Page 60 of Savage Pakhan

Rain still continues to pour outside with light rumbles of thunder every so often. The TV is on low and plays a show I’ve never seen, the light flashing bright enough to keep me awake.

Not that I could sleep anyway. My mind is racing with what ifs and trying to plan a future with Mia. There’s a piece of me that feels like having any sort of future with her is impossible. There are so many obstacles in the way, so many unknowns, so many dangers, and yet, I’ll never let her go.

She’s mine and I’ll kill everyone in this world if it means she stays by my side.

I snag the remote from the nightstand and press the button that takes me to the security feed. I promised her that we would burn her wedding dress and I need to make sure that the spots I’m thinking of are safe.

The large flat screens splits into four sections, giving me a few seconds of each corner outside before switching to another angle.

The porch is clear. The back deck is clear. Every flash of a new area has no issue.

Until we get to her car.

I gently slide her off my chest, kissing her cheek, and tugging the blanket to her chest. She mumbles something incoherent, then rolls over, giving me her back.

All mine.

I give my attention to the screen, scooting forward to get a better, and wait for the shadow to appear again.

Bolting to my feet when two men peer into her car, I don’t wait to see what they’ll do. I open my nightstand drawer, pulling out my gun. I don’t want to scare Mia, but I’m going to have to.

I turn to look at the screen again and they aren’t by the car. “Come on. Where are you?” I say to the screen in Russian.

They appear going around the back of the house, pointing guns as they survey the property.

I only have a few minutes before they are inside. And they will get inside.

They always do.

I don’t know who these men are. I don’t notice them. Ivan must have contracted them out to look for Mia.

“Mia.” I shake her awake. “Mia. Wake up. We have unexpected company.”

She blinks her eyes open, confused. “Alek? What are you doing awake? Come back to bed.”

“I think Ivan sent people. I need you to follow me now and stay quiet, okay?”

All of the sleepiness fades and she sits up, clutching the sheet to her chest. The color leaves her face, fear shining in her brown eyes.

“He’s here? He found me?”

I cup her face. “No. He isn’t here. Two men are. They’re circling the house. I need you to come with me to the panic room, okay? You’ll be safe there.”

She shakes her head, tears spilling to the tops of her cheeks. “No. Not without you.” Her fingers tighten around my wrist, clenching onto me for dear life. “Please. I can’t risk you. I can’t. Come with me.”

I check the TV, noticing they have paused outside of the basement window.

“I have to take care of them so I can send their bodies back to Ivan as a warning. I’ll be fine. This isn’t the first time.” I cock the gun, loving the sound a bullet makes sliding into place. “And it won’t be the last. Come on. We don’t have much time.”

She nods, wrapping the sheets around her. There’s no time to get dressed. I take her hand in mine, dragging her to the closet.

“I’m not hiding in a closet! That’s the first place⁠—”

“My love, I have panic rooms in every part of this house.”

Glass shatters and I rush to the TV to see where they are.

One man is slipping through the window while the other waits for his turn.