Chapter 127 Chapter 127
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven
Irina
Not yet?
I stared at Dimitri, confused.
What did he mean not yet? We were free. We were safe. We were finally away from Alexei and his madness.
"Huh?" I asked, still holding Nikolai close to my chest.
Dimitri looked at me and smiled.
I had not seen that smile in so long.
It was weak and tired but it was real.
"Watch me," he said.
Then he leaned forward and kissed me.
His lips were dry and cracked but I did not care.
I kissed him back desperately, like a woman who had been starving for months.
Because I had been starving.
For his touch, for his warmth, for him.
Nikolai squirmed between us and made a little noise.
We pulled apart, both breathing hard.
"I have been imagining doing that since the moment Alexei threw me in that cell," Dimitri whispered against my lips.
"You should have imagined escaping first," I said, trying to joke but my voice cracked.
"I did," Dimitri replied. "But kissing you was a close second."
I laughed and cried at the same time.
We were really free.
I thought back to just minutes ago when I had been running towards the courtyard, my heart pounding so hard I thought it would burst.
The guards had tried to stop me but I had fought like a wild animal.
I had to get to him.
I had to see him one last time before Alexei pulled that trigger.
When I finally broke free and saw Dimitri chained to that post, so thin and broken, I wanted to die right there with him.
This was my fault.
If I had not told Boris where Dimitri was, Alexei would not have moved up the execution.
Boris would still be alive.
Dimitri would have had more time.
"Please!" I had screamed at Alexei. "Please do not kill him!"
But Alexei had not listened.
He never listened.
He had raised the gun and aimed it at Dimitri's head.
I thought that was it.
I thought I was about to watch my husband die.
Then the wall exploded.
At first I thought I was dreaming.
Then through the smoke and chaos, I saw him.
Mikhail.
In a wheelchair with his legs in casts but alive and commanding an army of men I had never seen before.
"Dimitri!" A voice had shouted.
"Where are you?"
That voice was cold and lethal.
I turned and saw another man.
Tall and broad with dark hair and eyes like ice.
He looked like Dimitri but harder, more dangerous.
"Viktor," Dimitri had called weakly. "I am here."
Viktor?
His men had moved through the courtyard like a storm, cutting down Alexei's guards with brutal efficiency.
Within minutes it was over.
Alexei was on his knees, defeated. And Dimitri was free.
"Are you alright?" Dimitri's voice pulled me back to the present.
I blinked and realized I had been staring at nothing, lost in my thoughts.
"Yes," I said quickly. "I am just trying to process everything."
"I know," Dimitri said softly. "It is a lot."
He looked down at Nikolai who was now sleeping peacefully in my arms.
"He has gotten so big," Dimitri whispered.
"He missed you," I said. "I told him stories about you every night."
"Did you?" Dimitri asked, his voice breaking.
"Every single night," I replied. "I told him about his brave father who would come back to us."
"I am sorry it took so long," Dimitri said.
"You are here now," I said. "That is all that matters."
The vehicle hit a bump and Dimitri winced.
"You are hurt," I said, noticing how pale he looked.
"I am fine," Dimitri lied.
"You are not fine," I argued. "You have been starved and tortured for months. You need a doctor."
"Later," Dimitri said. "Right now I just want to hold you."
He pulled me closer with his free arm and I leaned into him carefully, trying not to hurt him.
Nikolai was sandwiched between us but he did not wake.
"I thought I would never see you again," I whispered.
"I thought the same thing," Dimitri admitted. "There were moments in that cell when I wanted to give up."
"What stopped you?" I asked.
"You," Dimitri said simply. "The thought of you and Nikolai kept me alive."
I pressed my face into his shoulder and cried.
All the fear and pain and terror of the past months came pouring out.
Dimitri held me and let me cry.
"It is over now." he kept saying.
But was it really over?
Alexei was captured but he was still alive.
And as long as he was alive, we would never be truly safe.
"What are we going to do with him?" I asked.
"With who?" Dimitri asked.
"Alexei," I said. "What happens now?"
Dimitri's face darkened.
"That is not your concern," he said.
"Yes it is," I argued. "He hurt you. He hurt all of us. I deserve to know what happens to him."
Dimitri was quiet for a moment.
"Viktor and Mikhail will handle it," he finally said.
"Handle it how?" I pressed.
"However they see fit," Dimitri replied. "That is how these things work."
I wanted to ask more but the look on Dimitri's face told me the conversation was over.
The vehicle slowed down and I looked out the window.
We were heading towards the main road that would take us far away from this nightmare.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Somewhere safe," Dimitri said.
"Viktor has a safehouse prepared."
"And then what?" I asked.
"And then we rebuild," Dimitri said. "And take back everything Alexei stole from us."
"What if I do not want that life anymore?" I asked quietly.
Dimitri looked at me surprised.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean what if I want us to leave?" I said. "Go somewhere far away where no one knows us. And start over. Just the three of us."
"Irina," Dimitri began.
"I almost lost you," I interrupted. "I almost lost everything. I do not want to go through that again."
"You will not have to," Dimitri promised.
"You cannot promise that," I said. "Not in this world. Not with the life you lead."
Dimitri opened his mouth to respond but then he stopped.
His eyes went wide.
"What is it?" I asked worried.
"Petrov," Dimitri said suddenly.
My brows furrowed. "I thought he was dead."
"He is alive." Dimitri said. "He was planning to help me. He was digging a tunnel to my cell."
"What?" I said.
"He might still be down there," Dimitri said frantically. "Digging. Thinking I am still trapped."
"Dimitri," I started.
"We have to go back," Dimitri said. He leaned forward and banged on the partition separating us from the driver. "Stop the car!"
The driver did not respond.
"Stop the car!" Dimitri shouted louder.
The partition slid open.
Viktor's face appeared.
"What is wrong?" he asked.
"We need to go back," Dimitri said.
"What? Why?" Viktor asked incredulously.
"There is my guard," Dimitri explained quickly. "Petrov. He was trying to help me escape. He might still be down there."
"Dimitri, we cannot go back," Viktor said. "It is too dangerous."
"I am not leaving him behind," Dimitri said firmly. "He r
isked everything to help me. I will not abandon him."
Viktor looked at Dimitri for a long moment.
Then he sighed.
"Fine," he said. "We go back. But we make it quick."
He spoke into a radio and I felt the vehicles begin to turn around.