Page 138 of Mountain Daddy

Then he turns to me. Extends his hand.

I take it. Grip firm. A promise between us.

“Take care of them,” he says.

“With my life,” I promise.

He nods. Satisfied. Then heads for the door, pausing with his hand on the knob.

“I won’t be back. Will never bring trouble at your door. I've made peace with the devil to protect heaven,” he says, looking back at me, then Lilly. “Worth every sacrifice.”

And then he's gone.

Lilly's arms slide around my waist. Her head rests against my chest.

“Is it really over?” she asks.

I kiss the top of her head. Breathe in the scent of her. Vanilla. Cinnamon. Home.

“Yes,” I tell her. “It's over.”

And for the first time since I put three bullets in Viktor Kozlov's chest, I believe it.

31

LILLY

Peace feels like a foreign language.

One I’m just starting to learn. Still fumbling through the vowels. Still half-convinced it’s all a lie.

It’s been two weeks since Ivan and Nikolai came back from that meeting with Boris Kozlov. Two weeks of nothing. No gunshots in the distance. No cars trailing us down backroads. No threats veiled behind polite smiles.

Just quiet.

Just mornings with coffee and Nikolai’s bare chest and Chleo’s sleepy yawns.

Just evenings with dinner and cartoons and the soft hum of a life I never thought I’d have.

And now?

Now I’m staring down at a tiny pink plus sign that’s about to blow it all to hell.

Again.

Because apparently, peace isn't enough.

My body wants more.

His baby. Again.

Honestly—I do, too.

I stare at it, sitting on the edge of the bathtub in Nikolai's cabin. Our cabin now.

“Mama!” Chleo shouts from outside the door. “Dad is saying breakfast is ready.”

Dad.

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