“Molly—”
I never got to hear Kirill’s reaction to realizing I could be pregnant after all. I didn’t get to know what his first words would be if he found out we were tied together for life.
The loud popping sound made me jump as the silence in the store outside shattered. After a moment’s lull, the screaming began.
Kirill jerked, looking toward the curtains as more bangs punctuated the air with sharp beats. Slowly, I realized what they were. Gunshots. We were being shot at.
Kirill grabbed my arm and spun me away from the curtains and further back into the changing room. He grabbed his gun from a holster I hadn’t even noticed. I heard shouts in Russian. Max’s voice, perhaps? Then Kirill was turning and pushing me out the other side of the changing room into a white corridor leading to the staff room with a fire exit at the end. Harsh shouts of angry men filled the air, coming toward us.
“Go, Molly. Run and don’t look back,” Kirill breathed in my ear as he backed us down the long corridor. He pushed me away from him hard, and I stumbled into the wall.
“What about you?” Fear made my voice a squeak.
“Don’t worry about me, Princess. Just go,” Kirill grunted, training his gun on the place where the men pursuing us would appear.
“Let’s go together,” I urged, gripping his sleeve tightly.
Kirill looked down at me. “You wanted to get away from me. This is your chance, isn’t it?” he reminded me harshly.
There was a commotion around the corner, and a man stepped out. Kirill shot him before he could lift his gun. “Go, Mallory. Now!”
I took a stumbling step away from him, my feet bare on the cold tiles. A scraping sound turned our gazes to the exit door. It swung in from outside and two men entered. I’d never seen them before. They looked nothing like the usual Chernov made man or Kirill’s bodyguards. They wore black gloves and sharp suits.
The world slowed as their guns rose toward us, as did Kirill’s. I heard the bullets leave their weapons at the same time as his. One of the strangers fell, shot by Kirill. The other man swore loudly and fired at us again. Kirill shouldered in front of me, knocking me roughly behind him and putting his big, burly body between me and the speeding bullet with my name on it.
The sound of the bullet hitting him was something I would never forget. It would be forever etched in my mind as the worst thing I’d ever heard. Kirill fell backward, and his momentum took me down too.
I fell beneath him, and it knocked the wind from my lungs. The other man’s footsteps moved toward us. I didn’t want to look up. I didn’t want to see the gun he held being pointed at me.
“Molly,” Kirill grunted, his face against my bare legs.
I touched his cheek as terror unlike anything I’d felt before ran rampant through me and set my blood on fire.
“Here,” Kirill muttered.
I realized he was still holding his gun. I was turned away from the advancing man, and clearly, he didn’t expect much from me. I took the gun as Kirill’s eyes tracked me; his face splashed red with his blood. So much blood.
I bit back a sob as I put my finger on the trigger and braced myself.
A whisper of a smile passed over Kirill’s lips. “Good girl.”
I turned and leveled the gun at the man, and without a second thought, pulled the trigger. My aim was wildly off. I’d never fired a gun before, and the recoil nearly sent me sprawling. But he hadn’t been expecting it and cursed in Italian. He recovered quickly and swung his weapon at me again.
I pulled the trigger repeatedly, sending bullets ricocheting off the walls around us and making the approaching attacker cringe and duck. I could only pray I didn’t hit Kirill or me with my wild shots.
I pulled the trigger again, and a click sounded.
The man smiled mockingly. “Looks like you’re out of bullets.” He pointed his gun, complete with silencer, at me. “What a shame to kill something so beautiful so quickly. Maybe there’s time for a little fun first,bella?”
I closed my eyes, turned my face to the wall, and wrapped an arm around my stomach. I wanted to protect the baby growing inside me, but nothing could protect us from a point-blank gunshot.
A pang of sadness hit me so hard it nearly winded me. I wouldn’t get to see the baby be born. I would never hold it or see if it had my fair hair or Kirill’s dark locks. A furious sob worked up my throat, and I turned completely toward the wall as if it would protect me from the advancing man’s gun or dark intentions. I couldn’t do anything to protect the baby but give it the protection of my body, as fragile and useless as that was. It was my final act of love.
Something clicked inside me as I recalled the way Kirill had pushed me aside and stepped into the path of the speeding bullet, offering his life in exchange for mine.
A final act of love.
I covered my ears as hot tears dashed down my cheeks and waited. I waited a little more. Slowly, I looked around.