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The proud way Nik carries himself almost hides the desolate look on his face, but I know him better than that. Even under the abysmal lighting, it’s easy to tell he has given up hope.
I glance around the room, searching, until I find A.J. standing across the bank’s lobby from me. With a slight nod to her, I move through the darkness in Nik’s direction. From the corner of my eye, I see A.J. shifting into position.
Dmitri pulls Nik along through the group of men, who exchange uneasy glances with each other. Some even whisper words too soft for my ears to catch.
The stronzo grins widely as he pulls out a shiny revolver from the inside pocket of his bespoke suit jacket.
Nik knew this fate awaited him when he surrendered to Dmitri, and he still went through with it because he wanted to save me.
Dmitri maneuvers Nik into the center of the semicircle until they stand under the spotlight. Quite literally. My former friend stands behind Nik, and they both turn to face the stronzo.
One look at Nik’s expression of resignation, and my heart shatters for the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours.
My eyes meet A.J.’s again, and she nods, giving me the sign I was waiting for just as the Italian boss smirks at Nik. “Don Stefanovich. Kneel before me.”
Not in this lifetime.
A.J. kills the overhead lights while triggering the old building’s fire alarm and sprinklers. On cue, the ear-splitting sound of police sirens echoes outside, and I fire my gun up in the air. It’s the same pistol Nik gave me all those nights ago. On my way here, I found it in his glove box and thought it would add a poetic touch to this daring rescue.
Chaos, of course, ensues.
More gunshots follow, and my stomach churns as I anxiously hope for the best. It was clear from the start that this plan would require vast amounts of luck to work out. I can do nothing but hope that A.J., Nik, and I are not the target of a stray bullet.
Fortunately, my eyes adjust to the darkness in an instant, so I hasten to reach Nik, staying as close to the ground as possible. He is staring straight ahead, likely stunned by the cacophony of sounds and the sudden darkness A.J. unleashed upon us.
As I close the distance between the two of us, my gaze lingers on him, handcuffed and covered in gashes with his fine clothes sullied and torn.
Nik is so much better than these men. He has an undeniable, innate nobility about him that the others could never hope to achieve. Whatever lousy deeds my Russian may have committed throughout his years in the bratva, I have no doubts he had good, justifiable reasons for them.
I exhale with relief once I’m right behind him, touching his shoulder lightly. “Nik.”
He stiffens, straining against his restraints. He swiftly turns to face me, and something like pure joy crosses his expression once his eyes land on me.
Almost instantly, that emotion and expression are followed by one I’m too familiar with. Nik makes no effort to disguise his unmistakable rage. As I could’ve guessed, he isn’t thrilled that I’m risking myself to rescue him.
Well, tough luck, miliy.
“It’s me,” I say, panting with exertion. “Your very own knight in shining armor. Let’s get out of here before your mafia buddies realize this daring rescue has been brought to them by me and my army of one.”
Nik’s eyes narrow at me. “You won’t be able to sit for a week after I’m done spanking you for this stunt,” he says through gritted teeth.
Delighted, I laugh. “Oh, Nik… Don’t threaten me with a good time. Now, we have to go. No. Really. Let’s go. Here, hold this. You know guns make me nervous.”
Without another word, Nik takes the pistol from my hands to follow me as I lead the way. The frantic look in his eyes and the tense line of his jaw tell me all I need to know about his frazzled state of mind.
“I’m guessing there are no cops outside,” he says, his disapproval plain and obvious.
“Nope. I’m afraid it’s just A.J. and me, but Vladmir is on his way, for whatever that’s worth. You know how I feel about that man.” I shrug. “But I figured backup of some kind couldn’t hurt. He was too far behind us for me to wait for him, though, so I devised a plan.”
“A plan? You use that word too liberally, dusha moya.”
Just hearing the Russian term of endearment, I have to restrain myself from wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him until we are both out of breath.
“I had resigned myself to never laying eyes on you again,” Nik says in a hurt tone. “I hoped you would turn your back on me and go home without looking back. To hear your voice again, to see your face once more?—”
I sigh, melting completely. “Listen to me, Nik. For as long as I live, I will never turn my back on you again. Ever.”
Nik angrily mutters something in Russian. I don’t need to be fluent in the language to get the idea that it was a dirty, filthy curse. “Of all the stupid, foolish things, Kat… You shouldn’t be here. Best-case scenario, you end up dead.”
