Page 82 of Possessive Vows

Dimitri slams the back hatch closed.

Artur offers me Zoya. I sit her in the same seat as Maksim, closer to the center of the car, and snap the seatbelt around them both while Artur climbs in.

Gunfire continues to pop through the air, but Dimitri leads them away by ducking behind a nearby car.

Artur curses and grabs the back of the front seat as though to move behind the wheel.

“Buckle in and brace an arm across their laps,” I snap and slam the door.

With my mania riding high, I climb in, shut my door, and throw the shifter into reverse.

Nothing matters beyond getting my new family to safety.

That includes Dimitri.

My memories hold no power over me when our future hangs in the balance.

I mash the accelerator, my ass hanging off the front of the seat since whoever sat here last was a giant, then hit the brakes before I ram into the car Dimitri hides behind.

I shift into drive before I punch the horn on the steering and the unlock button on my door again and again until my husband opens the passenger door and throws himself inside. Before he shuts it all the way, I press the gas pedal flush to the floor and drive like I’ve never driven before.

Nothing exists beyond the controls of the car and the immediate area, my desperation narrowing my focus into a razor-sharp tool, eliminating all distractions as I ferry the people I cherish most to safety.

When the traffic disappears and green forests line the streets instead of buildings, I check the street signs to get my bearings and realize I’m driving us to the hospital Serenity transferred me to after I cut myself but before I went to the mental facility.

My full senses return to me in a rush and I grip the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turn white.

Dimitri talks on the phone beside me. The children sit wide-eyed and silent in the back.

My reflection in the rearview mirror looks like something out of a horror movie.

Giorgio’s voice sounds through the speaker. My brain refuses to piece the syllables into words and an odd mix of urgency and relief rolls through me.

“I’m taking them to the hospital near the facility,” I say.

“We figured that out, Cams. You did good,” Serenity says through the speaker.

Her voice only slightly trembles, but it’s enough to break my control. I pull the car off the road and put it in park. When I reach for my door handle, Dimitri stops me.

A car whizzes by.

“Come out this way,so´lnyshka. Stay in the car,moi deti,” he demands.

I follow him on rubbery limbs and lean against the back bumper as I vomit and shake.

He holds my hair back and murmurs comforting words as I expel what didn’t come up the last time I barfed in the street.

I killed a man. Two men.

The first one was in a flurry of fury and pain. I stabbed him for touching Artur.

The second was Feliks. I may not have been the main cause of death, but without my screwdriver ad-libbing, Dimitri would have never taken those shots.

It wasn’t slow or painful enough, but vicious satisfaction spears through me and ends my nausea. I spit and wipe my mouth on the tissue Dimitri offers me.

“Feliks is dead,” I say.

“Da,he is,” he replies.

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