Page 54 of The Russian's Kidnapped Bride
“Where’s he going to stay?” I ask eventually.
“With Elena for now,” he answers, focusing on the road again while he takes a breath and drives through the dark. “At least until his dad secures a flight back here to get him. He’ll be safe with her.”
I nod, looking out the front windshield as I mull over everything that happened tonight. How he caught me completely off-guard.
A few minutes pass before I find myself speaking again. “I didn’t expect that.”
Mikhail glances at me. “Expect what?”
“How you were with him…how you did all of this to help,” I murmur, still trying to come to terms with it. “You were kind.”
He looks over in my direction for a moment longer before turning back again and just barely tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Mercy and kindness are luxuries in my world…but for children, it’s necessary. They deserve better.”
I find myself softening at his words, finding something hidden beneath the surface of his words. Something that seems close to home.
Unable to shake the memories rolling in my mind still, I knew he didn’t have to take the child. He didn’t need to be gentle, either. But he was anyway.
Not only did Mikhail surprise me by bringing me along and exposing me to even more of his world, but he also managed to shift my perception of him, confusing me more than anything else.
He helped the child escape a nightmare, all while killing the man responsible in the same breath. He is both a monster and a protector.
And as much as I want to keep seeing him as a morally skewed man, I can’t ignore the spores of understanding while they settle within me.
I might not be able to make sense of the duality that is Mikhail Lukov, but I can acknowledge that he isn’t a lost cause.
Chapter 18 - Mikhail
The news comes in just after six in the morning.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand, serving as my wake-up call. Somewhat groggy, I push the sleep from my system and answer before the screen can go dark again.
“What’s going on?”
Ivan’s voice comes through, clipped and tight with urgency. An immediate red flag.
“One of our trucks was intercepted before it could finish the route to Buffalo. They took out three of our men and half of the supply. Backup was sent out to retrieve the rest.”
Sitting up, a fresh sheet of ice moves through me. I try to keep my voice hushed. “Nikolaevs?”
“Seems that way,” he murmurs, letting go of a tense breath. “It wasn’t subtle.”
Of course not.
Maxim has never known the meaning of subtle. Every time he does anything, it has to be loud and done in the open like the jackass he is.
And now, after months of managing to bide his time in silence, he’s back making noise all over again. Explosive, dangerous noise.
If someone like him were to end up getting nabbed by the authorities, it would only be a matter of time before he pulled everyone else down with him. That we cannot have.
“Fucking Maxim,” I mutter, running a palm down my face as I get up. “Are the others on the way back?”
As I quietly move across the room, Lily stirs in bed, but her breath stays shallow and even. She’s still asleep.
Good. I don’t need her hearing any of this.
Moving over to the window, I peer through the closed blinds and stare out at the grey sky overhead.
The Nikolaevs have been quiet for too long, only tripping up on a few occasions and putting us back on their trail. We’ve shaken down as many of Maxim’s men as we could, but none of them have squealed on him. Somehow, he has their lips sealed tight.
