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“Kat.” He gently shakes my shoulders once. “Promise me.”
Nik’s dark brown eyes mesmerize me, even as my heart shatters into a million pieces. Unable to deny him anything at this moment, I nod. “I promise.”
With a small smile, Nik kisses my forehead. “Good girl,” he says against my skin—one last time.
My voice wavers as I grab fistfuls of his shirt, unwilling to let him drift even an inch away from me. “Tell me this isn’t goodbye, Nik. Tell me I’ll see you again.”
Nik’s eyes crinkle as he smiles and studies my face, as if trying to commit it to memory. He tenderly caresses my cheek with his left hand, so gentle that I barely feel his touch. “Of course,” he says under his breath. “I told you, remember? Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
The reminder of his passionate promise from not so long ago almost breaks me in half. Because this time, he doesn’t mean it. He can’t mean it. How could he? This is goodbye.
My expression must give my anguish away because Nik’s eyes soften as he comforts me, pulling me back into his arms. “Shh. Don’t cry, milaya. I can’t bear it when you cry. You’re going to unman me.”
“And I can’t bear to lose you.”
“You won’t,” he says, kissing me. “Not now. Not ever. I’m yours until the end of time, Kat.”
I sob against his chest with renewed fervor. “Nik?—”
He cuts me off. “It’s time for you to go, Kat. Go find A.J., and don’t look back, okay? Now come here and give me a kiss.”
Tears stream down my face, and I rise on my toes, touching my lips against Nik’s as I wrap my arms around his neck. I kiss him with the strength of the agony inside me, with the force of all the words that will remain unsaid between us, and with the power of everything I feel for him—all the emotions he has evoked in me from the moment we met, all the yearning and devotion that will plague me until the end of my days.
As our lips meet with urgency, I breathe him in, willing myself to memorize every precious sensation—from the sound of his shaky gasp when our lips touch to the mouthwatering scent of his skin. I don’t ever want to forget the feel of his body against mine and the warmth of his skin under my hands, or the feel of his hair against my fingertips—so different from the roughness of his scruff…
It’s over too soon.
Too soon, Nik pulls away from me, breaking our embrace and untangling our limbs.
Forever wouldn’t have been enough.
Nik’s gaze meets mine one last time. “It’s time, Kat. Go now.” After one last look, he turns away from me to face Dmitri.
Unable to withstand the sight of what is about to unfold, I turn my back to them. The sight of Dmitri restraining Nik is more than I can take without breaking right now. I run outside instead, just like Nik wanted me to do. Before long, I locate his car, with A.J. sitting inside. Not long after that, in a haze, I find myself behind the wheel next to her.
My friend bombards me with a million questions about what happened inside the warehouse, and somehow, I manage to fill her in on the awful turn of events that I witnessed.
“Well,” A.J. says once I’m finished with my story. Minutes or hours might have passed since I escaped the warehouse—I wouldn’t know either way. Time seems impossibly trivial and surreal now that Nik is gone from my life. “Let’s call this Vladmir guy, then. Do you have his number? No? Well, that’s fine. It doesn’t matter. I’m sure I can find it easily enough. Can you hand me my laptop? It’s in the bag I tossed in the backseat.”
Shaking my head, I turn to face her, making my decision. “No,” I say under my breath.
“No?” she asks me with a frown.
“No,” I say with more certainty, handing her the computer as my resolve solidifies. “We are not calling Vladmir. At least not just yet. I need you to do something for me first. Do you think you can track Nik’s phone?”
A.J. gives me a disbelieving look. “Track his phone?”
I nod, waiting for her to grab the laptop from my outstretched hand, but she just glares at me as if I have lost my mind. I can’t blame her. I very well may have. I’d be lying if I said I feel completely sane right now.
“Now, why would you want me to do that, Kat? Not because you mean to go after him, I hope.”
“A.J.—” I say with a sigh.
“Because that would be suicide. And you’re way too smart to go on some crazy kamikaze mission for a guy. Right? Tell me you’re too smart to be this dumb. I’m begging you.”
“I have to save him.”
A.J. sighs. “So, let me make sure I’m getting this right. You and I just got everything we’ve been working towards for the last year. We are finally free of the stronzo and all the other mafia misfortune we’ve encountered along the way. And you want to throw all of that away and get yourself into an even more dangerous situation with even more mafia families to save the bratva’s pakhan? Did I get it right?”
