Page 44 of Defiant Devotion

“Wait. How did you hear about Boris dying? That happened recently. If you weren’t told anything in years?—”

“I overheard the guards outside my room speaking. That’s why I had to escape. I can’t let my family be diminished to nothing. I can’t let Eva be vulnerable and alone without anyone to protect her. My mother was killed years ago. Uncle Oleg has been gone for so long too. It’s just me trying to get back to Eva and…”

He’d started to slowly shake his head in the middle of my ramble.

“What?” I asked, my heart racing. Deep down in my gut, I just knew he was about to say something that would shock me and rattle me further than I already was. The moment had come. I’dfinallyget some intel about what remained of the Baranov legacy.

“That’s not true.”

“What isn’t?” I asked, daring to hope.

“Boris died of a stroke, they think. A natural cause. He was not killed by another.”

“Can anyone confirm that?” I asked. My father was a useless alcoholic, but I assumed he’d been forced to clean up after Uncle Oleg died. Wanting the boss of the Baranovs dead would be a prime goal for the Petrovs or Ilyins, or any other syndicated crime organization.

“No one knows what happened to your mother, but?—”

It was my turn to shake my head. I did so sadly, lowering my gaze. “Iknow. I can confirm that she was killed. She was taken with me, raped and abused countless times. When they wanted to—” I swallowed, forcing my throat to work past the cloggedemotions threatening to choke me. “They wanted to rape me, even though I had to remain pure. Not to take my virginity but…”

He cursed, pulling me into a hug and keeping me in a crushing hug. The injuries from the beating ached more under his tight hold, but it also secured me. I closed my eyes and let the familiarity of his hard body soothe my soul.

“They wanted to rape me there. To fuck my ass. She fought them, begging them not to hurt me at all. So they raped her in my place, to teach her a lesson. To teach me a lesson. While they did it, she took a knife off them and got it to me, and I attacked.”

His big hand roved up and down my back, comforting me. Years of therapy would help me get over this trauma, but right now, like this, I felt freer to open up to this man.

“I nearly killed one. But they didn’t retaliate and hurt me. They forced me to watch them kill her. And defile her more. It got the attention of the guards’ supervisor, though, and because he knew how much I was worth, he prevented anyone from trying to rape me in any way after that. But I saw with my own eyes the moment my mother died, trying to protect me.”

We stood, steaming in the shower with the silence surrounding us. If only the water could rinse away my memories of that fateful day years ago.

“You said that wasn’t true,” I reminded him once I felt calmer and steadier to resume our conversation again. “That Eva isn’t alone.”

“Because she’s not. Oleg lives.”

I jerked up to face him. “He does?”

He furrowed his brow again. “Why would you think otherwise?”

“Again, because I heard the guards talking. Maybe I didn’t get the whole story, but they seemed to make it sound like Oleg had been killed.”

“No. He’s alive. Well, yeah, he’s alive.”

“Huh?” His doubt about stating that bothered me. “Is he or isn’t he?”

“Yes, he’s alive, but he’s suffered a heart attack recently. He’s been stressed looking foryou, apparently. There have been mixed feelings within your family about whether you lived, had been killed, or had run away when you disappeared, but?—”

“Run away?” I gaped at him. “I would never. I have never lost hope that I could return to my family.”

He kissed my brow. “Lev hired me to kill someone, but when I mentioned to him what I’d heard about you and the plans to bring down the Baranov name, he said he would hire me to find youafterI finished my hit. Oleg had been searching for you for years to no avail, and they have not given up hope, even while Oleg is unable to lead.”

I blinked, stunned and overwhelmed by all this news. I would need a lot more time to digest all of this, but I concentrated on this new hope and joy blooming in my chest.

“Uncle Oleg is alive,” I repeated.

It was surreal to be able to think that, let alone say it. Adjusting all the visions I had of my uncle being gone would take time, but I wanted to welcome this shocking twist.

Alive! Not dead!

“He is alive. He’s currently in a coma and under constant care, but his prognosis is positive.”

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