35
Rafael
The house vibrated with the force of what had to be an explosion at the front, sending me vaulting to my feet immediately to make my way to Isa. The window at my side shattered as a Molotov cocktail crashed through, lighting the books I’d so carefully selected for Isa aflame on impact.
She would not be happy about that.
Pulling my gun from my pocket and the spare one from the space where it was taped to the bottom of my desk, I hurried for the door, keeping one gun aimed at the window for any sign of an enemy, before it too could be consumed by flames. The second crash came closer, speeding inches past my face to strike the wall with the door and render it impassable.
I moved to the shattered windows, aiming my gun outside while knocking jagged pieces off the sill with my other gun without care for what they might do to my hands. The need to get to my pregnant wife overrode all else, leaving me with the distinct feeling that I would doanythingto see her safely tucked into the bunker.
A face popped up from outside, warranting a hasty shot to his face without thought before he could do the same. There was no regret as I pressed my hands to the windowsill and stepped up onto it. Jumping down to the ground outside, I spun and crouched low quickly to keep an eye out for any others.
No one appeared, the area oddly quiet despite the roaring of flames both inside the house and out.
Standing straight, I quietly made my way along the side of the house and kept tight to the structure itself. With the wall at one side, I only needed to watch three others for combatants who might pose a threat.
The French doors to the pool area were closed but unlocked when I reached them, the entry to the house guarded by my own men who kept watchful eyes on all the distant shadows. Aaron turned to me as I approached, his gun raised and ready to fire before he heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of me. I walked past him with a nod, emerging into the main space where I’d left Isa.
The memory of standing in that doorway and watching her pull herself out of the cupboards filled me with bitterness. By the time the flames had finished their job, very little would remain of the house we’d called home in Chicago for a brief time.
Searching the room, Isa was nowhere to be seen, the window next to the sofa all but gone. What I thought must have once been her father’s truck sat just outside that window, a blazing ball of fire consuming it entirely.
Gabriel stepped out of the foyer, and my lungs heaved with relief for a very brief moment when I thought I saw Isa tucked safely under his arm. The harshness of his grip on the nape of her neck and the savage scowl on his face gave me the first hint that the woman thrashing against his grip was not my wife.
“Where’s Isa?” I demanded, looking around the main living space and into the foyer behind him.
“She says they went to look for you,” Gabriel grunted, pinching Odina’s neck tighter. “She thought she’d bail on them and find a place to hide. There are men out front. They bombed the gates too and more keep coming. I lost contact with the perimeter guards.”
“Pavel?” I asked quickly to confirm, watching when he nodded his head hesitantly. “He wants his son back.”
“Bellandi sent men to guard Timofey at the warehouse, and back up should be here shortly.”
“Rafe!” Isa screamed, making sure my feet carried me toward the hall that led to my office. The thought of her trapped in the same fire I’d escaped, having wandered into it to find me, threatened to make my body explode along with the cars.
Gabriel followed, trailing behind me as he spoke. “There’s no better way to achieve getting his son back than to take something you value.” He raised an eyebrow when I looked at him over my shoulder, digging his teeth into his bottom lip as he glanced down at Odina. “I have a plan, butreinawill hate it.”
“So long as it means she walks away alive, I don’t particularly care if she likes it,” I grunted. He dropped back, taking it as the permission it was. I already knew from the look on his face exactly what Gabriel had planned.
And there was nothing I would not sacrifice for my wife and child.