Page 61 of Forgotten Vows
“Shit. Breathe.” Gabriella wasn’t one of those women who freaked out and went numb in a crisis.
Luka spoke to someone on the phone, giving orders, but I had no idea what he was saying. Sounds reached me through a filter. I felt like I was stuck behind a veil, an out-of-body experience as I panicked like never before.
Alexsei stopped at the door with Allan only long enough to shout that they were securing the house and double-checking things on site.
“Here.” Luka cradled the phone between his ear and his shoulder, gesturing for Gabriella to hand him the baby who still slept.
As soon as she gave him the baby, she dropped to the floor and reached out for me. “Breathe. Fuck, Raisa. Just breathe. In and out. In. There you go. Out.” Her face was just as stern as her husband’s as she crouched close to me and rubbed my back. “Breathe. Just fucking breathe.” Straight to the point and taking charge to help me through the panic, she braced me with a hand on my back, demonstrating how to breathe.
It was such a simple thing. Inhales and exhales, but as I locked my stare on her, not really hearing or feeling anything else, I watched her lips as she closed them to inhale through her nose then make anOto exhale.
I couldn’t do anything else.
The possibility of Lev being hurt or taken was too much to bear.
I’d come here to avoid this.
This was the very reason I flew from Paris. The only reason I had to rush to Ivan and the Dubinins. To protect Lev, and still, this happened.
As I blinked, feeling my head clearing out from the first clutches of a panic attack, I looked up at Luka. Still holding his baby boy, his phone at his ear, and his mouth moving between scowls and spoken orders, helookedlike the boss. A strong man who wasn’t afraid to tell his wife to let him hold a baby so she could comfort me. A concerned man who wouldn’t hesitate to put men on the case and get answers about Lev.
He might not like me, but he gave a damn enough to want his wife to help me.
He might not welcome me to stay here for good, but he was deeply invested in keeping my son safe.
Those revelations stunned me, and I used them as mental anchors to ride the tide of lingering panic.
This wasnotmy first brush with violence. Unlike Gabriella, I’d grown up in the Mafia lifestyle. I was used to the ever-present threat of danger at every corner. But I’d never felt it so deeply and personally as I had when receiving the news that my son’s school had been invaded.
“The house is secure,” Alexsei said as he returned to the room. He was wearing an earpiece now, and he pressed it as he reported to Luka, who’d just set his phone down.
“They are on the way.”
“They?” I swallowed hard, then cleared my throat.
“Emil is bringing Lev,” Luka replied, carrying Andre out of the office with him.
“Oh, God.” My heart seized all over again.
What about Ivan?
“Wait. Fuck. Luka!” Gabriella scrambled off the floor with me. “Luka! You can’t drop a bomb like that and walk away.”
We raced after him. She didn’t leave my side, determined to be a support.
“What about Ivan?” I shouted ahead.
Luka didn’t answer or stop. Striding down the hall, he moved with an urgency to check on who was pulling in first.
I couldn’t lose Ivan. I’d already lost him once and I refused to go through that again. I just couldn’t. I needed him. Lev needed him. And I knew in the bottom of my heart that Ivan longed for me to make his life complete too.
“Mama!”
The sound of feet pattering quickly over the floor silenced me. I gasped, overjoyed that Lev truly was here and all right. He was safe and sound, sprinting toward me like he always did.A cheerful, mischievous smile was missing on his face. Instead, tears of relief streaked over his cheeks.
He ran to me, launching into my waiting arms, and I hauled him close. Squeezing him tightly, I inhaled one deep breath after another. Willing my heart to slow down with the smell of him infusing me, I closed my eyes and counted my blessings.
But I was far from calm. I was nowhere near relieved. “Where is Ivan?”
