Epilogue

Lydia

Six months later

It’s late at night, but Viktor and I have lost track of the time. We do that sometimes when we’re with each other. The minutes tick by into hours, and before we know what’s happening, the sun is rising, and it’s a new day. We have flexible work schedules, though, so it’s all good. He does what Mikhail demands when he calls him, and I’ve recently gone back to online grad school.

But tonight, I’m restless. The air is pregnant with the threat of coming rain, held at bay and only momentarily forgotten when I light a fire.

I love it here. It may be my very favorite place to be, the fire pit in front of me and flickering candles on various surfaces. I especially like it when there’s a chill in the air like tonight, the cold at our backs, and the warmth of the fire in front of us.

It’s early autumn in The Cove, the maples bordering the fire pit tinged with hues of gold and rust still mingled with hunter green. I stand before the flames, warming my hands. We roasted marshmallows after dinner, burnt the ends of our roasting sticks so they weren’t sticky with residue, and laid them where we like to keep them behind the pit. Viktor sits silently behind me, wearing a contemplative expression.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask him, reaching for one of the sticks to stoke the fire. It kindles as sparks fly, the crackling sound of fire rising. Viktor rises and approaches from behind, his hulking frame softened by the flickering light.

“Lots of things,” he says, his deep voice a low rumble in the fire-lit quiet. “I got you something.” Though he isn’t a gift-giver by nature, frequently forgetting his siblings’ birthdays and needing to be reminded it’s occasionally a good idea to toss a few gifts or cards at loved ones, he never seems to neglect giving anything to me.

“Mmm?” I ask, my heart beating a little faster. I never had anyone who was interested in buying things for me before, and I’m always touched by the gesture. “Let me guess. You bought me one of those Caribbean islands I was ogling the other day online.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “Caribbean? Definitely not. Though I might be persuaded by Hawaii.”

“Oh? Are you prejudiced, sir?”

“I am. I’m not really fond of hurricanes,” he says, weaving his fingers through my mass of curls. “Unless they’re in the form of a woman, of course, who happens to wear my ring and bear my name.”

I stifle a giggle. “Of course.”

“Hawaii’s easier to travel to. Communication’s easier. We can use the same currency.”

“Fair, fair. Are you telling me you want to go to Hawaii?”

“Some day, yeah. You?”

I nod. “Absolutely. Have you seen that macadamia nut cake that went viral?”

He grins. “No, but I’ll take your word for it. I love how you prioritize travel based on cake options.”

I nod decidedly. “I do have my priorities.”

He holds a box out to me. “No tickets to Hawaii here and sadly no cake, but maybe you’ll like this just the same.”

I open the box to find a set of ornate matches and a small bottle of the perfume I used when I was younger. “You remembered,” I whisper, my voice thick. I swallow hard.

He brushes a tendril of hair off my cheek. “I remember everything about you.”

I laugh. “Sometimes I wish you’d forget the darker parts.”

Bending down to me, he kisses the top of my head, where my hair’s gone all frizzy with the heat of the fire. “Never. Those are my favorite parts.”

I place the little gifts down by our chairs. We stand together watching the fire when Nikita starts barking with a vengeance. Viktor and I exchange a look. She only ever barks like that when we have visitors, and none of our typical security alarms have triggered.

He pushes me behind him, closer to the fire, on instinct, while he scowls into the darkness. At first, we see nothing.

“Show yourself,” Viktor barks out. “Immediately, or I’ll give the command to my dog to attack.” He snaps his fingers at Nikita who sits obediently, still growling.

It’s no idle threat. I peek to the right of Viktor’s enormous bicep and draw in a quick breath when a woman emerges from the shadows, her small hands in front of her in a gesture of surrender. As she draws closer, the flickering fire illuminates her features. Striking green eyes radiate determination and intelligence, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on, but it makes a shiver snake down my spine. There’s an air of fearlessness about her that borders insanity—it’s downright terrifying.

Long, chestnut-brown hair hangs in a thick ponytail, and her petite but athletic build exudes strength and agility. I have a strange feeling she could leap over the fire unscathed and disappear into the night like a leopard. Dressed in sleek all-black clothing, she looks ready to rob a bank or overthrow a tyrannical regime, depending on whatever tickles her fancy first.

She shouldn’t be here, and yet I’m somehow completely entranced and want her to stay. I’m madly in love with my husband, but in the few seconds I’ve observed this woman, I think I’ve already developed a girl crush.

Still, I don’t trust her. She got here by some sort of witchcraft. No one enters our estate unnoticed. Nikita’s barking is the last warning, not the first.

“You.” Viktor’s voice holds a world of accusation, but the woman only grins as if flattered by the recognition.

Bowing, she gives him a grin, flashing perfectly straight white teeth and full lips with a glimmer of pale pink gloss. “Isabella Morales, at your service. Really, Viktor, you need better surveillance.”

He narrows his eyes. “Why the hell are you here?”

She pokes her head around his arm but doesn’t come any nearer. “I’d like a formal introduction to your wife, of course.”

He growls, but I tug on the hem of his tee. “I don’t know her, Viktor, so maybe you can indulge her.” I want to know who she is.

“Lydia, this is Isabella Morales, the sister of Javier Morales of the Los Sangre Dorada Cartel.”

Oh God. I stare, my mouth unhinged. The Los Sangre Dorada—or LSD, for short—is the most cutthroat cartel south of the border. Aria’s told me at length what they’ve done and why they are to be feared.

“Isabella, this is my wife, Lydia,” he says through clenched teeth.

“I know,” she says with a slow, menacing smile. I take an involuntary step closer to Viktor. “You looked stunning in that wedding dress, Lydia. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to such a beauty. Pleased to see someone’s managed to hook this guy. I thought he’d be single forever.” She winks. “Enjoy marital bliss while you can.”

Viktor takes a step closer to her. The firelight glints on a knife in her hand that I swear wasn’t there a second ago. “Now, now,” she says softly, a hint of ice in her tone. “I didn’t come here to fight, Romanov. I came here to warn you.”

“Have you?” he says in a tone that makes my heart rate spike. I gulp.

“Your enemies are closer than you think, Viktor.”

When he takes a step closer to her, she raises her hand in a gesture of peace. “I’m not here to fight, I promise.” She laughs mirthlessly and bites her lower lip. She looks like she wants to devour my husband. “If I’d come here to harm either of you, I wouldn’t have wasted time on small talk. I wanted you to know, Javier is planning an attack on The Cove. That quiet little brother of yours has caused too much trouble.”

Ollie? His brother Ollie’s the one in charge of international relations, but I can’t imagine what he’s done. Or Lev? Both are his younger brothers.

“My brother wants to use you to get to Lev,” she reveals.

What?

“And why should I trust you, ‘princesa loca’?”

Isabella’s eyes shutter, and her voice turns to ice. “Because I want him dead as much as you do. He’s a fool, a fool who’s betrayed my family and our better interests one too many times.”

Viktor studies her. “When?”

She shakes her head. “Now, now, where’s the fun in this if I give you all the details? I don’t want you to annihilate him immediately. It has to be a real, bonafide battle, you know.”

She’s crazy. This woman is insane. And yet… she came here to warn us, didn’t she?

“I can tell you this. When he attacks, it will be swift and it will be violent. You’ll want all of your brothers and associates near. I wouldn’t let them travel all over the world like you have been. None of this gallivanting to Moscow or Barcelona.”

She’s been watching us.

What else does she know?

“Go. Tell your brothers you’ve been warned, but why don’t you keep my visit a secret?” she says with a wink. She turns and sprints into the night.

“Wait!” Viktor shouts, running after her, but it’s too late. She’s already disappeared as suddenly as she came.

I feel oddly bereft.

“My God,” I whisper, clutching his arm when he returns to me. “She was terrifying and yet… I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone more beautiful in my life.”

Viktor only shakes his head and pulls out his phone.

“We need to alert the others. We cannot fuck around when it comes to Javier Morales. She came here with a purpose, and I don’t know if we can trust her, but there’s no fucking way we can ignore her warning either.”

I nod. “Absolutely.”

Viktor leans in and kisses my cheek. “We’ve got this. Whatever this is, we’ll weather it like we do every other challenge we’ve ever faced.”

With my heart still pounding, I turn my head so our lips meet. The world fades away as I sigh into the kiss, and his warm, large hand rests at the small of my back. When we pull away, dawn breaks, casting a shimmer of gold over us.

We stand side by side, our fingers entwined. We’ve survived far more than this. We’ll survive anything that comes our way because together… we are invincible.

THE END