Page 71 of Wicked Vow

I can feel him struggling, grabbing for me, but Mikhail is advancing on him too. I press the cuffs against his throat, cutting off his air as Mikhail presses the gun to his forehead, his eyes filled with a dark, vicious light.

“Is there anything else you want to say,kotenok?” Mikhail asks, his gaze flicking to me as we hear the last of Erik’s men fall, the gunshots quieting as the warehouse is filled with the hot scent of metal and smoke. “Anything else for him, before I put an end to this?”

I want to say something, but everything I can think of dies on my tongue as I choke him, holding him in place as he squirms and groans, trying to speak past the pressure on his throat. At that moment, I have the overwhelming sense that all I really want is to leave.

I want to be anywhere other than here.

I shake my head, and Mikhail nods.

“Say goodnight, then,sobaka,” he snarls, his voice mocking on the last word–and he pulls the trigger.

I feel Erik’s body jerk backward, feel him slump, feel the life go out of him. The body collapses against me, and I know I should be horrified, but all I feel is relief.

I’m glad that he told me what he’d done in Moscow because now I know it’s done. Without Erik, there’s no more. No one following me, no one stalking me, no one to look in the shadows for.

Well–almost no one.

I look up at Mikhail, shocked, as he bends down to fish through Erik’s pockets for the keys to my cuffs. When he finds them and undoes them, freeing my wrists without a word, I stand up as I rub them, staring at him.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, that faint feeling of betrayal still lingering with me as I look at him. “You promised–”

“And I kept that promise.” Mikhail looks at me tiredly, his face drawn. “Max called me, Natalia. Liam and Connor sent the men with me to rescue you. I haven’t been following you or keeping tabs on you. I did what I said I would.”

“Then how are you here?” I whisper, and he smiles ruefully.

“I came to Boston to earn money to take care of you,” he says quietly. “Levin helped me get work–straight-edge work, security and bouncing at a casino and a club. No more mob business. I wanted to ensure that you and the baby were alright. But I’ve been keeping a distance. This is the first time I’ve seen you since I left your room that night.”

I can hear the wistfulness in his voice as he looks at me and see a softness in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. We’re standing very close, his body nearly touching mine, and I know long before he does it that he’s going to kiss me.

His hand comes up to touch my cheek, brushing against it, and his fingers slide into my hair, his thumb pressing into my jaw as he holds me there for him to press his mouth to mine. I’m too stunned to move, blown away and touched by his devotion to the promise he made me, by the fact that he kept it, and a little guilty that I’d doubted him. I stand there, my mouth parting under his as he kisses me long and deep and slow, and the heat that I’d missed so much unfurls through me, bringing me back to life all over again.

And then he breaks the kiss, stepping back and putting an arm’s length between us.

I move towards him, almost feeling in a daze, but he shakes his head, backing up again.

“You’re not hurt?” he asks, his gaze sweeping over me. “He didn’t hurt you? They didn’t–”

“I’m a little sore, and my wrists hurt–but no.” I bite my lower lip, looking at Mikhail. “I’m not hurt.”

“We should get you back to the estate then. Liam and Connor’s men can take you back–”

“Wait!” I stare at him, startled. “Where are you going? You’re not just going to–”

“Leave?” Mikhail’s mouth twitches up into a half-smile, his expression more tired than I’ve ever seen it. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do,kotenok.”

His gaze holds mine, soft and sad, as he backs away, another step and another, until he’s too far for me to reach him easily. “I made you a promise,” he says quietly. “And I want to prove to you that I’ve changed.”

He swallows hard, his gaze sliding over me once more, as if he’s trying to memorize me. “I’ll see you when the baby is born,kotenok. Just as we agreed.”

And then, before I can even say another word, Mikhail turns on his heel, and he’s gone.

Natalia

Istare after him as he walks away, hardly able to believe what’s happening. I’d doubted him, but he’d kept his promise after all.

And now he’s leaving–to keep it again.

“Ma’am.” One of Liam and Connor’s men is at my elbow, gently guiding me away from Erik’s body, past the carnage of the others, and towards the door. “We need to get you to a hospital, make sure you and the baby are alright. We got a call from Liam–your sister will be there waiting for you.”

---