Mila shrugs. “She was tougher than I expected.” She glances over to where Dima is silently taunting Benedict. “And a far better shot.”

  “You don’t have a hole in your foot, so I’m guessing her aim’s not all that good.” I keep my voice low, well aware of the fact that Taylor is watching us from afar. “You are so predictable.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that she got to you, didn’t she?”

  Mila raises her eyebrows. “You’re telling me she didn’t impress you, too?”

  I glare down. “Careful, moya sestra.”

  “I’m just saying—”

  “Well, don’t. I have to get both of them home immediately. We have Benedict, but Gregor isn’t exactly a wilting daisy. He could be back any moment with reinforcements.”

  “I’m going, I’m going,” she grumbles, backing up toward her contingent with her hands held up in surrender. She glances at Taylor and hitches a thumb in my direction. Taylor takes one look at me and shakes her head. Then she climbs into the same Hummer as Mila.

  Grinding my teeth together, I get into the back seat with Celine and punch the roof of the vehicle. As soon as I do, we start to pull out.

  I keep my eyes on the window, but I can feel Celine watching me. “You’re upset about something,” she says abruptly as we leave the burning trees of the broken Bellasio property behind us.

  I force myself to turn to her with as patient a smile as I can muster. “No, I’m not.”

  She frowns. “I know we haven’t known each other all that long, Ilarion, but I can still tell when something’s not right with you.” When I don’t say anything, she sighs. “You deserve to know what happened while I was with Benedict.”

  “I already told you—”

  “He offered me a deal,” she explains, rushing through the words as though she’s scared she won’t have the courage to say them if she holds out any longer. “He told me that he would marry me if I agreed to end my engagement with you.”

  My blood had just begun to settle after the firefight, but at those words, it starts to churn all over again. “He did what?”

  She nods. “He didn’t bring it up right away. He would come to see me every couple of hours and he would talk to me.”

  “About what?”

  She shrugs. “His childhood, his family, his interests. It was almost like he wanted me to get to know him. To see that he wasn’t so bad. Then, around the third day…that was when he offered me the deal. He told me that the marriage would come with safety for my entire family, with property and wealth and travel. Whatever my heart desired. He also told me that he wouldn’t hurt Mom.”

  “And you said…?”

  Her eyes freeze on me for a moment. She passes right through shock and veers quickly into hurt. “You’re not… You’re really asking me that?”

  “Celine—”

  “I love you, Ilarion,” she snaps. “Do you really think I’m so fickle that I would throw you away for whatever some crazed mafioso promised me?”

  “He was dangling your father’s safety in front of you, Celine. All I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t have blamed you for considering your options.”

  She eyes me angrily. “Yeah, well, maybe that would have been enough to convince you, but it wasn’t enough to convince me. I wasn’t about to trust a man who threatened to kill my loved ones if I didn’t sign away my life to him.”

  “So you said no.”

  “Of course I said no. I’m not gonna lie; I was terrified. I thought he would…would quit asking and just make me at one point. But he just told me that one day I would regret my decision. Then he left.”

  “Did he touch you?” I swear I will stop the entire caravan and beat the fucker within an inch of his life if he laid a finger on her.

  She shakes her head. “No. I think he just wanted me to believe that he would. That he could. I told him that if he forced himself on me, that would just prove how weak of a man he was.”

  I feel a reluctant bloom of pride. “Smart girl.”

  “And,” she adds, “I knew you would come for me.”

  I turn my face out the window so she can’t see me grimace. As forest fades into the highway, I think about the way she yelled at Taylor to back off. She’s only known me for a matter of months and she was ready to go to battle for me. Against her own sister.

  The more I talk to her, the longer I’m in her presence, the more I realize something that I can’t quite escape from: this is a woman who deserves to know the truth.

  The problem is, I can’t give her what she’s asking.

  “You shouldn’t have started something with your sister over me.”

  “You’re going to be my husband,” she says firmly. “Taylor needs to respect that. I understand that this has been hell for her, too. She’s gotten caught up in the chaos of it all. But she still doesn’t have the right to tell me what to do with my life. No one does.”

  “What about your father?” I suggest gently. “Considering everything that has happened, he might agree with Taylor.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she answers. “It won’t change my decision. I know what I want, Ilarion. I want you. Maybe that’s selfish considering everything I’ve put my family through, but…I can’t stop wanting you.”

  Fuck me. I’d known from the moment I met Celine that I could never love her.

  But I never foresaw this.

  Suddenly, the fact that Taylor is pregnant with my baby seems too big a secret to keep from this innocent, open-hearted woman. It feels like a betrayal considering how much she’s willing to sacrifice for me.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks, reaching out and cupping my face with her palm.

  The fact that I want to duck out of her reach only cements my decision. I have to tell her. “Listen Celine…there’s something I need to tell you.”

  She frowns, unease and fear seeping back into her eyes. “Okay…”

  “I—”

  The explosion that sounds right then is like the world tearing itself in two. My eardrums nearly burst. Every thought, every memory, every sensation I’ve ever experienced condenses down to one tightly knotted fear in my chest. And that fear has a name.

  Taylor.

  48

  ILARION

  We skid to a stop with an ear-splitting screech of the tires. Celine is too terrified to even scream. I shove her down into the wheel well, then grab her face and force her to look at me.

  “Stay here. Do you understand that? Stay here.”

  I don’t wait to see if she’s following orders. I leap out of the car, my boots hitting the gravel hard. “What the fuck was that?” I ask Ivan, my driver, as he climbs out with me and cocks his gun.

  “Not sure, pakhan. Looks like someone is trying to block our path.”

  I look to the front of the caravan. All the other trucks have come to a halt like us, strewn at awkward angles around the road. Smoke is billowing in every direction. I can’t see farther than ten or twenty yards ahead.

  “It has to be Gregor. Get back in the car and stay there with Celine. Lock the doors. Don’t open them for anyone but me.”

  I don’t wait to see if he understands, either. I just unholster my weapon and charge toward the source of the explosion.

  Dima and Mila fall into step along the way. I glance at my sister as we all run with guns in hand. “Is—”

  “Taylor is fine,” she reassures me. “She tried following me out, but I managed to lock her inside.”

  “Good. Keep her there while I find out whatever the fuck is going on. If she makes a fuss, threaten her with violence.”

  Mila snorts. “Like that’s ever worked before.”

  But she does as I say, falling back to make sure the little tigrionok stays where she belongs.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea that you go,” Dima says as I resume my jog toward the front of the line. He grabs my shoulder to make me grind to a stop. “Let me check first.”

  “Like hell I will.” I shoulder-check him out of my way. He sighs, but I hear his stride pick up as he follows me.

  My car was the sixth in line. Benedict was two cars ahead of me. I approach his and pop the trunk to reveal the Bellasio don tied up like a Thanksgiving turkey, with half a dozen Bratva guns trained on his face. Few sights make me more pleased.

  Though I do see a glint of excitement lurking behind the venomous glare in his eyes. He thinks he smells a rescue in the air.

  “It’s not happening today, motherfucker,” I growl. Then I slam the trunk on his moronic smirk.

  I stride the last bit of the way to the first car in the procession and immediately see the problem. A massive tree has fallen across the path, kicking up dirt that I mistook for smoke. It’s three of me in diameter, far too big to cut to pieces without specialized equipment. Driving around isn’t an option, either—it’s densely thicketed woods on either side.

  My men milling around the scene of the accident have already reached the same conclusion: the only way out is to retrace our route and go back the way we came from.

  “Fuck,” I mutter, looking back over my shoulder. This isn’t right. Something is missing from this equation. “I heard an explosion.”

  “Over here, sir,” Stepan says from a few steps off the road. I can see him through the looming trees, squatting down and examining something on the ground.

  “What is it?” I ask, inching closer.

  “This wasn’t a freak act of nature.” He points at the charred black remains of earth where someone had detonated an explosion large enough to take down the monstrous tree.

  “Motherfuckers,” I growl.

  Dima straightens up immediately. “This has Gregor’s fingerprints all over it,” he says. “Ilarion, we need to take cover. There’s an attack coming.”

  I turn back toward the vehicles where the women are. Armored vehicles can only hold off so much. We’re still entirely too exposed for my liking, and strung out along the road.

  Easy pickings.

  I grab hold of Dima. For once, I let him see just how panicked I am. “Protect her at all costs,” I growl, my eyes darting around the forests, looking for signs of the hail of death that’s surely on its way. “Over everyone. Do you hear me?”

  “Brother…” Dima says gently, forcing my gaze to him. “Protect who at all costs? Which one?”

  Not so long ago, the world was in the palm of my hand. I had the perfect plan, all outcomes laid out so neatly before me. I was the fucking puppet master.

  Now, it’s a disaster. All because of a tiger cub who ran across the road without looking and stood crying in the rain when I asked her what she wanted from her life.

  How the fuck did it all go so wrong?

  “Taylor,” I say without hesitation. “Protect Taylor.”

  Dima nods solemnly. “With my life.”

  “Men!” I yell.

  The ones closest to me gather around, while the others climb on top of their vehicles so that they can hear and see me. “The Bellasios think they can corner us here and take us out.” My grin is wolfish but it does not meet my eyes. “We’re about to show them just how stupid they are.”

  I’m answered with a hearty war cry that sends the blood pumping harder in my veins. “We hold our ground for the next ten minutes while our scouts check the area. Then, we turn around and find another route home.”

  They stamp their approval of the plan. Satisfied, I walk towards…

  I stop short when I realize I’m not sure which car I’m stopping to check on first.

  Taylor’s?

  Or Celine’s?

  49

  ILARION

  I stand there marooned in no-man’s-land for far too long, knowing that despite the tinted windows, both women can see me from where they sit. I glance up. My sister is staring at me from where she’s leaning against one of the other trucks.

  “Bit off more than you can chew, huh?” she says with a knowing smirk.

  “This doesn’t mean anything,” I say firmly. “Taylor just happens to be the mother of my child.”

  Mila nods. “And she also happens to be just ballsy enough to have caught your interest and kept it. Let’s see, how many women have done that in the past?” She pretends to take a moment to think about it. “Oh, right—none.”

  “The die has been cast, Mila.” But, with a clench of my jaw, I make my way to Celine’s car.

  When I open the door, she’s sitting with her hands together, staring out the windshield, nervous tension splayed across her face. “Ilarion!” she gasps the moment she sets eyes on me. “What’s going on?”

  My plan had been to tell her the truth, prepare her for an imminent attack. But the moment I see the naked panic on her face, I know I can’t do it. It will break her, and she’s already so fragile.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” I tell her confidently. “Just sit tight, okay?”

  “We’re not heading out yet?”

  “Not just yet. There’s an obstruction blocking the road, so we may have to turn back.”

  It’s obvious that she suspects something is going on, but she doesn’t ask. Instead, she bites her tongue and leans back against her seat. “Okay. I’ll wait here.”

  I believe her, too. She really will sit where she’s told and keep her head down. She won’t charge where she shouldn’t be. She won’t steal a gun and shoot a hole in my sister’s foot and risk everything for the ones she loves. She will never, ever bite back.

  Maybe that’s the problem.

  I close the door and step over to Taylor’s vehicle. I’ve just thrown open the car door when a foot flies out and nearly hits me in the chest. “Shit!” I grunt as Taylor lets out a startled scream. She’s grabbing the seat for dear life, having very nearly fallen right out of it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Behind me, Mila tries to stifle her laughter.

  Taylor looks flushed, but she quickly straightens up. “I, um…I was trying to kick down the door.” I narrow my eyes at her and she throws her hands up in frustration. “Well, Mila locked me in!”

  “With good reason,” Mila shoots back. “You would’ve done something stupid if I hadn’t. You did something stupid anyway, actually.”

  Taylor huffs. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”

  I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. There is no question about one thing: this sister is the far bigger headache. “What’s going on is that Gregor Bellasio set off an explosion that took down a huge tree. Our way home is blocked.”

  “Can we just turn back?” she asks.

  “Thanks, genius. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I suppose you’re anticipating an attack?” she says, her voice rippling with a thread of anxiety. But again, unlike her sister, it seems to prepare rather than cripple her.

  “Yes. We need to make sure we’re not caught off-guard before we turn these vehicles around.”

  I stop short when I hear something. A distant rumble. Thunder? Earthquake? An…engine?

  An engine.

  “TAKE COVER!” someone screams from a few feet away.

  As soon as he says it, a huge truck explodes out of the forest—and crashes right into the Jeep that Celine is inside.

  The truck spins the Jeep sideways, throwing it several feet before it flips into its side. It does one, two, three somersaults before it plows into the trees on the far side of the road.

  Metal crunches. Glass shatters. “No,” I hear Taylor gasp. Then she starts to scream. “NO! CELINE!”

  She jumps out of the Hummer, but I catch her around her waist before she even hits the ground. “No,” I growl, even as Bellasio thugs rush out of the truck. “Get back inside!”

  “Celine!” she continues screaming, completely ignoring me. “Let me go! That’s my sister!”

  I want to tell her that I’ll take care of it. That I won’t let anyone get hurt. But I don’t have time for words. So I hurl her back into her truck and slam the door on her furious screams. Mila and Dima are already returning fire at the Bellasio reinforcements.

  It’s fucking madness all over again. I have to shoot my way through the onslaught to get to Celine’s upturned car.

  But it’s like battling locusts. They’re everywhere, dozens upon dozens of them. Each one individually is crushed with ease, but as a whole, there’s just too fucking many.

  “Secure the prisoner!” I yell, but my voice is lost in the chaos of screams and gunshots.

  I vault onto the hood of one of the trucks and scale up onto the roof. I stand there, looking down at the entire scene unfolding.

  I don’t know where to go first. Benedict, Celine, Taylor, Mila, Dima—I have too many weak points. Too many vulnerabilities to exploit.

  Once again, I have to ask myself, How did everything go so wrong?

  “Ilarion!” Dima screams from the ground next to me. “What the hell are you doing? You’re too visible up there!”

  A second later, a bullet scythes past my head, narrowly missing. I feel the sting of air pressure as it whips past me. I can’t even locate the shooter; there’s too much going on.

  “Cover me!” I bellow to Dima. I pick out three, four, five Bellasio men, and each of them die by my gun.

  But with the small group of soldiers closing in on Celine, I’m forced to make a split-second decision.

  Save her?

  Or keep Benedict?

  Taylor’s face flashes through my mind just before I jump down and sprint towards Celine.

  I slam my gun handle-first into the face of a stray Bellasio thug as I fight my way to the car. Two are trying to break down the door from the top to get in. I shoot one in the back of the head and the other one between the eyes.

  “Celine!” I call.

  No answer.

  It takes a few minutes to get the tortured metal of the door to rip free. My muscles are straining as I pull, pull, before finally it gives way. I bend low into the smoky darkness of the car.

  For a moment, I don’t see her. Am I too late?