Chapter 183 183

Chapter 183 183
TIMOFEY

Benjamin is screaming.

The sound makes it almost impossible to focus on anything else. But there is so much to focus on.

Kreshnik Xhuvani dead or dying on the floor. And Piper…

“Piper!”

I jump over the metal pipe she used to attack Kreshnik and drop to my knees next to her. Kreshnik’s blood soaks into my pants. It’s still hot.

“Piper.” I sweep my hand over her face. My thumb smears the fine mist of blood on her skin into a kind of war paint under her eye. “Are you okay?”

There is blood on her lips and her teeth. She’s covered in it, and I have no idea how much is Kreshnik’s and how much is hers.

“Piper, fucking talk to me before I go insane.”

“I’m fine.” She is trembling from head to toe. She’s in shock.

“No, you’re not.” I haul her up. The moment she’s on her feet, she runs for the corner. I try to grab her, but she’s too fast.

She reaches into the basket and pulls Benjamin out. His crying gets even louder. They are angry wails that pierce my ears in the best kind of way.

I thought I’d never hear them again.

“Oh my God, you’re alive.” She hugs him to her chest and tips her head back, eyes squeezed closed. “You’re alive.”

He’s alive. The information has barely had time to register.

I shift behind Piper and hold Benjamin’s soft head in the palm of my hand. “He’s alive. Thanks to you.”

“Thanks to you. We were both going to die in here, Timofey. If you hadn’t shown up—”

I press a kiss to the back of her head. The smell of iron is overwhelming. “Don’t even talk about that. I did show up. It’s all over.”

“And Sergey?”

“Dead. As he should be.”

Piper glances over her shoulder at Kreshnik’s dead body and immediately looks away. “Can we… can we go somewhere else? There’s so much blood. It’s… Oh God, it’s everywhere. It’s on Benjamin, too.”

Her voice is growing frantic, the words rushing out of her. Carefully, I pluck Benjamin from her arms.

“There’s an employee locker room. There are showers. We can clean up there.”

Her chin is wobbling with the effort not to cry. “Okay. Okay, we can… Yeah, it’s okay. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” I repeat, pulling her tightly against my chest. “But you will be.”

The locker room is at the end of the secret hallway and through another hidden door. This is the first time I’ve navigated these secret tunnels, but I know the layout of the rest of the building well enough to be able to reverse engineer a floor plan in my mind.

Thankfully, the locker room is empty when we enter. I lock the door behind us.

“Take off everything you’re wearing and get into the shower—both of you. I can find you a spare uniform.”

Piper pulls my ruined t-shirt over her head, and I know I’m going straight to hell. Because she looks incredible.

She’s wearing nothing but a pair of pale pink panties, the rest of her body golden and lean. She’s perfect.

“Maybe if I wasn’t traumatized, I’d be able to see how hot this moment is.” She meets my heated gaze with a self-deprecating smile.

“Don’t worry. I’m used to this kind of thing, so I can see exactly how hot it is,” I growl.

She chuckles and takes Benjamin from me. “I’m covered in blood.”

She starts to pull away, but I catch her face in my hands and smear the blood with my thumbs, drawing patterns on her cheekbones. “You are covered in the blood of my enemy—in the blood of the man you fought to defend me and our children. Nothing will ever be hotter than that, Piper.”

She smiles, her eyes going misty.

I want to revel in this moment, but there isn’t time.

“Go shower.” I point to the closest handicap stall. “I have to take care of some things.”

She walks away, Benjamin in her arms, and I have to force myself to look away from the intoxicating sway of her hips.

I can still hear her confession to Kreshnik. I was ready to spend the rest of my life with Timofey. I was going to give my entire self to him and our family. I… I love him.

God, I love her, too.

“Later,” I growl, reaching into my pocket for my phone.

I hear the shower kick on and the soft mutterings of Piper calming Benjamin. His crying has softened to a whimper now. Warm water always puts him at ease.

I move to the furthest corner of the locker room and dial Rooney. He picks up immediately.

“What the fuck are you doing, Viktorov? We just got a call that you’re trespassing at your own company!”

“Fucking Manuel,” I growl. He wouldn’t stand in my way to keep me out, but he called the police. And after he claimed he didn’t want to make a scene, no less. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Okay… If you’re not calling about that, then why are you calling?”

I lower my voice. “There are going to be a lot more calls coming in to you guys soon. I suggest you get as close to Viktorov Industries as you can. I want you to take over the investigation.”

“What investigation?”

“Bodies.”

He sighs. “What happened to them?”

“I haven’t fully decided yet.”

He curses under his breath. “Fucking hell. Only you. Well, shit, I’d like some idea of what story to run with.”

“I have to keep things interesting, Rooney. Otherwise, you might get bored of me.”

“No chance of that,” he mumbles. “Whatever it is, it must not be too bad. You sound chipper. Though… maybe the good mood is actually a bad sign. Oh fuck. It’s bad, isn’t it? The only thing worse than you in a rage is you being in a good mood.”

On any other day, I’d tell Rooney to shut the fuck up and do as he’s told, but I am in good spirits tonight. All things considered.

“Head this way and be ready to clean house.”

“I’ve ‘cleaned your house’ a lot lately. I don’t know how thorough I can be this time.”

“Make it happen and you’ll have an extended vacation from me,” I tell him. “There might be a bonus in there for you, too.”

Rooney whistles. “Wow. You really are in a good mood tonight.”

“Do your part to make it last.” I hang up and go to check on Piper and Benjamin.

The curtain to the shower is open, and Piper is standing just outside of the spray, shivering as she wraps Benjamin in a white towel. Streams of water twine around her hips and slip down her thighs.

“He’s clean, but exhausted,” she says, drawing my eyes back to her face. “The warm water put him right to sleep.”

Blood is still smeared across her cheeks and dotted on her neck. I gently take Benjamin from her arms.

“I’ll dry him off. You take care of yourself now.”