Chapter 28

Viktor

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“I’m fine,” I tell Vera, but she insists on inspecting every wound.

“You’re not fine,” she snaps. “Lydia, for the love of God, tell him to let me do this.”

“Viktor, please,” Lydia says. “Let her take care of you.”

“As long as I know you’re fine.”

I’m a mess, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ll be fine. I made sure she saw Lydia first, but now that Lydia’s few injuries are doctored up, she’s showered and changed and is sitting by the fire beside her mother.

“How are you feeling?” she asks Zofia, her brows knit in concern.

“My God, don’t worry about me,” her mother says. “All that I care about is that you’re okay.” She shakes her head. “You two did a thorough job of it, didn’t you?”

Lydia meets my eyes. I wink at her. “We did.”

Nikko and my brothers are in the campground. Thanks to Aleks and our connections, no one called the fire department until hours after we were done. I’m thankful Yudin had the foresight to see that his crematorium was apart from everything else, so we didn’t have to burn the whole campground to the ground.

Not that I wouldn’t have done it.

They’ve taken the bodies of Yudin’s accomplices, all now safely in the ash of the cabin. We’ll come up with a story for the press. Mikhail’s already dealing with the blowback from the Ledyanoye Bratstvo, but he’ll have that under control. With the combined forces of the Ivanovs, we’ve got this handled.

“You cut your feet on the rocks,” Vera says, shaking her head. “And you’ve got knife wounds. But I think this time you’re going to be fine.” She puts one final bandage on me and stands.

“Thank God, Viktor. What did Aria find?”

“Aria sees no further evidence of any of his men nearby. Apparently, some of his men staged a coup, and he only took the last of them with him.”

His men likely knew it was not a smart idea to take us on because being enemies to us makes them instant enemies to the Ivanovs as well.

“You can breathe easy again,” Vera says softly, resting her hand on my shoulder but looking at Lydia. “Can’t you?”

Lydia nods. “I’m so relieved.”

“And now,” her mother says. “We move on to the wedding.” She holds Lydia’s hand tightly. “It means so much to me to see my daughters married well. Let’s make this happen, girls.” She smiles sadly. “No more travel for me for a good long while.”

We spend the night in her family home. Lying beside her in the guest room bed, she sidles up to me and lays her head on my chest.

“I’m sorry I gave you so much shit about everything. Vera explained it to me, you know.”

“Explained what?”

She sighs. “That all the Romanovs have biometric trackers on them. I mean, don’t get me wrong—it’s extreme, but at least I know it isn’t just you and your insanity.”

I bend and give her a chaste kiss. We’re exhausted, both of us, and in need of rest.

“But make me a promise, Viktor, will you?”

“Mmm?” I hold her to me. I can hardly believe she’s here. Safe. In my arms. I don’t want to fall asleep for a while. I want to assure myself that she isn’t going anywhere, not for a long, long time.

“When we get back to our place, you’ll get rid of those creepy things of mine you kept.”

I laugh out loud. It feels so damn good to laugh.

“Promise. You can even throw it all in the firepit and have a nice bonfire, alright?”

“Well,” she says thoughtfully. “Maybe we keep Wuthering Heights. I do love that book.”

“Deal.”

I kiss her cheek. “Now get some sleep, baby. We had a long, long day.”

She closes her eyes. “I know. You too. Put it all down for a while, alright, Viktor? Your brothers are here, just downstairs.” She kisses my chest and lies back down. “You don’t have to be Superman for a little while, okay? Just be…” She yawns widely. “Viktor. My almost-husband. Oh, and tomorrow?”

I open one eye, still thinking over the Superman comment. “Mmm?”

“Let’s plan the most epic of all epic honeymoons known to man with that inheritance I’m getting. Deal?”

I grin against her hair, still damp from the shower she took. “Deal, baby. Someplace with the best cake you’ve ever put in your mouth.”

She grins. “You do know me so damn well.”