you aren’t loved for you. For me, what I feel is all about you. There isn’t going to be another woman in my life. Not ever. And when I die, I’m going to die knowing I get to be with you in eight more life cycles.”
She sent him a tentative smile. “You might regret that.”
He shook his head. “That’s the one thing I’m absolutely certain of, Ania. I have no doubts. I can see why you’d have them. I can be a selfish lover . . .”
“You can be a generous one as well. I meant what I said, I love the way you were with me. I just don’t always feel confident.”
“You should—”
The car pitched sideways. A shot rang out and then another. Something hit the glass on the driver’s side. The car bounced and swayed sideways, nearly out of control. Mitya caught Ania by her shoulders, thrusting her toward the floor. Already her hands were on the buttons of the shirt, closing it as she turned toward the window to try to see out.
“Stay down,” he hissed. “Sevastyan, lower the screen now.”
In the darkness, they could see the other two cars giving them chase. Flashes lit up the darkness as more bullets spat at them. Spiderwebbing appeared on the windshield and the driver’s side window. An SUV crashed into them, driving them sideways, pitching Ania off the seat. Mitya tried to catch her, but he was pulling up his trousers and missed.
The windshield shattered on the driver’s side and Miron pitched to the side, slumping down in the seat. Sevastyan caught the steering wheel, but the weight of Miron’s foot was on the gas pedal. The car fishtailed out of control, careening off the SUV.
15
ANIA practically leapt over the seat into the front, yelling at Sevastyan to drag Miron from behind the wheel. She was already sliding behind the wounded man, moving so fast Mitya didn’t have a chance to yank her back to him.
“Seat belts,” Ania yelled, her hands on the wheel, the car miraculously and impossibly sliding around the SUV as if they were in some movie scene.
Sevastyan used his leopard’s strength to drag Miron over to the passenger side and away from Ania. She glanced in the rearview mirror, and to both sides, but how she could see anything with the car in a spin and everything happening so fast, Mitya didn’t know. Like Sevastyan, he pulled weapons out of compartments and moved to the driver’s side of the car to cover that side. It wasn’t easy with the car in a spin, but he managed.
“Seat belts,” Ania snapped a second time.
Clearly her mind should be on controlling the vehicle, and not her passengers, but under the circumstances neither man mentioned it.
The car straightened out and shot away from the SUV and the other car pursuing them. Sevastyan had his phone out and was texting his men. “They’re not that far out,” he reported. “Can you handle this, Ania?”
“Don’t insult me,” Ania said. She glanced at Miron. “How bad is it?”
“He’s holding,” Sevastyan replied tersely.
The two cars were trying to sandwich them, coming up on either side. Mitya let off two rounds, hoping to keep the shooter from making a try at Ania. He detested her being exposed like that. The driver’s side window was bulletproof. It shouldn’t have shattered the way it did. Now she was the one the shooters were targeting, wanting to stop their vehicle.
She suddenly hit the brakes, and the moment both cars were a foot in front of her, she spun the heavy town car as if it were small and sporty. Mitya nearly ended up in the front seat with the others. The car flew back down the road, leading away from their residence and back toward the main highway.
Mitya glanced at the speedometer. She was still accelerating, and she showed no signs of letting off the gas. He noted she looked cool, hands steady on the wheel, eyes ahead, while his heart was pounding like a runaway freight train. He detested not being in control. She’d turned the town car into a road rocket. He had no idea one could get those kinds of speed out of it.
As they approached the on-ramp, a long winding curve that spilled out onto the main highway, a large Ram truck shot out of a side road, one unpaved and barely a trail. It should have plowed into the side of them, sending them careening into the boulders and hill on the