Page 181 of Emerald Malice

The flashing countdown on Natalia’s chest is frozen, but I still can’t let myself believe it.

Until Shura stands up, a blue wire held above his head and a wild look in his eyes.

“You did it,” I breathe. “You fucking did it.”

Natalia lets out a strangled cry, and I tear the vest off her and drop it to the floor. She rises on trembling legs and then falls into my arms, sobbing on my shoulder.

I rise to my feet, taking her with me. I curl her in my arms and walk out of the room, leaving the stink of death behind us.

65

NATALIA

The relief is stale by the time we get to the car.

Andrey wraps me in a blanket in the back of the Escalade, but I shove it aside, bolting up out of the seat. “Where’s Katya?”

She was abducted by Nikolai. Or maybe it was Slavik. The fact I don’t know does nothing to slow my racing heart. Bad guys morph into each other, into the shadows, stretching and melting and reforming again and again. I can’t keep track of whose blood is on whose hands.

“Misha,” I say again, the cry strangled in my throat. “Where is he? And Remi?”

Were they in the hospital room with me?

Does Nikolai still have them?

Are they alive?

“Aunt Annie…?” I croak, exhausted with this never-ending list.

Fear tugs at the back of my mind, pulling me deeper into a spiral I know I won’t claw my way out of. Not this time.

This is too much. There’s too much pain, too much fear. I’m alive, but there are too many people still left to lose.

I can feel the quicksand calling to me. The temptation to step into it and disappear has never been stronger.

Andrey wraps me in his arms and cradles me against his chest. His heartbeat is a steady drum in my ear. “Mila and Katya are waiting for you at the manor. They’re excited to see you.”

I cross their names off the list in my mind. They’re okay.

“But Misha?—”

“Misha is at home taking care of Remi,” he says with a dark chuckle. “That dog went down with a chunk of flesh in his teeth. Somewhere out there, someone is limping around with half a calf because that beast loves you so much.”

Remi is alive.

Misha is safe.

“Aunt Annie,” I breathe again, unable to believe I could be so lucky and she’ll be safe, too.

Andrey smooths my hair away from my forehead and presses a kiss to my skin. “Annie is in the hospital. She’s stable and doing better.”

“She’s still in danger, though,” I whisper. “They came after her once. They’ll do it again.”

“That’s why I’m moving her to a secure location,” Andrey agrees. “A safehouse on the outskirts of the city that not even Viktor knows about. She’ll have the best care and a private medical team on hand to monitor her every breath until she makes a full recovery.”

I cross her name from the list, too.

And wait for the relief to hit me.

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