Page 160 of Ivory Oath

He sends the dinosaur in a circle around my feet before it trips on Raoul’s shoe and lets out a roar. Dante giggles and races over to set the toy on its feet again.

Viviana is sitting on the edge of the bed, watching all of it with a wide smile. I cross the room and press a kiss to her cheek. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Since the moment we arrived,” she teases. “Then again, the dinosaur might convince me to spend another day here. Dante isn’t going to turn that thing off until it breaks.”

“Sorry,” Anatoly sighs again. But as he watches Dante chase the dinosaur into the connected bathroom and back out again, giggling the entire time, I don’t think Anatoly is really sorry at all.

Viviana presses a hand to my shoulder. “Since Raoul is smiling for the first time in… ever, I’m going to assume everything went okay this morning.”

I told her the broad strokes of my plan late last night. When she teared up and told me passing the Bratva to Raoul’s family was a fitting eulogy to Alyona and Anzhelina, I knew I was doing the right thing.

“It went perfectly.”

“And how do you feel?” she asks.

I take a deep breath. For the first time in years, the heavy weight in my chest is gone. I turn to Viviana and kiss her, stroking my thumb down her neck. “This part of my life is almost over. And the next part is about to start. I feel great.”

We convince Dante to carry his dinosaur friend through the still-quiet hospital hallways. The second we’re in the parking garage, the dinosaur is back on the ground and Dante is running and grinning behind it.

“Watch where you’re going,” Viviana calls after him. Her voice echoes off the concrete pillars. “Stay away from cars.”

There are no cars to speak of. The garage is almost as empty as it was when Raoul and I were here an hour ago and the gates letting cars inside don’t open to the public for another hour. A few doctors and nurses have started showing up for their shifts, but otherwise, we have the place to ourselves.

The dinosaur is chugging along at least twenty feet in front of Dante when it hits a rock and topples over with a roar.

Dante breaks into a run to pick it up…

Just as an engine roars from around the corner.

The headlights flash as the car lurches forward, heading straight for my son.

65

MIKHAIL

“Dante!” Viviana shrieks.

I don’t pause to think. There isn’t time for it. I lunge forward and slam my hand into Dante’s back to knock him out of the path of the car.

He’s small and he goes flying, skidding across the concrete ten feet away. I whip around and wrap my arm around Viviana, yanking her back in the opposite direction just before the car careens into the central wall of the parking garage.

Viviana and I hit the ground with a pained grunt. The ruined car is hissing behind me and the air smells like gasoline. Somewhere, the remote-controlled dinosaur is still roaring.

Viviana shoves off of me and crawls towards the car on her hands and knees. I realize she’s looking under the wheels. “Dante!”

“He was out of the way. He’s okay.”

He’s okay right now. But the next few seconds will determine if it stays that way.

The windows of the car are deeply tinted. I can’t even make out a human shape in the driver’s seat. Was this a freak accident? Was it intentional? Until I know, I’m not taking any chances.

I rise to my feet, gun aimed at the windows. “Get out of the fucking car!”

The doors don’t open. Nothing happens.

From the other side of the car, just out of sight, Dante starts to cry.

Viviana gasps and runs forward, but I grab her around the waist. “Let go of me!” she cries out, scratching at my hands. “We have to get him!”

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