Page 61 of Chained Fate
No.No, no, no!Howling like a banshee, I claw at Valery’s face, the fierceness of my attack shocking him into loosening his grip on me just enough that I manage to push away and fall onto my ass.Ignoring the jolt of pain, I bounce to my feet and propel myself toward the flames.My feet crunch on melting snow and bits of burning plaster as a single thought cycles through my mind.
Alexei.
I have to find him.
I have to save him.
Arms like a steel beam wrap around my waist, bringing me to a halt mid-sprint.Shrieking, I try to turn around so I can claw at the face of my captor, but it’s Konstantin who has me now and he’s wise enough not to repeat Valery’s mistakes.All I can do is kick backward and scream as he drags me toward the fence and the trees, away from the burning ruins of the place that has been my home for the past two months.
Away from the man I love more than life itself.
A man who may already be dead, killed because of me… because I never managed to convince my brothers that he is what I want—that he is all I’ve ever wanted, even if I didn’t always know it.
“Alina, stop it!You’ll hurt yourself.”
It’s Valery’s voice, tense and sharp.His words barely register through the maelstrom of terror and anguish swirling inside me.All I’m cognizant of is the desperate need to get away and run back into our fortress of a mansion that was supposed to be impenetrable to any enemy yet is burning down before my eyes.And Alexei… Oh god, if he survived the blast, he may be trapped inside, injured and burning alive.
The shriek that tears from my throat is inhuman, a sound of primal rage and torment.Calling on every bit of skill and knowledge I possess, I fight harder than I ever have in my life.I fight like the man holding me is my hated enemy instead of my favorite brother.Like he’s my father trying to kill my mother all over again.
If I had a knife, I would stab Konstantin without a second thought.But I don’t, so I just kick and punch, screaming and twisting, clawing and scratching, bucking and headbutting—all to no avail.Konstantin is a head taller and forty kilos heavier, pure muscle while I still haven’t recovered my full strength.
Relentlessly, he drags me away, and all I can do is scream in helpless fury and anguish as I watch the fire devour the wreckage of my life.
Chapter31
Alexei
Iwait until they’re by the fence before I give the signal to my guards.In a flash, we emerge from the underground tunnels into the cover of the trees and surround my wife and her brothers.The rest of the Molotov assault crew have already been neutralized, knocked out by a neurotoxic gas.
I don’t know what I expected from Alina—maybe some sign of guilt or disappointment that her brothers’ elaborate rescue plan failed?—but at the sight of me, she screams my name and begins fighting Konstantin’s hold so hard I’m afraid she’ll injure herself.
“Let her go!”I aim my M16 at Valery, who’s standing a meter away from them, amber eyes narrowed.“Now,” I add harshly, my finger tightening on the trigger when Konstantin doesn’t obey.
“No!”Alina struggles harder.“Alexei, don’t!”
She breaks free and launches herself at me.I catch her with my free arm and cage her tightly against my side.Despite my fury at her betrayal, something inside me softens at the feel of her slender body pressed against me, at the sweet, delicate scent of her that’s now as familiar to me as the way she looks first thing in the morning, all soft and sleepy, jade eyes hazy and filled with warmth as she whispers, “I love you.”
Deceptivewarmth,deceptivewords, I remind myself, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
Liar or not, I still want her, still crave her, still need her more than food, water, or air.
She’s mine, and she’ll always be mine, no matter how hard she tries to fight it.
She’s shaking, I can feel it, and I don’t think it’s just from the cold.Her distress is unbearable to me.I gesture at my men, and they step in front of us, further separating us from her brothers, both of whom are glaring at me with unconcealed hatred.
Once I’m sure the Molotovs are no threat, I drop my weapon and pull Alina fully into my embrace, wanting to console her, even though her tears are most likely from the disappointment that her escape plan failed.Except she wraps her arms around me and squeezes so hard my ribs hurt, her face pressing against my shoulder as sobs rack her body.“I th-thought—” She’s crying so hard she seems unable to get the words out.“I thought you were… dead.In the explosion.Or… or burning alive.”
She’s hyperventilating, and to my shock, I realize she’s melting down.Over what could’ve happened tome.
This isn’t an act.Nobody is that good at acting.
Except she almost had me convinced before, almost had me trusting that she loved me, that the harmony between us for the past two months was real.I was already letting go of my doubts when my hackers alerted me to a subtle inconsistency in the camera feeds from the Geneva police station, and I realized the whole Birgit thing was a setup.
Alina’s brothers—likely with her participation—invented the crisis in order to focus my attention elsewhere while they finally launched their long-awaited “rescue” operation.An operation that successfully bypassed all of my security measures except one.
The moment I learned of their deception, I activated Plan C, a failsafe protocol that no one, not even my guards, knew about.
As our cameras fed us fake images and the Molotovs’ stealth robots planted explosives, my men and I disappeared deep underground while tiny gas grenades inside the fence went off, knocking out the Molotovs’ support team, so when Alina’s brothers arrived with their stolen prize in tow, there was no one there to assist in their getaway.
