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“I promise,” Leonid whispers, gently pulling away. His fingers linger on my chin; his hot breath washes against my cheek. I just want to sink into him and forget about everything else.
But when he lets me go and walks away, eventually disappearing up the stairs, I don’t feel as cold or as alone as I did when I first knew he was leaving.
And it’s not just the impossible book tucked under my arm, or the sentiment behind it.
It’s the fact that when Leonid promised to return, I believed him. Without a doubt.
I trust him.
Prince of assassins. Twisted lover. My enemy.
Leonid Barinov.
He’s capable of love… and he’s making me believe that I might be too.
25
Leo
Everything is in place.
All I need to do is give Maksim the order, and it’s on.
Still, I wait for a moment longer. Usually, it’s my body that tells me when to strike. My mind can set up everything just right, but if I don’t listen to my instincts, everything falls apart.
Luckily, it seems as though I’ve been turned right side up just in time for this shit. Maybe it’s just that I’ve put an entire country between Sophia and me. Or maybe it’s that when I left her last night, she made me promise that I’d come back. She wants me back.
Fucking hell.
That final kiss we shared…
It was like being pulled out of some murky water by my ankles. Finally, I could breathe again—and I hadn’t even known that I was drowning until my airways were cleared.
Whatever really happened in that dusty basement, after I bit the bullet and gave Sophia the book that not even Valentina has seen since our childhood, it sparked something in me. Something that focused the blurriness Sophia causes in my mind.
Something that made me turn back into the man I know I should be.
A man who could tear apart the Greeks without hesitation… but only if he needs to.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to slip in and out of this re-enforced vineyard mansion with only a few casualties. The men I must kill have already been picked. All of the rest should be distracted by Maksim’s diversion.
One final deep breath and I know it’s time.
All it takes is for me to hit a single button on my phone, and the plan is put into action.
Ten seconds after that, a massive explosion lights up the night sky, just over the rounded hills on the horizon. It looks like a flash sunrise, and it shakes the ground like a tepid earthquake.
Really, the Greek shouldn’t be too concerned. This is California, after all. The ground here shakes often and they’ve fortified Nolan’s old mansion enough that it could probably survive the apocalypse.
But there are weak spots, and there are weak men who guard those weak spots. When they’re alone, I’ll introduce myself to them.
Slowly, I watch as the Greeks guarding the side door convene and decide on who’s going to go investigate the explosion. Out of the ten keeping watch over this area, six decide to go investigate. The other four spread out to make up for the ground their comrades leave behind.
Fools.
I only wait for the first car to start, then I slip down the hill I was watching the action from and start to run through the darkness, weapon drawn.
The first damned soul I come across hardly gets time to realize he’s dead before I cut his throat wide open.
