“But don’t – don’t – shoot anywhere near my queen. She’s the goddess in the chef’s whites.”
“Goddess?” I whisper, somehow able to smile even now, when we may very well be walking to our deaths.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” he growls. “You’re heaven made flesh. You know that. Is there any chance I’m going to convince you to stay behind, Anna? You shouldn’t go out there.”
“I heard what he said. If we don’t both go, he’ll kill Rocky.”
Artem heaves a sigh, his jaws tight, his eyes brimming with a hundred unsaid things. “He might anyway.”
“No,” I snap. “I won’t let him. We won’t let him. Rocky is our first child. And we’re—Jesus, Artem, we’re the fucking Bratva king and queen. That has to count for something. We can do this.”
He takes my hand and squeezes it in support. “You’re right,” he says with passion. “But if fighting starts, you get yourself out of the way. Get yourself to safety. Don’t worry about me. Get Rocky and get out of there.”
I laugh, but without humor, a hollow sound.
“Do you really think I’ll be able to do that?” I ask him.
“You have to,” he says, both of us walking quickly now, almost at the end of the hallway, at the fire escape that will take us onto the street. “If you don’t, I won’t be able to focus on what I need to do.”
“Oh,” I say. “Then … yeah. Okay. I can’t believe this is happening. How long do you think we have now?”
“Maybe two minutes. Are you sure you won’t stay behind?”
“I’m sure,” I say firmly. “I’m tired of running, Artem. I’m tired of living in fear all the time. And, well, there’s an innocent dog that’s going to be killed if I don’t go out there. It’s hardly rocket science, is it? I have to go.”
A smile touches Artem’s lips, briefly, a smile, not a smirk.
“Okay,” he growls, the smile slipping, sounding none too happy about it. “Then let’s fucking go.”
As we walk onto the street, Artem stands in front of me, his shoulders wide.
The bulletproof vest feels bulky under the chef’s jacket, but Artem made me change into it just before we emerged onto the street, four of his men appearing from the shadows like helpers at a play, assisting us with the vests and then helping us get our clothes back on over them.
All in under a minute.
I look up and down the street, dark now with the sun having set, the only light coming from the dim streetlamps. Streetlamps, it seems, that are darker than usual. I glance up and see that somebody has tied fabric around them, dimming them, and at both ends of the road roadblocks have been put up, diverting traffic and pedestrians.
Artem strides forward, being careful to keep himself near me as a shield at all times.
I can sense the violence thrumming beneath the surface of his movements, his animal capability just waiting to be unleashed.
“Enough hiding,” he growls, glancing across the street to the eaves of a building.
To me, it just looks like darkness. But then I see the white of eyes and a smile, and Emilio walks out, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Behind him, seven men emerge, all of them with the same vicious smirks on their faces, nothing like Artem’s.
There’s nothing good about the way these men bare their teeth.
They look like torturers about to unveil their tools.
My heart skips when I see Rocky tied to a streetlamp behind them, a muzzle over his mouth, the terrier straining at the rope as he spots us and tries to bound over.
Artem moves his hand back, subtly guiding me so that I don’t sprint forward to the dog.
“You overpaid for her,” Emilio says proudly. “I was going to give her to you as a gift.”
“Yeah,” Artem sighs. “I guessed as much. That just proves how much of a clueless amateur you are, Emilio, that you thought giving me such a gift would make me like you. I think it’s time you left this city. In fact, I think it’s time I gave you over to the police and let them lock you up for the rest of your worthless fucking life. The files I have on you, my friend, they’d make Satan blush.”
“You’d … work with the police against me?”
“Yes,” Artem says, chin lifted high.
My pride for him swells to even greater proportions, something I thought impossible.
“You should know that if my men hear a single gunshot, they’re going to come out here and slaughter you all. You see, Emilio, your little game has achieved nothing.”
“No,” Emilio whines. “You’re going to come with me. Both of you.”
I laugh bitterly. “Are you insane, Emilio?” I snap. “I think maybe you might be. Either that or just plain fucking stupid. God, you look pathetic right now, using a dog like this. You know, I was scared of you before the auction? I had nightmares about you? Now I just think you look like a pathetic little man.”