I love you, Nina,” I growl, gripping her tightly. My heart races, and I realize it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever actually said those words.
Her face blooms red. Her teeth drag across her bottom lip as she starts to grin.
“I love you too,” she whispers. She slinks against me. I hiss once when her elbow grazes one of my sutures. She winces and pulls back.
“Oh my God, I’m so—”
“Nina,” I grin. “I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”
“You’ve had worse than being shot in the chest and falling thirty feet onto concrete?”
I shrug. “Well, either way.”
She rolls her eyes and kisses me softly. “Mr. tough guy over here. Well, what do you need?”
My pulse thuds. “A tender, loving nurse?”
She grins. “Oh really.”