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“You have my word.” He sighs, sounding bored. “We are entering a truce. Atrial. Should we find that it isn’t to our benefit, we will notify each other before it ends.”
“Fair.”
“Agreed.”
The brothers all nod. Giorgio turns to the guard holding me. “Let her go,” he says, sounding disappointed.
Yefim runs straight to me, grabbing me in his arms and pulling me tight against his body. He whispers into my ear, “I thought I lost you.”
“Take me home,” I whisper back. All I want to do is get out of here and to be safe with Yefim. I want this night to be over.
We turn to leave Giorgio Vitali’s house. Clara is standing with her uncle, her face sullen, sad, hurt. I guess she has a lot she wants to say to him. I hope he at least hears her out. She deserves to be heard.
I smile tightly at her, and she smiles tightly back at me.
Just before we walk out of the door, Yefim turns back to face Clara’s uncle.
“Giorgio. If you decide to go rogue, and not honor our deal, I promise you one thing. You will learn that the rumors about how ruthless the Dubrov family can be are true.”
Giorgio pulls his mouth tight, clenching his jaw, not liking the threat, but also not responding in words.
He nods. One quick nod.
Yefim seems satisfied with this, and with his arm around me, he leads me out to the car.
***
On the way driving to back Oleg’s place, where Yefim left his car, I am leaning against his chest in the back seat. I look up at him and relief washes over me.
I can’t believe I’m with him again. I thought it was over. I thought I was going to die without ever getting to see him again. The pain of knowing that was tearing me apart, and now—now I’m back in his arms, and for some reason, all I am thinking about is that stupid fucking crocodile that I so badly wanted to give him.
“I won, you know. At the game.” I smile softly, looking up at him.
“Mm?” he says, looking down at me. “What game?”
“The crocodile. I won it for you. I mean, I lost it after that. But I did win.” I smile sadly. It’s a small thing to lose in the bigger picture. It just meant a lot to me for some reason. To give it to him.
He starts laughing. His laughter vibrates against my body.
“Why is that so funny?” I laugh too, realizing that I’m talking about a silly stuffed animal when we all almost died a moment ago. Maybe it’s shock. Maybe my mind is just trying to focus on something random instead of focusing on what just happened.
“I found it,” he chuckles. “I found it and it’s in my car. It might need a wash, though.”
“You found it? Are you kidding me?” I am smiling so broadly, as though the crocodile represents our future, our love, everything we could be. And we still have it. We have our lives, we have so much more to experience together.
“Yeah. I found that stupid crocodile. It’s in the back seat of the car, next to the even more ridiculous giant red octopus.”
I shake my head, grinning, leaning against him again.
Everything is going to be okay.
The danger is over.
He wants to be with me.
Everything is going to be perfectly fine.
***
