Page 79 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

The pistol goes off, making Oleg's body jerk and fall sideways. Blood sprays across the carpet in a long arc, and Emory screams, dropping to the floor. The second Gusev man fires at me and the round slices through the air past my ear. But I return fire—two shots—and he crashes backward into the couch.

Gusev tries to bring his pistol around toward me, but Emory's tangled in his legs and he stumbles. I close the distance between us, running, and put the barrel of my weapon against his forehead and my knee in his chest. His eyes are wide with shock as I look him dead in the eye.

"This is for my family," I tell him, and I pull the trigger.

Gusev jerks and twitches, but the room goes quiet except for Emory screaming. I stay on his chest, waiting until the twitching stops, but I still hear the faint report of gunshots out back where Devid is working to clean up the rest of the house. We'll have cops crawling on us soon, but for now it's calming down.

Then I drop to my knees beside Emory. She's crawling toward her father on her hands and knees, sobbing, whimpering his name. Oleg's on his back with his hand pressed against his stomach as blood seeps between his fingers, spreading across the carpet in a dark pool that grows wider with every second.

"Are you hurt?" I ask her, grabbing her shoulders and turning her toward me. "Emory, look at me. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she chokes out, pushing my hands away and reaching for her father. "Help him. Please help him, Rashid."

"You're bleeding," she says suddenly, looking at my side. I follow her eyes and see the tear in my shirt and the red soaking through the fabric along my ribs. I didn't feel it until she said it, but it's not that bad.

"It's nothing," I tell her. "Look at me. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I told you I'm fine. Help my father. Please."

I move to Oleg and press my hands over his on the wound. The blood is warm, pulsing between my fingers with each beat of his heart, which means he's still alive. His eyes are open and unfocused and his skin has gone pallid.

"Stay with us, Oleg," I tell him. "You don't die on this floor."

Emory kneels beside me and takes her father's face in both hands, turning it toward her. "Batya, stay awake," she says, her voice cracking apart. "Look at me. Keep your eyes on me. You're going to be okay."

Oleg's lips move but no sound comes out. His hand finds Emory's wrist and his fingers close around it weakly. The blood keeps coming though, soaking my hands and Emory's knees where she kneels next to him.

"Devid!" I shout toward the hallway. "Get me a medic! Now!"

Emory leans over her father, pressing her forehead against his, whispering to him while his blood pools around both of us. I keep pressure on the wound and watch the old man's chest rise and fall, each breath shallower than the last. I don't know if the next one will come. And I don't know if he's going to make it.

God help me if he doesn't.

I don't know a thing about comforting a grieving woman.

29

EMORY

Devid holds the car door open for me and I step out into the cold. It's been a long afternoon visiting my father in the hospital, where it was touch and go for a while. I feel like I've done more crying in the past three days since Gusev attacked than I have my entire life. Between hospital visits, and a fussy baby with night terrors, I'm not sure how I’m even still standing.

"Thank you, Devid," I tell him as he follows me inside. I can't believe what Rashid's men can accomplish when they put their minds to it. Police were in and out, investigating every aspect of this shooting, and I'm sure Rashid has a few of them on his payroll. But they seem to think it was justified. Gusev broke in and attacked, and Rashid and his men were well within their rights to defend themselves, though a few weapons were confiscated, and Krispin may very well face a few weapons charges. He's a good man for taking that fall for his boss.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," he says, peeling off down the hallway while I head for the stairs. Even Devid has been nicer lately, not treating me like a prisoner but more like Rashid's partner.

Rashid's given me a longer leash after the attack. I have use of his cars and his guards whenever I need them, and the only condition is that I don't leave without protection. There is talk that a skeleton crew of Gusev's men still exist out there seeking revenge, but Devid is convinced they'll swallow the entire organization and all of its moving parts. Besides, seeing Batya in the hospital is non-negotiable. Rashid hasn't tried to stop me once. He sends Devid with me every morning, so I can sit holding his hand in case he wakes up.

I climb the stairs expecting to find Lex with Anna in the nursery, but the room's empty. The toys are put away, and Anna's rocker sits vacant by the window. But I hear giggling from down the hall, coming from Rashid's bedroom.

I walk to the doorway and stop. Rashid's sitting on the floor with Lex between his knees, stacking colored blocks on the hardwood. My boy sets a red one on top of a blue one and looks up at Rashid, grinning as he reaches for another block. It's heartwarming seeing my son playing with his father happily, especially after what happened that scared us all so badly.

The tower wobbles when Lex places the green one on top, and Rashid reaches out to steady it with a finger, holding it there until Lex lets go. When the tower stays standing Lex claps his hands and shrieks, and Rashid's mouth twitches into a smile.

I stand quietly, leaning against the door frame to watch a man I thought never had a compassionate bone in his body being so gentle and nurturing. He's learning to be a father. It makes me wonder what Anna thinks of this new version of her son, if she's averse to it or if she's proud of him as I am.

Lex spots and his face lights up. He reaches for me with both hands, knocking the tower over, and he bounces on his bottomand scoots closer. Rashid looks up at me with a warm expression and helps Lex stand up, though he barely takes a few steps before he falls.

"How long have you two been at this?" I ask him, crossing the room and sitting on the floor beside them. Lex crawls into my lap and I kiss the top of his head.