Chapter 167 167

Chapter 167 167
Satisfied, I let go.

Brad staggers upright. He stares at me, then at Yulian, eyes wide with terror.

“Oh, and one more thing,” I add.

Then I punch his nose in.

The satisfying crack echoes in the night. It doesn’t give me as much of a rush as could have—Desya already broke Brad’s septum, after all—but it sure as shit feels good.

Brad howls again, both hands flying to his bleeding face. “You b⁠—!”

“What was that?” Yulian snarls.

Then he grabs Brad by the collar.

Until now, he’s been keeping a respectful distance, letting me get out everything I needed to say. But he isn’t doing that anymore. He’s got rage, too, boiling just beneath the surface.

And, for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like stopping him.

“What were you about to call her?” he asks again, slamming him into the nearest wall. “Say it, you worthless piece of shit. Insult the woman I love to my face. See what fucking happens.”

Brad’s mouth zips closed. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t blink, doesn’t so much as breathe.

I’d be lying if I said I’m not enjoying every second.

“Right,” Yulian spits. “That’s what I thought.”

He tosses Brad into the street like he’s trash. “Now, get the fuck out of my sight. Before I decide to remind you what happens when you touch what’s mine.”

Brad scrambles to his feet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him run this fast in his life. It’s like his shoes have sprouted wings. Within seconds, he’s lost in the night.

I let out a breath. Feel my heart slowing down, one pounding beat at a time.

“So,” Yulian drawls, bumping our shoulders together. “The feds?”

“I didn’t actually call them,” I confess. “Didn’t think it would be wise to bring the federal government into our, ahem, business. Those sirens were just a happy coincidence.”

“But you have the recording.”

“I do.” I grin and stick my tongue out. “Tikhon’s gift. Ingestible whatsitcalled. Hopefully, it downloads somewhere and we don’t have to dig it out.”

Yulian bites down a grin. He pulls me close and kisses me. It’s a long, sweet kiss, one that leaves me full with the promise of more. “You were brave, Nurse Winters,” he whispers against my lips. “I’m proud of you.”

“Why, thank you, Mr. Lozhkin. So did you.” I glance towards the parking lot. Every single camo-wearing soldier is on the floor, which makes me think the blood’s all theirs. “What happened with Desya?”

“I showed him mercy.” He caresses my lips with his thumb, almost reverent. “He didn’t suffer. Not in the end.”

My heart swells. “Then I’m proud of you, too.”

Desya was as troubled as they come. If Yulian managed to see that, see past his desire for revenge and get closure for them both, then…

He really has changed.

“What about Gwen?” I ask.

“Oh, she suffered, alright. Nik saw to it.”

“Can’t say I’m too torn up about it.”

Yulian stares into my eyes, his gaze soft. “Yes, you are. But that’s what I love about you.”

What I love about you. The Yulian I first met never used to say things like these. Never used to wear his heart on his sleeve, too busy pretending he didn’t have one.

But he’s not that Yulian anymore.

Now, he’s my Yulian.

We kiss again. This time, we’re interrupted by a tiny voice calling out, “Mommy! Daddy!”

Yulian freezes. But Eli doesn’t even notice, too busy wrapping himself around his pant leg like a tiny little eel. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he says when we both look down at him. “Thanks for saving me.”

“Technically, your mom saved—” I elbow him lightly in the side. “… You’re welcome, son.”

Son. It warms me from the inside—to hear him call Eli that. To hear Eli’s little voice call him “Daddy” with all the joy in the world.

I thought I’d broken up my son’s family for good. That I’d robbed him of the chance to have a father.

Turns out, he just hadn’t met his real dad yet.

Nikita joins us. Maksim, too, a rifle slung carelessly across his shoulder. “Kalinda?” he calls into his phone. “Yep, we’re all breathin’. Would you mind pulling the car around? I think we’ve got thirty seconds before the cops get here. Forty, tops.”

Wow. Kallie’s driving getaway. Talk about adapting quickly to the mob girlfriend life.

“What do you say?” Yulian holds out his hand to me. “Ready to go home?”

Home. Our home. Mine, and Yulian’s, and Eli’s—and soon, our baby girl’s, too.

“Yeah.” I accept his hand. “I’m ready.”

65

YULIAN

The guest rooms at the Lozhkin penthouse are all full tonight.

Maksim and Kallie turn in first. Nikita sticks around a little longer, hovering around us like a guardian angel, but eventually, exhaustion gets the better of her, too.

Then it’s just us.

“Does he always snore like this?” I frown.

Mia smothers a laugh in her pillow. Between us, Eli is sawing tiny trees in his sleep. “Get used to it. He’s comfortable around you now.”

“He should be. I’m his dad.”

Dad. A complex word. A beautiful word. I thought I’d have months to try it on for size, see how it felt.

But fatherhood doesn’t wait for you to be ready. Like every gift, you don’t get to decide when it’s coming.

It’s still the best gift in the goddamn universe.

“You’re right.” Mia smooths the blankets over him. “He’s your son now. No takesies-backsies.”

“Who says I’m taking anything back?” I reach out to brush a stray curl away from his eyes. “Maks is bringing over the adoption papers tomorrow.”

“Wow.” Mia blinks. “That’s… fast.”

“No, it’s not. It’s long overdue.” My hand stretches past Eli, grabbing hold of Mia’s. “I should have done this immediately.”

“You couldn’t have,” she says, eyes lucid. “Brad… he would have put up a fight.”

“And if you think he would have won, then you didn’t listen to what I said to him.” A stray tear rolls down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb, gently brush it away. “No one touches what’s mine.”

Mia’s smile lights up the room, even as her tears keep falling. I bring her hand to my lips, kiss her knuckles one by one. When I get to the spot her engagement ring used to be, my stomach twists.