Page 162 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

I get to my feet and I’m about to charge out of the closet when Cillian grabs me again.

His face is solemn. “Artem… we may have to leave her. Budimir won’t hurt an innocent woman.”

I look over my shoulder and glare at him. “She’s my wife, Cillian. I’m not leaving her.”

“Artem—”

“She’s fucking pregnant!” I yell, the words ripping from me before I can stop them.

Cillian looks at me in shock. There’s two seconds of silence and then his hand falls from my shoulder.

“Pregnant,” he says with a look of amazement in his eyes. “Not how I expected you to ask me, but yes, I’ll be the godfather.”

In spite of everything, I laugh.

This fucking idiot is my best friend?

There’s no one else in the universe I’d rather have at my side in this war.

“Come on, brother,” he says to me with a grim set in his jaw. “Let’s go find your woman.”

45

Artem

I peer out into the clinic hallway. The coast is clear.

Carefully, the two of us step out. Cillian starts to head back towards Esme’s room, but I grab him.

“They said she went out the window,” I point out. “That means she’s outside somewhere.”

“Then she could be anywhere, Artem.”

“She can’t have gotten far. She’s been laid up in a hospital bed and sedated. She’s going to be disoriented and weak. That’s going to slow her pace.”

I have no idea if that is true or not, but I’m counting on it working in my favor. Every time I think of Budimir getting to Esme before me, my stomach turns to black bile.

That is not a fucking option.

“But you’re right about one thing,” I continue.

“I’m right about everything,” Cillian jokes with a hollow laugh. “Which thing in particular are you talking about now?”

“We don’t know which way she went. So we need to split up. Cover more ground. You get us ready to escape the city. I’ll find Esme.”

He shakes his head at once, just like I knew he would. “No way. We’re sticking together.”

“Not this time, brother.”

“You can’t do this alone,” Cillian says.

“It’s better that I do,” I reply. “She’s my wife, and in any case, it makes more sense. I’m going to look less suspicious walking around by myself.”

Cillian narrows his eyes at me. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Shit,I’darrest you on suspicion of something, and I’m the best friend you’ve got.”

If the situation weren’t so fucking heightened, I might have smiled. “Don’t worry about me,” I say. “I can handle myself.”

Cillian grumbles in frustration, but he knows I’m right. The sooner we find Esme, the sooner we can escape Budimir’s trap. Every second he spends arguing with me could be the difference between life and death.

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