Page 55 of Lord of the Underworld

My father hurried over, along with Nikolina, one of my favorite female guards. "I'll take her over to our trucks," she said gently.

My arms tightened around the girl and she made a desperate noise, hiding her face against my shoulder, still clinging to my shirt.

"Son, this way, she doesn't have to see anything else," Father says gently. "When your mother is finished out back-" Another explosion rocks the courtyard, cracking the winged angel sculpture in the fountain. "When she's finished," he continued with a slight smile, "I'll have her sit with the girl. She'll be safe while you do your work."

"I'll watch over her," Nikolina promises, her expression heartbroken.

Reluctantly, I handed the girl over to her. "She needs blankets," I said. "They've been drowning her." Nikolina's face hardened and she nodded before carrying her away.

Nikolina didn't understand the difference between watching over someone who understood what happened, who desperately wanted protection and someone who was still in shock.

The girl only knew that she wasn't being drowned or chained, and that this was her chance.

Ten minutes later, Mother raced over to me, face pale. "She's gone, the girl."

"What?" I roared. "You and Nikolina, you were going to keep her safe!"

"I am sorry," Nikolina stepped up next to her. "The responsibility is mine. I covered her with the only blanket we had and told her I was going to the other truck to get more, that she was safe and not to move." She's shaking. She should be. "The girl was right behind me -"

"Find her!" I shouted. "I promised her I would get her out of here!"

Eight guards scoured the compound, searching for her in the ripped-apart house and the ruptured gardens and outbuildings that were not already demolished. I wrapped my arm around my grandfather's neck and he took me through the warped and shattered gates. The road was empty in both directions.

It finally took pulling the security camera feed from the still-standing guard house at the gate to see what happened.

A minivan, a bit battered, squealed to a stop and a woman stepped out of her car. Three children were staring curiously out the back window. She hurried over, speaking urgently as my girl knelt in the dirt, thin shoulders heaving. The woman looked up the drive of the estate and saw the fires and destruction and her eyes widened. She helped my girl up and put her in the car, pulling out in a cloud of dust.

Grandfather and I took one of the jeeps and followed her to make sure that she was returned to her family. The woman took her to the local police, and hadn't they been a fucking help all this time, but they did contact the Vasilievs and the officers rushed her to a hospital.

"Do you want to go in and speak to her?" he'd asked.

"No." I looked down at myself, bloodied and battered. I'd scared my own father when he'd seen me. "No. She's safe now."

I'd seen pictures of her over the years since then, society photos. Carefully presented images of her rich and powerful family. Oksana smiled in all of them, but that blank, unseeing gaze in her silver-gray eyes never quite went away.

Chapter Twenty-Five

In which scars are shared and cherished.

Vadim…

Present day…

Oksana stumbles forward, her usual grace is gone. Her hands land on my shirt in a death grip. "You were the boy," she says, staring up at me. "The boy who loved horses and talked to me all night. You-" Her eyes are moving rapidly, left to right like she's reading her history. "You killed the man who was drowning me. You saved me but I ran because -" She frowns, swaying. "Why did I run?"

Swinging her up in my arms, I call for Ivan.

"Miss Oksana, is she all right?" He frowns, looking at her pale face.

"Hold the Rossi brothers. Kill the rest. Dispose of them," I say, never taking my gaze from hers. Oksana's pupils have flared wildly, making her eyes almost midnight black. Her breathing is shallow, but her grip on me is like iron.

"What happened? Is she -?" Yvette hurries up behind us.

"Hush." I cut her off. "Take the family. My people will bring you to the next drop-off point."

"Wait- tell me! Oksana, is she hurt?" I admire Yvette's loyalty but she needs to get the fuck out of here.

"She's fine," I turn, carrying my wife to my truck. "Go."