Chapter 405 407

Chapter 405 407
She needs to hear the words. Even if they don’t make a difference, she needs to hear them.

I wish I could say more, but we don’t have time. I rise slowly to my feet, prepared to shoot at a second’s notice. The footsteps are approaching.

“Kian,” Renata says softly.

“Yes?”

“You need to make sure nothing happens to you. We need you, too.”

I don’t have time to revel in the feel of those words, because a second later, the door bursts open and I’m staring at—

“Collin!”

“Fucking hell, boss!” Collin cries, his face splitting into a massive grin. “Almost blew your head right off.”

“Back atcha,” I say, rounding the couch. “What’s the status?”

“They’ve got more men than we expected,” he says grimly. He’s bleeding from the forehead and covered in sweat. But otherwise, he looks fine. “We’ve managed to beat them back enough to get more of our men in the house. The first group of soldiers we sent in are upstairs. I think they’re getting their asses handed to them.”

“They need backup,” I say. “Go.”

He looks at me. “What about—”

“I’ll join you soon,” I say, cutting him off. “Go. The men need you.”

He nods and rushes back out. A few more of my men storm past on their way to join the fight. And then I notice…

“Artem?”

The massive man halts to a stop and has to double back to the open door.

“Jesus, Phoenix,” I say when I realize which Kovalyov it is. “Thought you were your da—”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, cutting me off. “You okay?”

“Fighting fit,” I reply. “Where’s your father?”

“Around here somewhere. So’s Uncle Cillian.”

“And Yannis? Does anyone have eyes on him?”

Phoenix looks past me, noticing that Renata is behind the couch. “You found her?”

“Concentrate, Phoenix,” I tell him firmly. “Yannis. Where is he?”

“He’s definitely on the compound, barricaded behind a wall of men. We’ve got our guys at the main gates, so he can’t exactly escape.”

“Good.”

“But I don’t know where exactly he is.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I reply. “We’ll find him soon enough.” I don’t bother to tell him that finding Yannis Rokiades is going to be my fucking pleasure. Instead, I place my hand on his shoulder. “Phoenix, I’m gonna need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he says, straightening up immediately.

“I’ve got Sarah back there with Renata. She’s been shot and she’s bleeding out. We’ve managed to stop the bleeding now, but she needs medical attention fast. And she’s in no fit state to be moved.”

“Okay…?”

“I need you to stay here with both of them.”

His face falls instantly. He wants to be out there, fighting alongside me. I can understand that. I’d probably feel the same thing in his position.

I squeeze his shoulder. “Phoenix, I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important,” I say. “Renata… she’s pregnant.”

His eyes go wide. “Pregnant?”

“The child’s mine,” I say, feeling a glow of pride work its way into my tone. “And there’s no other man I trust more to take care of them.”

Phoenix nods slowly. “I’ll keep them safe.”

“Thank you.”

When I walk back behind the sofa, Renata is looking at me closely. “What’s that look on your face?” she asks.

“There’s no look,” I say. “I’m just going to get more guns.”

“You’re leaving us here?”

“Only for a few minutes.”

“You’re going after Rokiades, aren’t you?” she asks accusingly.

“Renata…”

“No!” she says. “No.” Given her hand is still clasped on top of Sarah’s wound, she’s unable to stand up and face me. “Kian, don’t go.”

Phoenix hovers behind me. I glance back at him. “Take her place for a moment.”

The future Kovalyov don gets to his knees beside Sarah and presses his hands onto her gunshot wound. I help Renata to her feet, then pull her to the corner of the room by the closed windows.

“Don’t go,” she says again—this time, more passionately. “I need you.”

He words are a punch in the gut, but I can’t just sit here knowing that Yannis is out there. As long as he’s alive, he will continue to be a threat to my Clan and to Renata. I can’t allow him to live. In any case, I’d made myself a promise. I’d made Rokiades a promise, too.

And I’m a man of my fucking word.

She grabs my hand and forces me to meet her eyes. “I can see what you’re thinking. You want revenge,” she says. “I can see the bloodlust in your face. But it’s not worth it, Kian. Just stay with me.”

“We won’t be able to be together in peace, Renata. Not as long as he’s alive.”

“You’re in no fit state to fight,” she points out.

“I’m stronger than I look.”

“He’s got too many men.”

“Renata,” I say, grabbing her face between my hands, “enough. I will survive. And I will come back.”

“You promise?”

The youth shines back at me from her eyes. She’s so fucking young, so fucking pure, and yet somehow, over the last few months, she’s given herself to me. A grizzled old man with too many scars on my body and too many skeletons in my closet.

“I promise.” I pull her face to mine and kiss her hard. I’m pretty sure I’m bruising her lips, but I don’t care and she doesn’t seem to, either.

When I release her, she grips my wrists, keeping my hands on her face. “Come back to me,” she orders. “In one piece.”

“I will,” I say with a firm nod.

Then I kiss her forehead and slip out of the room. I’ve got two guns on me, but I know I’m low on ammo. I can’t afford to go searching for more right now, though. Time is short. Windows of opportunity only last so long before something changes the game.

There’s a part of me that registers that my off-the-cuff plan is bordering on reckless. Especially in light of the promise I’ve just made to Renata. But the adrenaline is surging now. Determination courses through my veins like crack cocaine. And all I want is to wrap my hands around Yannis Rokiades’s throat and squeeze the life right out of the motherfucker.

I can feel the battle drawing to its inevitable conclusion. It can only end in one of two ways.

His death… or mine.

I hear a sound and freeze immediately. An instant later, two guards run into my line of vision. I recognize them instantly as enemies. They’re definitely not Clan. Nor are they Bratva.

They look like they’re running from something. But I don’t pause to ask what. I just raise my gun and fire twice. Both men drop to the floor. One’s dead on impact. The other tries to crawl away.

“Not so fast, motherfu—”

I’m about to end him when another bullet finishes the job for me. I step forward, just as a tall man with curly blonde hair steps through the open front door.

“Well, well, well,” Cillian remarks with a lopsided smile. “Look who it is.” He looks relatively put together. In fact, he’s barely broken a sweat.

“What did you do?” I ask. “Spend all morning getting your hair nice and coiffed, then wait ‘til the fight was over to join?”

He rolls his eyes. “I come all this way to bail your ass out of trouble, and this is the thanks I get?”

I smirk, moving forward to clasp his hand. “It’s good to see you, brother.”

“And you,” he replies. “Although you look like shite.”

Before I can respond, more men filter in through the door. The one heading the pack is a massive, dark-haired man who’s the spitting image of Phoenix, albeit aged forward thirty years or so.

“Decided to join the party, huh?” Artem asks me.

“Can we save the quips for when the battle is won?”

Artem shrugs. “There’s always enough time for a joke, friend. Your brother taught me that.”

“Yeah, well, my brother has a lot of dumb ideas. Best for all of us if we ignore him, I think.”

Cillian frowns and starts to say, “Hold on there; I think I—”