Page 51 of Under His Protection

The warehouse is silent. Cole’s men stand frozen, their gazes darting between Cole and me, their hands hovering near their weapons.

My heart hammers against my ribs. Sweat slicks my palms, making the grip on the gun slippery. My vision blurs, and the warehouse sways around me.

Cole glances at his men, his face pale, his arrogance finally shattered. “Get Katerina.”

Two of his men rush away, disappearing into the maze of shipping containers. I keep the gun trained on Cole, my finger still on the trigger. My eyes dart around the warehouse, searching for any sign of movement, any threat. Paranoia, a venomous serpent, coils tight in my gut.

Moments stretch into an eternity. Cole stares at me, but he doesn’t dare to move.

“Alexander,” I say and glint in his direction. “You don’t get to leave me again.”

I don’t know if he’s breathing. He’s not moving.

Finally, Katerina emerges, her face pale, her blue eyes narrowed, and her medical bag clutched in her arms. She moves swiftly towards Alexander’s body, her gaze flickering briefly to me, a cold acknowledgment of the gun in my hand.

“Check him,” I command, my voice shaking. “Do something. Fix him.”

Katerina kneels beside Alexander, her fingers probing his neck, checking his pulse. Her expression remains impassive, but I see a muscle twitch in her jaw, a flicker of something that might be—

I don’t dare to hope. Hope is dangerous.

She opens her medical bag, and her movements are swift and precise. She pulls out a syringe, filling it with a clear liquid, then injects it into Alexander’s chest.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “Is he—? Is he alive?”

Katerina glances up at me, her expression unreadable. “Man alive, very luck for him, da,” she says, her voice clipped. “For now.”

For now. I cling to those words with all my soul. It’s all I have at the moment. The old Russian lady’s thick accent sticks to my heart like a prayer. I need to believe that the man I love, the man who is my everything, won’t be taken from me.

Katerina’s eyes are ice chips: assessing, calculating. She dives into her bag, a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, except her rabbit is another syringe filled with viscous, amber liquid. It shimmers like a captured sunset.

“What is that?” My voice is a taut wire.

“Something help him,” Katerina says, her voice a flat monotone, devoid of warmth. Her gaze flickers towards Cole. “Hold him still.”

Cole hesitates. He’s torn between obedience and the gun I’m still holding, a loaded threat aimed at his heart.

“You heard her, Cole,” I growl. “Hold him steady. Or the next bullet will be for you.”

He swallows hard, his face paling as if he’s tasted the cold fear I’m serving him. He gestures to two of his men, who shuffle forward, hesitant and wary, their eyes nervously darting between me and Alexander.

“Hurry up,” Cole snaps,” hold him up.”

Katerina ignores him, her focus laser-sharp on Alexander. She pushes the needle into his arm, the amber liquid vanishing beneath his bruised skin. I take a deep breath. The gun remains steady in my hand.

Please work. Please let him be okay.

Time slows to a crawl, each minute an eternity of agonizing silence.

Finally, his chest heaves, a deep, shuddering breath, a gasp of life. His eyelids flutter open, a groan escaping his lips. My breath releases a long, shaky sigh. My grip on the gun loosens a fraction of an inch.

He’s alive.

“He will live,” Katerina states. She stands, her gaze meeting mine. “But he need time to heal. Time—-that you, devushka, do not have.”

He’s okay, he’s okay, he’s okay.

My mind races like a chess game played with lives at stake. We need to get out now, everyone. I scan the faces of the girls, some still burning with the embers of defiance, others cowering in fear. I flash a smile, a quick flick of a switch, a silent signal of command. I know what needs to be done.

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