give me direction. A chill covers me from head to toe and my muscles scream in pain.
I walk for so long that I start losing feeling in my feet. I need to find a place to call for help, and I need to find it soon.
My toes touch a solid surface and I smile, even as I strain to hold him up. “I found a road, Yan. I’m going to get us to safety.”
He doesn’t release a sound. His pulse under my fingers is becoming weaker, his body heavier.
“Come on. Stay with me, Yan.”
Headlights shine in the distance and I attempt to make it to the road. I halt mid-step, jerking back when the car speeds past us. Fuck. That was close. If I had been on the road, it would’ve hit us.
The car stops up ahead, its red lights shining before it reverses at full speed, stopping right in front of us.
I nearly cry with joy when the passenger door opens and Adrian barges out. I stare up at his tightened features and his drawn gun. At the way he looks like a warlord ready to start a battle—and win it.
He found us.
No clue how he managed to do it so fast, but I’m so glad that he’s here. He grabs me by the shoulders. “Are you okay?”
I manage a slight nod, then motion at Yan. “He was shot. Twice. Help him.”
The words aren’t fully out before Kolya takes Yan from me and carries him. I don’t sag in relief that his weight is gone, though. If anything, my fingers shake as pessimistic thoughts rush in. At least when he was leaning on my back, I could feel his heartbeat, as low as it was, and tell myself he was alive. Now, it feels like he’s closer to death than life.
A second car stops behind this one and Kolya carefully places Yan inside.
“Lia.”
“What?” I answer absentmindedly, still watching Yan’s lifeless body.
“Lia!”
“What?” I snap at Adrian.
He’s wiping under my eyes. I taste salt and that’s when I realize I’ve been crying. For how long, I have no idea, but it’s been long enough that I’m sniffling and shaking.
Adrian checks my hands, my dress, and my coat.
“It’s not mine. It’s Yan’s,” I say to explain the blood.
Adrian’s thumb swipes under my cheek and I wince as he touches my cut lip. “Where’s the fucker who did this?”
“He died.”
“Died?”
“His partner killed him.”
“And where’s his partner?”
“He left in the car.” I stare up at him as the vehicle carrying Yan revs in the distance. “Is he going to be okay?”
I can sense the hesitation in Adrian. He saw him. He saw the blood. He knows that his second closest guard might not survive.
“Let’s leave.” He ushers me to the back seat and two of his guards get in the front.
Adrian keeps his arms around me during the entire ride home. The stupid tears won’t stop coming and I keep shivering like a leaf in winter.
He removes his jacket and wraps it over my bloodied coat, but that doesn’t ease the ache I’m feeling deep in my chest.
I’m crying, but it’s not only about Yan. I’m also crying because I think I know that man, the shadow, the one who said I had a mission.
And something tells me this mission is more dangerous than I could ever imagine.
26
Winter
I suck in my first real breath when the doctor says that Yan will survive.
He lost a lot of blood and he’s still unconscious, but there’s no immediate threat to his life.
Those words tear into my chest and lodge against my heart with a force that robs me of balance. I grab Adrian’s arm and anchor myself as we stand in the middle of Yan’s room that’s located in the guest house, the place Adrian never allowed me in before now.
He’s on his back, chest bandaged, no more blood leaving his body, but he’s not opening his eyes either. His pretty model face is pasty pale and his lips are chapped.
Kolya is by his side, checking his temperature just as the doctor showed him. I don’t miss that they have an onsite doctor, or that he didn’t ask any questions about why he had to treat a gunshot patient in Adrian’s house.
He just nodded and left as if this were an everyday occurrence.
It probably is.
“How is his temperature?” I ask Kolya as he stares at the device in his hand.
The room is plain, with a bed in the middle and a closet in the corner. The only