I drove like a woman possessed. I barely noticed the cars passing or the horns blaring at me. I had to have run a hundred speed cameras. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered more than getting to Casa Nera. Home. No, it wasn’t home, it had never been a home to me. It had only ever been a house I’d lived in for a while.
The sun was up by the time I reached an all-too-familiar road. Just down it, to the right, lay the gates of Casa Nera and Leo.
I was more than ready to drive the car right through those gates if I had to.
Then I saw it.
A collection of black cars parked by the side of the road.
I knew this place. It was one of Renato’s secret entrances. When we were kids, he’d always been obsessed with finding ways in and out of the compound that no one else knew about. Casa Nera was old enough to have plenty of those. He’d kept his findings a secret from everyone, including me. I’d once spent several days poking around looking for possible entrances on the street and never finding anything.
I slowed as I drew level with the cars. A tall figure stood there, his head bent over, his face locked with concentration.
Angelo.
I slammed on the brakes. The car had barely stopped before I was out of it.
He was hurt. His arm was streaked with blood. I ran toward him, terror making it hard to breathe.
“Angelo!”
He looked up at my sudden cry. I slid to a stop on the road as I took in the person standing just behind him, a bandage in her hand.
Chiara.
They both tensed at my cry, clearly still on edge from whatever had gone down. I looked madly to the side. They were alone.
“Where is he? Where is Leo?”
I stood frozen to the spot, I couldn’t move. I was too scared. I’d never been so terrified.
The silence felt deafening. There was a roaring in my ears that I couldn’t hear them over.
One voice cut through the sound.
“Mom?”
I jerked my head from Chiara and Angelo and looked to one of the SUVs. A small, tousled head poked out of the back window.
“Leo?”
I stumbled as I went for him. It felt like someone had swept my legs out from under me. Nothing seemed to work right. Despite my uncooperative body, I was moving. I wrenched the car door open and fell on Leo. He laughed, falling backward in the seat as I pulled him close to me, pressing my face against his head, breathing him in, feeling the hot, wiggly strength of his little body.
“Mom! You’re squeezing me like a lemon!”
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I’ve just missed you so much,” I muttered, easing back enough to check him over carefully. “Are you hurt?”
Leo shook his head. “Just tired. I stayed up all night, and I met my uncle!”
“Did you?”
Leo nodded enthusiastically. “He was so nice. He took me to meet Angelo, and we came out of a secret tunnel, like in the movies.”
“That’s amazing… and what about your uncle now? Where is he?”
“He stayed behind at the house.”
I jumped when Chiara put a hand on my shoulder. Releasing Leo, I pulled her close to me and breathed in her perfume.
“Thank God you’re okay. You’re okay, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “I’m okay. It’s all okay. It wasn’t that bad.”
“Agree to disagree. I’ve died ten times over since it happened. But I felt stronger, knowing you were with him.” I pulled back, more tears falling. I stroked my best friend’s hair. “Thank you for being with him.”
“It’s my honor. Don’t thank me. Like I’d let them take my little lion and not fight to go with them?”
I hugged her close, my face hidden in her hair. After a long moment, I knew I couldn’t put off asking what I needed to know for one more second.
Angelo was stroking Chiara’s back.
“Are you okay?” I looked at his arm.
“It’s just a scratch. You should see the other guy.”
“I take it he’s dead.”
“Damn straight.”
“How did you know about the tunnel? Did Renato help you?”
Angelo nodded. “He met Nikolai nearly a week ago, and they planned for this. Sofia, I’m pretty sure your father is dead by now.”
I swallowed hard and asked the question that terrified me. “And Nikolai? Where is he?”
Angelo’s long exhale made my anxiety only worse.
“At the house. My role wasn’t to help him, it was to get Chiara and Leo out. I had to protect them. I don’t know what happened after… if the plan worked out, he’s alive and well.”
“If not?”
Angelo jerked his head toward the cars. “If not, we need to get in the car, start driving, and not stop until we reach the West Coast.”
“No. I’m not running away from my father again. I won’t.” Violent menace coated my words. “I’m going up there to see what happened to Nikolai and Renato.”
“Sofia, you need to keep Leo safe,” Angelo started and stopped as his phone rang. He cut off to answer.
Chiara pulled me close again. “Don’t worry. You think Antonio can stack up against Ren and Nikolai combined?”
Angelo turned back, hanging up the call. “He couldn’t. That was your brother. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Home, to Casa Nera.”
The first step on De Sanctis property felt like standing on a volcano about to erupt. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight I encountered when I got out of the car.
De Sanctis men were kneeling on the lawn. More De Sanctis men were standing behind them, guns trained on the back of their heads. Renato stalked the line of captives. Behind him stood three men.
I hadn’t seen Kirill Chernov in over seven years. He was still as huge and deadly as he had been then. His men flanked him. Kirill was lounging against the bumper of a car, watching the oncoming bloodbath like it was a Sunday matinee. He straightened up when he saw me, nodding a silent greeting.
My gaze couldn’t stay on Kirill, though. Not when my heart was aching. I spun around, searching, always searching.
I felt like I’d spent my entire life searching for Nikolai, and whenever he was about to be mine, he was torn away, time and again.
Fresh tears fell from my eyes as I failed to make him out in the mass of men gathered in the courtyard. His distinctive profile was nowhere to be seen. Renato’s eyes met mine. He was still pacing the line of De Sanctis men whose new allegiance hadn’t been pledged.
An argument broke out, someone tried to run, and Renato strode toward them, taking his gun in hand and leveling it at the man, right between his eyes.
“Don’t look, lastochka. Don’t take that evil inside you.” Warm hands landed on my waist and turned me.
Before I could register what was happening, Nikolai had pressed me into his chest and turned me away from the sight of my brother executing those who he couldn’t trust. Their bones would join the rest under the ground of Casa Nera.
“Only my evil is allowed inside you, prom queen.”
“Nikolai?” My breath hitched. All the anxiety I felt crashed around me like waves washing hard against rocks. Only he endured. Only he remained unbroken by the storm.
“Yes?”
“You’re not dead.”
“No, not yet, though I’m sure you have something to say about leaving you behind. Lay it on me.”
I leaned back and slapped him just as the first gunshot sounded, renting the night. I jerked, and he pulled me back against him, turning my head into his chest and tucking it between his shoulder and neck. A little spot that fit only me.
“How’s Leo?” His voice was tired, but content. Only he could be content when we were standing on a battlefield.
“Safe. Safe, thanks to you.” I pulled away as silence fell over the courtyard. It seemed that the De Sanctis made men were done doubting my brother’s determination to be capo.
“I hate you,” I whispered vehemently to Nikolai.
He only nodded. “I know.”
“You left me behind.”
He nodded.
“I thought you were dead!”
The bastard chuckled. “I know. I guess we are well and truly even now, prom queen.”
“You’re sick.”
He smirked. How the man could smile after everything that had happened, I had no idea, but somehow, the sight warmed me.
“Yes, but I think I might be a little less sick than before. It turns out that there’s a cure for my madness.” He put a firm finger to my jaw and tilted my head back so I could see his eyes burning into mine.
His gaze tracked across my face, drinking me in. “It’s you, Sofia. For me, there’s only you who can save me from the darkness inside. You’re still, and always will be, the sun on my face. After the endless winter, there is you… and it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
His words stunned me. I couldn’t answer him. I had no words that could match his beautiful honesty. So I said the only thing I could think of. The only thing that felt right.
“Your son is tired. He’s had an exciting night. I’m tired, too. I want to be at home, with my family.”
Nikolai smiled widely. “I could listen to you talking about our family all day long.”
“Will you take us? Take us home, Nikolai.”
