Page 96 of Lethal Alliance

“Change the flight plan to London. Contact Vera, Yuri’s wife. Her London house is just as safe as my penthouse. I did the security myself when the children stayed there. Contact our London people, have them clear the house immediately, then get our own team out there. Once in London, Rosa gets her own dedicated guard. And she doesn’t speak to a single fucking soul I don’t personally clear from this moment on.”

“Copy that, boss.” Bryce is already on his phone.

Darya squeezes my hand reassuringly as I punch out Pavel’s number. He answers on the first ring. “Boss.”

I explain the situation briefly. “I don’t want their arrival in London to make the slightest fucking blip on anyone’s radar. That means customs, air control—any damn thing. I don’t give a fuck who you have to hack, bribe, or kill to make that happen. From Zurich, Darya’s jet is invisible. You got it?”

“Got it, boss.”

“Let me know when it’s done.” I press end on the call, adrenaline coursing through my body. Bryce is on the phone in the other corner of the limo.

I turn to Darya. Her eyes are wide and pained, her body stiff with tension, and her tremulous smile breaks my fucking heart. I touch her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “You did the right thing, Roman. Even if Rosa means well, Alexei...” Her voice breaks off, and she shakes her head. “You did the right thing.”

I raise her hand and press my lips to it, holding them there for a long time, just inhaling the sweet scent of her, the silk comfort of her skin against mine. Right now I need her nearness like a dying man needs water.

“Vera isn’t the best company,” I say as we enter the airport gates, “but I’ll make sure she stays out of your way. I don’t need to warn you not to speak about any of this to her.”

Darya nods, her eyes not leaving mine. “Roman—I want to talk to your mother. She might know something that can help us. Help you.”

When I don’t answer, she leans into me, her lips grazing my cheek. “I know you don’t trust her. Neither do I, not until this is over. But if there’s anything at all that she knows and we don’t—surely we should find out?”

I don’t like the idea of Darya anywhere near Rosa. I’m still haunted by how close she came to being in Alexei’s hands in Zurich. “Do you remember when you told me about your brother’s letter? You said he gave you an address in Zurich.”

She nods.

“My mother was the contact you were meant to meet.”

Her hand flies to her mouth, her eyes widening as the implication settles in. “Oh, God.”

I nod grimly. “Talk to her if you like. I won’t stop you. But you need to be fucking careful, Darya. There’ll be time after all this is over to work out who is and isn’t innocent, who knew what. But for now, until we have the girls back, I don’t trust anyone. Not even when they’re under lock and key in my own house.”

She’s already nodding. “I’ll be careful, I promise.” Her brow crinkles. “What about Fedorov? Do you think I should ask her about him?”

“No.” I answer immediately. “I don’t want anyone outside our immediate circle so much as hearing that fucker’s name, let alone that we’re coming for him.”

“I understand.”

The limo slows to a halt beside the plane. Bryce exits, diplomatically leaving us alone. Darya looks up at me, her eyes wide and luminous. “This is it, isn’t it,” she says quietly. “The last time I see you before you do this.”

“Yes.” I pull her onto my lap, desperate to feel her close. I’ve been dreading this, the moment before we part. Dreading the questions I don’t want to answer and the emotions I can’t handle.

But instead of questions or emotions, Darya just takes my face in her hands and kisses me.

Fire.

Her mouth is hot and fierce and says more than any words ever could. She puts into that kiss every night we’ve spent together, all the love and pain and life we’ve somehow found in these past months. Her kiss is comfort and savage force, a surge of energy through my body that I know is meant to carry me into war.

And I take it. I take every moment of it, thrusting the sweet heat of her into my every cell.

When she finally pulls away, the knotted tension in my body has been transformed, changed to steady, sure purpose, honed and fierce as any ancient blade.

“Go,pakhan,” she whispers, her eyes holding mine as her hands hold my face. “Go and get our babies back.”

31

DARYA

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