Page 94 of Dark Deviant

Itrail my fingers down the side of Larysa’s pale face, my brain assaulted by images dredging up the worst case of déjà vu imaginable.

My mom, lying in a pool of blood outside Tori’s wedding reception.

Larysa, lying in the same position at the airfield, her own body stained red because of other peoples’ sins.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Hadeon stands in the hospital room next to me, his injured arm in a sling. “You did everything you could to save her.”

“I could have stopped it back at the concert hall.” My lips twist, the memory of Larysa’s anguished expression branded into my brain.

“And if you did that, you’d have gotten your own ass popped. Adrian would still be on the loose with my fucking asshat of an uncle. This was the only way. And trust me, I think you’re a dickhead, so if I really thought you messed up, I’d tell you.”

Larysa’s eyes flutter open. She blinks fast.

“Hades…” she whispers, her head moving in her brother’s direction.

My heart plummets into my shoes when she says his name and not mine.

“You’re still alive.” She flashes a small smile before her face wrenches in pain. She looks down at the sling hung over her left shoulder. “My whole side is killing me.”

“Adrian clipped you in the shoulder. But it didn’t do much damage. No surgery. If you’d have kept going straight, that bullet might have killed you.” I inject myself into their exchange because I need her to look at me, to see what lies in the depths of her gaze, to know there’s a future for us because today proved the one thing I’ve been battling against for the past week…my growing feelings for Larysa.

Almost losing her was a harsh wake-up call. I didn’t go to that airfield to kill Adrian. I went there to kill anyone who was going to try and take her from me.

I can’t live without Larysa in my life. And while I sure as hell don’t deserve her, I want more than anything to be with her, to be a real family. But after a week of toying with her feelings and giving her the brush-off when things got too real for me to handle, I might have lost my chance.

She turns her head toward me. A deep chill sets into my bones. “And you ran right into the path of those bullets.”

“Hadeon was covering me.” I cautiously graze the side of her good arm, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice when she doesn’t reach for my hand.

“I can’t believe all of this. Is Petro okay?” A look of panic settles into her pale face.

“He’s fine. Couple of broken ribs, some bruises. No internal bleeding, though. He’s getting patched up now. But Gigi…” His voice trails off.

“I know.” Larysa’s voice cracks.

“I’m gonna go check on Petro.” Hadeon points a thumb in my direction. “This guy saved our asses today, Rysa. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. He took out all of those guys at the airfield, including Isai. We’d all be dead if it wasn’t for him.”

My eyes flicker toward Larysa’s. She stares at me, her eyes, normally bright, are dull and cold.

An icy hand slithers around my heart and squeezes.

Hadeon claps me on the shoulder. “Thanks.” Then he backs away with a final wave.

“I can’t believe everything that happened today.” She picks at the edge of the blue hospital blanket covering her. “When we got to the airfield, I thought it was over.”

“I tried to get there as fast as I could. I wasn’t gonna let them take you on that plane.”

She tilts her head up at me. “The last thing I remember before I hit my head was you pushing me down.”

“You slammed into the ground pretty hard. That’s how you got the concussion.”

Larysa brings a hand to the back of her head, wincing as she grazes the bandage wrapped around her skull. “My uncle was responsible for all of this. He came down here on this Miami trip to set us all up. He had our families pitted against each other to take the focus off of himself.” She lets out a deep sigh. “How did I not see any of it? And how could he have put his whole family in danger like that? Like we didn’t matter at all?”

“Don’t beat yourself up. I’ve been through the same thing with my brother Dima. He didn’t care who he hurt. His focus was on power, money, and whatever else he could take from us.” My lips twist. “But your uncle didn’t win. You did.”

“He wanted to take me to the Bahamas, to get access to a safety deposit box my dad opened before he died. He somehow knew I was the only one with access.” She settles back against the pillows. “I remember things Tato told me that day we went to the bank. He wasn’t specific, but now I know the truth. He suspected my uncle was a traitor. Whatever he put in that box was supposed to protect us from Isai. He also told me there were other security measures needed to access the box — other codes that would be revealed when the time was right.”

“Codes?”

---