Page 73 of Bratva Bride

“Lucian…Lucian.” I ran my hands over his tiny body, looking for any sign of injury. “Are you okay?”

He nodded his head. “I’m f-fine,” he stuttered.

Anger pulsed through me at the look of fear on his face, at the sight of blood on him.

“We need to get him out of here!” I hissed, looking at Aleksandr.

He scanned the area, looking for the best route out of the chaos. I saw Alessandro and Vincenzo fending off several attackers, their bodies placed firmly in front of Isabella, protecting her. Alessandro saw us, saw Lucian in Aleksandr’s arms and tried moving towards us, but his attackers kept preventing him from advancing.

“There.” I pointed to them. “Give him to me. You’re better to defend.”

He nodded, handing Lucian over. I grunted and adjusted his weight evenly. He sure was heavy for a nine-year-old. He wrapped his arms around my neck and legs around my torso as Aleksandr took point.

“Stay close.”

I hugged Lucian closer to my body, determined to do everything I could to protect him. People ran all around us. Some just trying to find a safe place to hold up until it was all over, some trying to fight our attackers. The pure mayhem was indescribable.

Relief flashed over Alessandro’s face when he caught sight of Lucian and I slowly making our way over to him.

Everything’s going to be okay, Lucian. I won’t let anything happen to you.

We stayed low, manoeuvring around the broken furniture and dead bodies as quickly as we could.

Suddenly, we were falling. Everything happened so quickly. Too quickly. My brain was slow to process what was going on as Lucian and I fell to the ground. At the very last second, I managed to twist my body so I took the brunt of the fall, with Lucian landing on top of me.

Something squeezed my ankle and I looked down to see a man who I had presumed dead gripping my ankle ferociously.

Fuck!

He started scrambling up my body and before I could even think about what I was doing, I gripped Lucian and flung his body over my head and out of the way just before the man climbed on top of me completely.

His hands wrapped around my throat instantly, applying an unbelievable amount of pressure.

I struggled, punching him as hard as I could in the abdomen, but he barely flinched. My vision started to blur, darkness slowly crept in as I pounded at his chest over and over again. But it was no use. He was too big, too strong. He had caught me by surprise and now I was paying the price.

My head spun as I tried gasping for breath, my fingers clawing at his hands uselessly.

This is it. This is how I’m going to die.

My eyes started to droop, life literally draining out of me and all I could do was lie there and take it. Triumph flashed in his dark eyes when he realised I had given up, that there was no fight left in me.

I was so far gone my brain barely registered Lucian’s war cry as he came running towards us, knife raised into the air. My attacker was too interested in watching the life drain from my eyes to notice. By the time he did, it was too late.

Lucian rammed the knife into the man’s throat with a grunt, blood spurting out of the wound and all over his little suit. Lucian growled, baring his teeth like an animal as he shoved the blade in deeper.

The man’s wide eyes shifted to Lucian, bewildered as he let go of my throat and gripped his own. A rush of air entered my lungs and I took a deep breath in, savouring the ability to fucking breathe again.

Lucian used the full force of his body to ram into my attacker, pushing him off me. The man tumbled to the ground, gurgling and choking on his own blood before he went completely still.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched his eyes close forever. Lucian put his little hands on mine and tried to help me stand.

“Are you okay, new big sister?” he asked, his hands and voice trembling.

Without hesitating, I threw my arms around him and wrapped him up into a tight bear hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I peppered his face with kisses, loving the sound of his laughter as he tried to squirm away from my affection.

My eyes found Aleksandr just as he snapped a man’s neck and the body fell lifelessly to the ground. He stood still, taking several deep breaths, his eyes burning with rage before making his way over to Lucian and I. Five bodies lay at his feet, each one as dead and broken as the next.

So, that’s why he didn’t come to my rescue. The fuckers had thrown five men at him - and they still lost.

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