Page 91 of Devil’s Reign

If Luka and Dima had been a few minutes slower, we would both be buried under that wreckage right now. Gone.

She must feel me looking, because her arms slip around my torso, holding me tight, as if to assure me that we’re fine. That we’re alive. Barely.

46

MELANI

The guys help Vanya into the back of the van, and I crawl in after them.

I’m both surprised and grateful to see the space has already been repurposed into a makeshift emergency vehicle, complete with a small cot bolted to the floor and a collection of medical supplies.

All this couldn’t have been set up in the few minutes we were trapped in the warehouse—they came prepared.

A woman wearing blue scrubs underneath a doctor’s coat is already waiting for us, and the second Vanya is placed on the cot, she straps him in and starts assessing him.

“No.” Vanya pushes her hands away. “Check her first.”

“No fucking way,” I glower down at him. “If you don’t cooperate, I’m going to get out of this damn van so fast it will make your head spin.”

For the first time since I’ve known him, he rolls his eyes, but I can see him swallow the rest of his protests. By now, he knows I mean my threats. As I take a seat on the small sideways chair next to his cot, my eyes meet his brother Dimitri’s, and he mouths a silent “Thank you.”

My brows furrow. What is he thanking me for? But I nod anyway, then shift my attention to Vanya, grabbing his hand as the doctor sets up an IV line. Dimitri and Luka get out of the back of the van, locking the door behind them before moving to the front, Luka taking the driver’s seat.

“Aleksei?” Vanya asks as the van rumbles to life.

Dimitri glances back. “He’s fine. As soon as we got out, we caught the man who threw the grenade.” A scowl crosses his face. “We didn’t realize you were still trapped in there and made him croak.”

“Find anything useful?” Vanya grunts, closing his eyes when the doctor starts cutting away the fabric around his knees.

“Careful,” I warn her, and she frowns but says nothing.

“Arabelle is the best,” Luka says, his eyes finding her in the rearview mirror. Is it just me, or does his gaze linger on the doctor? “Trust me, Vanya is in good hands.”

Vanya squeezes my hand. “I’m fine.” Then he twists his head towards Dimitri. “Well?”

His brother smirks. “We got the location where the fuckers are keeping our men. Aleksei went there with a small army, while Luka and I came back inside to save your sorry ass.”

They got the location. Hope swells in my chest. This is the moment of truth. Luciano—will he be among the captives, or did he really run off on his own? Now that the information is closer than ever, a feeling of impatience rushes through me. Aleksei should hurry up.

“How did Luka even get in?”

“After the grenade went off, everything went to shit. Security abandoned the checkpoint, people ran out in panic, and some tried to put out the fire. I slipped in during that chaos and called Belle, just in case we’d need her.” He lingers on her again as he glances back, his tongue almost caressing her name.

“You have fractures in both legs,” Belle says to Vanya. “But with a few weeks of rest, you should be fully healed. You were lucky.”

The breath I let out is long and shaky and takes a huge amount of tension with it. I had been doing the math on worst-case scenarios in my head since I saw that beam, and none of them were good.

Belle turns to me next. “I need to check you too.”

I nod, letting her guide me through a quick exam. After a few pokes and prods, she declares me bruised, smoke-irritated, and otherwise intact, which sounds about right. The adrenaline is still running interference between me and whatever my body actually feels, so she warns I would probably crash from aches once that wears off. I’ll take it.

She cleans the small cut on my face with antiseptic and covers it up with a Disney princess bandage that makes me grin despite myself. Then before I know it, we’re rolling into the underground parking lot at Vanya’s hotel. A few of his men are already waiting for us, and when Luka opens the back doors, Vanya scowls. “I’m not getting in a damn wheelchair like an invalid.”

I smack his arm. “Yes, you are.” What the fuck is it with men and the need to prove they’re strong all the time? He grumbles but allows himself to be helped into the wheelchair.

I wave Luka off and take the handles myself, pushing him towards the elevator while his men fall in around us. I catch Boris’s wide eyes and wince. “I’m sorry,” I mouth, but he just glances away without a word. The guilt stings, but there’s no time to dwell on it.

Vanya keeps grumbling as we enter the elevator alongside Luka, Dimitri, Belle, and two of his men. The rest will take the next elevator. When the doors close, Vanya shifts slightly in the chair, probably testing whether his legs will hold if he tries to stand. I put my hand on his shoulder.