Page 36 of Tattooed Heart

Talia's eyes soften. “That's how I know he's the one for you, sis. He sees you clearly. All of you. Not just the prickly, stubborn exterior, but everything underneath.”

“Like you do.” I let out a deep breath. “I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time when you first met Aleksandr,” I whisper. “But given the circumstances…”

Talia laughs. “You were awful. You interrogated the poor man like he was on trial for murder.”

“I was protecting you!”

“You accused him of being a mafia hitman.”

“Well, I wasn’t that far off,” I tease, tossing a paper clip at her. “Can you blame me for being protective?”

“No,” she smirks. “Just like I can't blame Aleksandr for being worried when you got involved with his brother.”

This was news to me. “Aleksandr was worried about Dimitri and me?”

“Concernedis the word he used. He knows how much Dimitri has lost. How much pain he's carried.” Talia meets my eyes. “He was afraid you might run when things got complicated. That you wouldn't truly understand the life.”

“And now?”

“Now he knows better.” She smiles.

“We protect what's ours,” I say quietly.

“Always have.” Talia nods. “Which is why I know we're going to get Dimitri out. Because you've claimed him as yours, and God help anyone who tries to take what belongs to Sandy Davis.”

I feel the sting of tears behind my eyes and blink them away. Pregnancy hormones are making me embarrassingly emotional these days.

Talia leans back and exhales. “You know what I think?”

I look up from the laptop. “Do I want to know?”

She grins. “I think Dimitri's in a hell of a lot more danger from you than from Morozov.”

“Good. He should be scared.”

“They all should be,” Talia agrees. “The men who took him have no idea what they've unleashed.”

I can’t help but smile at that. Talia has always believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. Has seen strength in me when all I felt was fear. Looking at the mountain of evidence we accumulated, I feel that strength flowing through me like a current.

I save the files and close the laptop. My body is stiff, my lower back aches, and my eyes are dry from staring at the screen for hours. But I feel like I can breathe for the first time in days.

I found something real. And tomorrow, I'll give it to Peter. Just one more nail in the coffin of the man who framed Dimitri.

As we walk out of the library together, Talia hooks her arm through mine. “You know what's funny?”

“What?”

“After all those years of us against the world, we somehow found men who don't try to come between us,” Talia grins.

“We got lucky,” I admit.

“No.” Talia stops in the hallway, turning to face me. “Luck had nothing to do with it. We chose well because we know what matters. Because we learned the hard way what family really means.”

I pull her into a hug, feeling the familiar curve of her shoulder under my cheek. I breathe in her scent, warm and sweet. She is my sister, my constant, the only person who never left me.

She gives my arm a quick squeeze. “Let's finish this.”

And just like that, we walk back into the fire together. Just as we always have and always will.

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