Page 166 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

It feels like a knife has gone clean through me. “You didn’t do that because you felt guilty. It’s because we care about each other. Because we’re… a family.”

I haven’t used the word out loud yet, but in my mind, I’ve considered Dima, myself, and Lukas a family. At least, I’ve imagined we would be one day.

Now, that’s all irretrievably broken. Lukas’s cries are getting louder and louder.

He barks out a laugh. “Fuck you, you fucking liar.”

“Dima, I’m sorry. I lied, but I was afraid. I didn’t know—”

“Who would take care of you and protect you from all your enemies?” he finishes. “Oh, I know. You were trying to do what was best for you. Whatever benefited you the most.”

“Don’t make it sounds like that. It wasn’t like that for me, Dima. I wasn’t using you.”

“Weren’t you, though?” he asks. “I told you I would get Lukas back for you. I told you I’d fix my mistake and make it right. Turns out, it wasn’t my mistake to fix. It was yours. And you never said a fucking word.”

“Dima, I—”

Before I can get the thought out, Dima lifts his gun and points it at me.

My mind flashes back to that night a year ago. To the strange man who came into my clinic with a gun and a graze.

I wasn’t afraid of him then, but I’m afraid of him now. Terrified. Lukas is crying so loud now that I can barely hear myself think.

“Is it true?” he asks, his voice deep and slow. “You heard everything the Albanian said. Did he lie? Did he make it up?”

I blink at him.

“Answer me!” he roars.

I shake my head. “He didn’t make it up. It’s true. It’s all true.”

Dima lowers his head, his jaw clenching in anger.

I look to Gennady for… something. Support, maybe? But he looks weak. He’s sagging against the couch and it looks like he might faint.

“It’s all true, but I love you, Dima,” I say, deciding it is time to be fully honest. “That’s true, too. I never wanted to betray you, and—”

“Go.”

I stop, waiting to see if he’ll say more. “What?”

“Go,” he repeats. “Leave now. That’s the mercy you’ll get from me.”

I shake my head, not understanding. “Mercy?”

“A head start,” he says, looking up at me with his steel gray eyes, his expression vacant. “You get to start running before I hunt you down and punish you for what you’ve done to me. Loyalty is everything to me and you betrayed it. You’ll pay for that.”

Emotion clogs my throat. This is just a misunderstanding. He’s making this decision in an emotional moment. He’ll forgive me, I know it. All I need is a little more time.

I look to Gennady. He’s pale and trembling. “At least let me help Gennady. I’m a surgeon, I can—”

“You can get the fuck out of here.Now.” Dima says, waving the gun at me. “You have until the count of ten.”

I don’t believe him.

He wouldn’t shoot me.

He wouldn’t kill me.

“Ten—nine—eight—” His countdown is even and unaffected. As if I could be anyone in the world. No different than any other person he has ever had to kill.

As Dima keeps counting, it feels like he’s looking right through me, right through our baby boy, and all at once, I know he’s serious.

He’s going to shoot me. He’s going to kill me.

Unless I go.

So, with one last look at the father of my child…

I run.