Page 58 of Defiant Devotion

Sonya nodded. “But no more.” She smiled at Irina and Vik. “I’m glad you found each other.”

“And I’m glad you helped Eva and Lev escape,” Oleg said as Lev wheeled him down the hallway.

“Wait. What?” Sonya volleyed her gaze among all of them.

In the car, Irina explained more—of how she’d helped Eva and Lev escape when the Petrov and Ilyin families worked together to kill Lev. Sonya and Irina sat in the back and Vik drove us home. As I listened in, I realized Sonya would need significant time to let this all settle in. This was a condensed rush of information to take in.

Before we were halfway to the Baranov mansion, though, Vik swerved sharply.

“Fuck. Hold on!”

Cars sped past us, zooming on both sides of the SUV we were in. Multiple cars drove alongside us, and all of them shot at us.

Hunching down, I got my gun out and ready, but I didn’t hesitate to glance back at Sonya.

She was alert, with a furrowed brow as she crouched over in the backseat. Both she and Irina hunkered down, trying to cover Oleg in the middle.

As Vik tried to stay on the road, speeding and swerving to avoid the other cars smacking into us, other Baranov cars fired back.

Ahead of us, Lev’s SUV braked hard. The second he stopped, both he and Rurik leaned out to fire nonstop at the black car that sideswiped us.

Tires squealed as Vik tried not to go off the road. He didn’t succeed. As the SUV tilted and spun, then canted to the side, we all held our breath and gripped the closest hand hold.

“Stay down,” Vik ordered.

“Which motherfuckers are trying to kill me now?” Oleg grumped. “I’m getting sick of this shit.” He remained lodged between Sonya and Irina as both women tried to cover him. In the backseat, they would be hard targets to hit.

The second the SUV slammed back down onto all four tires, Vik and I tried to force our doors open and shoot.

“Sonya!” I reached back, handing her a gun, just in case. Already, Petrovs were rushing at our SUV despite the barrage of gunfire from Lev and Rurik shooting at them from their stopped car.

She nodded, taking the gun and holding it up at the window, prepared in case anyone tried to open the door. No shotspenetrated the bullet-proof SUV, but that didn’t mean the door couldn’t be forced open with the damage from its crash.

“This ends now,” Irina swore.

She shoved her door open, slamming it against the Petrov man trying to open it. Her action could’ve put Oleg at risk, but Sonya urged him to duck down further.

Irina exited the car shooting, her arms steady as she killed one man after the other. Vik managed to break his damaged door open too, and he joined her on the pavement, firing nonstop.

It was Igor’s doing, and I heard the moment Irina found him among the carnage.

“Die,” she screamed. “Die and know your death is at my hands”—shot—“that it is me killing you”—shot—“and that you will never control my life again”—shot—“that you will never make my brother suffer ever again!” A final shot accompanied the end of her tirade.

If I hadn’t witnessed it, I might not have believed it. But itwasdone, just like she’d vowed. Irina had killed Igor Petrov. The daughter of the rival family had found him hiding behind a car, letting his men do the dirty work for him. Shot by shot, all of them aimed at his chest and the last one at his head, she’d killed her father.

That was one enemy out of the way. One chore crossed off the list of ensuring Sonya would be safe.

As Irina dropped her arm, her shoulders sagged and she heaved out a deep exhale.

She’d killed him. At last, she’d made good on her promise to end him, and she’d done so in the name of protecting the Baranovs.

“Irina.” Vik approached her, letting the rest of the Baranov men stabilize the area and make sure no other Petrovs still lived from the shootout.

Vik continued toward his woman, and I stayed by the car. Checking on both Oleg and Sonya, I inventoried them carefully.

Blood marred Sonya’s brow. I immediately sought her eyes, worried, and Oleg was concerned as well. He looked stable, no worse for the wear.

“I just bumped my head,” Sonya said.

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