27. Elle

27

ELLE

Lev crumples to the floor, completely unconscious.

One minute, he was standing there, talking to me, and then the next, he was out cold. As if a switch went off in his brain.

Is this one of his blackouts?

I go to take a step toward him but stop myself.

He could be faking this as a way to get me to come to him. Today has only proven that I’ve greatly underestimated Lev, and as much as I wish I could trust him, I can’t.

That trust has been severed, and I’m not sure it can ever be repaired.

But seeing him lying there so vulnerable has my stomach sinking.

If he came into the hospital as a patient, I would treat him without question. So, why should right now be any different ?

“Lev?”

Nothing.

He doesn’t even stir a little. He’s so still that I can’t even tell if he’s breathing.

My heart is screaming at me to go and help, but my head is telling me to stay the hell away from him. Right now I need to protect myself and my child, so I stay on the opposite side of the room.

“Lev!”

His face is deathly pale, and there’s a slight sheen of sweat across his brow.

He doesn’t look good at all.

“Oh god.”

My hand moves to my stomach, and I think of our child.

Suddenly, this isn’t just about what’s best for me anymore. Despite everything, he is still the father of my child.

Would I be able to live with myself if I just left him here?

I’m crossing the room and kneeling beside Lev before I have a chance to talk myself out of it. I press two fingers to his neck, and when I feel the steady beat of his pulse, I let out a sob.

“Oh, thank god,” I sit back on my heels, looking down at Lev.

He told me himself that he could be out for five minutes or five hours. This could be my only chance to get the fuck out of here.

I could take his keys and run.

If luck is on my side, I could get Mikhail and Alexei back here before he even wakes up…

Once again, my hand flies to my stomach where the child we made together is starting to grow. A child we made, I now realize, out of the love that we have for each other.

Had .

Because I loved him. Maybe I still do… I’m honestly so confused by everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours that I don’t know what to think or believe anymore.

What I can’t ignore is the fact that Lev was there the night my family died. That he could have stopped the fire that tore my family apart.

Instead, he stood by and let that monster murder my family.

To me, that makes him just as guilty as Igor.

To hear him tell me that he loves me would have once had me crying with joy, but now all I feel is pain. To love him back feels like I’m betraying my parents and Marco.

I look down at his face, and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of grief.

Grief for my family, for my child, and for us.

“Goodbye, Lev.” I reach out to touch his cheek.

His stubble is coarse, and his skin is warm to the touch.

My eyes start to sting with tears as I climb to my feet, but I need to hurry if I want to get out of here.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone to call Mikhail. I should have told him the truth when I had the chance, and I have no doubt that he will be furious with me when he learns of it, but at the time, I thought it was the right call to keep the reality of my relationship with Lev a secret.

But I can no longer look past the fact that Lev is the reason that Mikhail and his brothers lost their parents.

The Koslovs have done too much for me and my family for me to keep betraying them like this. If someone I knew and cared for was harboring Igor behind my back, I would be just as angry.

So, I open up my contacts and dial Mikhail’s number .

“Shit.” I have no signal.

My only option is to take Lev’s car and drive back to the city and try to call Mikhail on the way. I’ll need to go straight to Lucia’s townhouse and hope that she and Mikhail will forgive me for being so stubborn.

If only I had listened to them, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

I rush over to the door, and I’m about to throw it open when I catch the sound of footsteps moving about outside.

“No one touches him,” a deep voice barks. “He’s mine to deal with.”

I stagger backwards from the door.

I know that voice.

Suddenly, I’m eight years old again, standing with my ear pressed against my bedroom door as I listen to that voice arguing with my father.

The voice of Igor Ivanov.

“Oh, my god.” My blood turns cold.

“Search the perimeter.”

My eyes fly to the windows, and I drop to the ground out of sight.

If Igor learns that I’m here, there’s no way I’m getting out of this alive.

“You have my permission to shoot, but only to wound. Let me do the rest.”

They have guns.

It’s the motel all over again, only this time, Lev might not be able to save me. I can only imagine the sort of horrors Igor will make me suffer before he finally decides to kill me.

There is no doubt he will have me begging for death by the time he’s done with me.

“Lev.” I glance over my shoulder at his unconscious body .

I can only hope that Lev meant it when he said he loved me, because he might be my only hope of getting out of this alive.

I crawl across the dusty wooden floor to Lev and violently shake him by the shoulder.

“Lev,” I hiss. “Lev, wake up.”

“Do your fucking jobs!” Igor yells, making me flinch.

“Please, wake up,” I sob, but Lev is showing no signs of waking.

We’re running out of time.

I take his face in my hands and bend down until my lips hover over his.

“Lev, if you can hear me, I need you to wake up,” I whisper. “Please, Lev. It’s Elle. I-I need you to wake up.”

His eyelids start to flutter open, and I stifle a sob as he blinks up at me.

“Elle?”

“Lev, we need to get out of here. Igor is outside, and if what you said is true, then he’s going to kill us both.”

Lev’s eyes widen, and he glances over at the door.

The sound of voices filters through, the loudest of them being Igor’s.

“Fuck.” He scrambles to his feet, but his legs almost give out, so he has to hold onto the wall to stabilize himself.

His eyes dart to the window, and a deep crease appears between his dark brows.

“What do we do?” I whisper as I get to my feet.

I’m about to pass out from how fast my heart is beating.

“Elle, I need you to trust me.” Lev holds out his hand. “Can you do that?”

I look down at his hand, and my eyes swim with tears.

“I don’t know. ”

Igor’s shouts sound from outside, and I don’t have a choice.

I reach for Lev’s hand and when his warm fingers intertwine with mine, I’m not filled with disgust or repulsion. In this moment, he’s the same Lev he was all those weeks ago, carrying me inside this very cabin after he took out those two men in the motel.

He has always promised that he will keep me safe, and now is a perfect chance for him to prove it.

Lev holds a finger up to his lips before leading me across the living area.

I glance back toward the door, trying my best to stay silent as I catch the sound of Igor’s voice.

“Run the plate! This better not be a fucking waste of time, Luka.”

I flinch at his tone. I know all too well what Igor Ivanov is capable of, and if he knew that I was in here as well as Lev, I have no doubt that he would set this place on fire like he did my family’s home.

“Lev,” I whimper.

He squeezes my hand before kicking the rug aside to reveal a hidden trapdoor. The color still hasn’t returned to his face, and I wonder if he’s just as terrified as I am.

Lev pulls me down onto the ground, and I hold my breath as he quietly lifts the door.

His eyes dart to the window and then he nods, silently indicating for me to climb down the stairs.

I don’t have to be told twice.

My legs are shaking so badly that I almost lose my footing and end up in a heap at the bottom of the staircase, but Lev doesn’t let go of my hand for even a second. He keeps hold of it as he climbs down, adjusting the door and rug as he goes .

A heavy bolt slides into a lock, and I wince.

“It’s pretty well sound proofed,” Lev whispers as we climb down the rest of the stairs. “I made this space a few years ago in case something like this happened. No one knows it exists. Not even Pyotr.”

When we reach the bottom, he flicks on a small overhead light which lights up the underground hideout.

It’s almost like a studio apartment, with a double bed, what seems to be a fridge and even stacks of books. Some kind of padding covers the walls which I assume helps to muffle the sound. There’s even another door at the far side of the room.

“There’s a bathroom through there,” Lev whispers when he sees me eyeing the door warily. “There’s enough supplies down here for us to stay here for days if we need to.”

“Do you think we’ll need to?”

“I have no idea.”

“I appreciate the honesty.”

Suddenly, footsteps sound overhead, and I let out a shriek of terror.

“Shh!” Lev hisses, clamping a hand over my mouth and pulling me against him. “I’d rather not test the soundproofing right now.”

“Stay here until Lev and the girl come back,” Igor barks from above. “We’re not leaving without both of them.”

My eyes widen, and Lev tenses behind me.

He knows I’m here.

“It will be okay,” he whispers in my ear as tears start to pour down my cheeks. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

He drops his hands from my mouth and around my waist, and I turn.

“Lev.” I reach for him .

When he looks into my eyes, my terror must be clear because he wraps his strong arms around me and pulls me against his body.

“I’ve got you. He’s not going to hurt you.”

I find myself clinging to him for comfort. I know I shouldn’t, but when there’s nothing but a trapdoor between me and death, my personal morals go out the window.

“His car is here, so they must be nearby,” another man says.

Lev winces as he glances up at the trapdoor. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, Elle. I should have been more careful.”

How the hell are we going to get out of this?

Lev might have stocked this underground bunker with supplies, but it won’t be long until Igor turns the place upside down and finds the hidden door.

If only I could have gotten a message to Mikhail?—

“Oh, my god,” I whisper.

“What?”

“Mikhail put a tracker on my phone.”

“I’m confused.”

“After I got my phone back from the bar, he insisted on checking it for bugs as well as putting a tracker on it as he said the location app can be hacked. It was in case something like the kidnapping happened again. But I don’t have any signal here…”

“Mikhail would have planned for that. I wouldn’t put it past him to already be on his way here with Alexei and the others.”

“Do you think so?” A slight inkling of hope starts to build.

“It’s highly possible.”

I don’t miss the curt tone of his voice as he speaks of Mikhail .

“What is it?” I pull back just enough so I can see his face.

“I hate that I’m not enough to keep you safe,” He averts his eyes from mine. “But I promise you, I will do whatever it takes to protect you, Elle. Even if it costs me my own life, I’ll do it. Because without you, my life is worth nothing to me.”

His eyes flick down to mine, and my breath catches in my throat as I stare into them.

Despite everything he’s done, I can’t help but believe him.

“Lev…”

“I love you, Elle. I always have, and I always will.”