Page 122 of Gilded in Blood

Outside, the sight waiting for us stops us cold. Our men are lying scattered across the driveway.

Milana gasps beside me. I immediately turn her into my chest before she can look any longer.

“Don’t look.” She grips my shirt tightly.

We hurry to the SUVs we’d arrived in. Thankfully, the keys are still inside.

Maxim settles Calina carefully into the back seat before climbing behind the wheel. I help Milana in beside her, then slide into the front passenger seat.

The moment the doors slam shut, Maxim starts the engine. The SUV tears out of the estate.

Only when we’ve cleared the gates does he glance at me. “How bad is it?”

I look down at the blood staining my shirt. “I’ll live.”

By the time we pull into Maxim's driveway, the front doors are already opening, the staff rushing outside to meet us.

“Call the doctor,” Maxim orders as he lifts Calina into his arms. “Now!”

While Maxim carries his wife upstairs, I head straight for the living room and grab the house phone. Artyom answers on the second ring.

“It’s me.”

“Kirill?” His voice is tense. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been trying to reach both you and Maxim.”

“Ivan betrayed us.” I quickly tell him everything.

By the time I finish, the line is completely silent. Finally, Artyom speaks. “We’re on our way.”

Less than ten minutes later, the front doors burst open. Artyom and Mikhail stride into the house with several of our men behind them.

The moment they see us standing there, the tension visibly leaves their shoulders.

“You two look like shit,” Mikhail mutters.

“I’ve felt better.”

His expression turns serious. “We were already on our way to Ivan’s estate.”

“When we couldn’t reach either of you, we knew something was wrong,” Artyom says.

Maxim joins us downstairs after settling Calina into bed. He fills them in on the parts I left out. When he finally finishes, the room falls quiet.

“Ivan’s dead,” Artyom says at last. “So is Michael.”

For the first time in what feels like forever, everyone exhales. The nightmare is over.

A short while later, the doctor arrives. He heads upstairs first to examine Calina. After nearly half an hour, he comes back down.

“She’ll be alright,” he says. “It was a strong sedative, but she’ll make a full recovery.”

Relief spreads across every face in the room.

Then Milana turns to me. “You should have the doctor have a look at your injury.”

Before I can argue again, Milana gives me that look that says don’t even think about it.

I sigh and sit.