Our next kiss isn’t so careful. We’re both battered and banged up, but we’re so wrapped up in each other we don’t notice any pain. Sera grips my hair and I grip her hips and we kiss and nip and taste each other until she’s trembling in my arms and I’m uncomfortably hard and we’re in real danger of celebrating life with a good old-fashioned fuck right here on the filthy floor.
There’s a solid chance we would’ve if Marchetti didn’t choose that moment to walk back in. “Shit, I enjoy a passionate reunion as much as any Italian, but you two need to get out here if you want to be the ones to put a bullet in this woman.Cazzo!My patience is running really fucking thin.”
Sera’s blush is utterly charming as I help her to her feet. “Come,rodnaya. We’ll pick this back up when we get home. Let’s get you dressed and get this business finished.”
Sera’s quiet as I cover her with my coat. She still doesn’t have shoes, so I carry her outside and, smart girl, she doesn’t protest. Marchetti is stationed several yards away, standing guard over Sera’s mother. He’s turned on the Bugatti’s headlights so it’s easy to see the woman sitting on her ass, torso tied to a tree, cursing up at Gio and looking significantly worse for wear.
We’re still several steps away when Sera stops me. “She killed your sister. She told me.” My strong girl can’t hide her heartbreak—the heartbreak she feels for me and Rina—and it makes my chest hurt even more. “I know where she’s buried. She’s here, Alik. At the cabin. We can find Rina. You can take her home.”
It takes everything I have to not sink to the ground. “Rina is here?” Any sense of relief at finding her is smothered by the bleakness of the place. It’s so isolated, so dreary and depressing. How could any soul find peace here, let alone my sister?
I’m rooted in place and Sera squirms out of my arms until she’s standing in front of me. She touches my face, brings me back to the moment. “We’ll get her, Alik. We’ll move her somewhere beautiful, peaceful. Full of lilacs. Far away from here. After we deal with my mother. Let’s end this now.”
I nod and swing her off her feet until we are in front of Gio and the di Salvo woman. When she sees us, Sera’s mother directs her curses our way. Curses that turn to prayers when I pull my gun.
“Save it for your god, you bitch. You won’t get any mercy from me.”
“Serafina!” she screeches. “Stop him! How dare you treat your own mother this way.”
Sera stares at the woman writhing on the ground and holds her hand out to Gio. He wordlessly hands over his gun. Sera doesn’t hesitate or flinch. She just fires two shots, one through each of her mother’s knees. Sera’s voice is stone-cold over the woman’s screams. “You don’t deserve to die quickly, but I’m done wasting my time on you. You’ve ruined enough of my life. I’m not letting you do it anymore.”
Gun still raised, Sera looks at me. Nods. “For Rina.”
I point my gun at her mother’s head. “For you.”
Together, we fire.
Di Salvo’s screams end abruptly, her lifeless body falling forward against the ropes. Gio makes the sign of the cross as he retrieves the gun from Sera. An instant later, we’re in each other’s arms. “I can’t believe they’re all dead,” she says against my chest.
“It’s over,” I tell her. “You’re safe now.”
Her eyes shine with unshed tears. “Almost over. We need Rina.”
I kiss her brow, her cheeks, her lips, beyond grateful that I get to kiss her at all. “Yes, we need Rina. And then,moya voitelnitsa, we go home. It’s time to stop surviving. It’s time to start living a new life, together.”
39
EPILOGUE - SERA
One month later
Snow swirlsaround me as I stand on the balcony overlooking the drive. Below, Alik is in a heated discussion with his father, the older Valentin growling something at his son before getting into the waiting SUV. He slams the door. Snow trembles, sliding off the roof and hitting the windshield before getting obliterated by a flick of the wipers.
A hand juts out from the driver’s side, giving Alik a quick wave. Ruri, the younger Valentin brother, drew the short straw and has to drive their father to the airstrip where their private plane is waiting. Now that Rina is back home and laid to rest, the previouspakhanis retiring. Not a minute too soon, either. The tension between Alik and his father has been seismic since we returned with Rina’s body.
Konstantin Valentin is cold and cruel, just as Alikdescribed. They barely interact unless it’s required, and even then, every conversation sounds like hand-to-hand combat.
Even so, ever since Alik returned to take his place at the head of the family, I’ve caught the old man looking at his son with something like pride. Konstantin is never going to win the Father of the Year award, and he’s as combative as they come, but he does actually seem pleased that Alik has claimed the position ofpakhan.
Alik doesn’t agree. Konstantin has done nothing but curse and complain since his heir-apparent informed the old man it’s time to retire. But I pointed out that, no matter how much shit his father has given him, he did pack his stuff and agree to leave. Even now, he’s headed somewhere warm and sunny and far, far away from us.
As of today, Alik is the officialpakhanof the ValentinBratva. We’ve spent the last month discussing what that means for him, for me. For us.
There is most definitely anus.
After the day Renzo, Shkodra, and Martina died, we both decided that we’d rather figure out our futures together than not have one as a couple. I’m still wary of being abratvaqueen, and Alik is still anxious about me finding my own path in the world, especially since I’m determined to get a degree. But we’ve agreed to take everything one step at a time and figure it out as we go, the two of us.
Having a younger brother to boss around has certainly helped. The only plans we’ve made involve us traveling around the world for the next year. In part so Alik can check in on various business holdings, but also so we can spend some quality time together in places I’ve only ever seen on a map. For someone who’s been locked in one city her whole life, I couldn’t be more excited. Ruri, on the other hand, has been ordered back to Chicago to finish dismantling what’s left of the sex trafficking ring with Gio Marchetti. Alik is sending him as soon thebrothers are sure their father has left Russian air space. I can’t imagine the ‘Ndrangheta boss will be thrilled to have another Russian to deal with, but they’ll just have to learn to play nice.