Bloodlines: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (The Snake Eyes Series Book 4) (15 page)

We round the corner towards Gio’s study and I come to a grinding halt as a petite force collides with me.

Sofia.

She screams in my arms and shoves me back, her limbs flailing wildly in a blind panic to get away from me. I open my mouth to speak but I fall into silence when I see the blood.

She’s covered with it from head-to-toe. It drips from her face and her hands. The scent of it stings my nose.

“Sofia!” I grab her wrists to keep her from thrashing. “
Sofia, stop!
It’s me! It’s me!”

She slows down, her wide eyes squinting in the dark at me before she exhales a thick breath.
“Luka…”

I pull her closer, cupping her face to make sure she sees me. “Yes, it’s me.”

Her knees give out from under her but I wrap my arms around her to hold her up. “Luka…” She reaches for my face.
“You’re alive?”

“I’m here. I’m alive.”

“You came back...”

I shake my head. “I never left you, Sofia.”

She collapses against my chest, squeezing my jacket in her weak grasp and I look over at Fox as she shakes like a lost animal in my arms. His eyes show shock through his mask, no doubt mirroring my own expression. I glance at my hands, staring at my fingers now coated in red.

What the hell happened here?

Someone stumbles out into the hallway down the corridor and I watch as he limps in our direction.

Gio sees my face and he stops cold.

I look him up and down, seeing splotches of blood staining his clothes and Sofia squeezes me even tighter at the very sight of him.

“He knows,”
she whispers at me.
“He knows everything.”

Gio spins around to take off in the other direction and I give Fox a quick nod.

Fox raises his rifle and takes aim at Gio’s head.

“Wait!”
Sofia shouts and grabs Fox’s arm. “Don’t shoot him.”

I look down at her swollen eyes and my heart clenches. She should want this bastard dead more than anybody. “Sofia, he deserves this.”

“He took Lucian,” she says. “I don’t know where but he does.”

Fox adjusts his aim and fires.

The bullet clips Gio’s right calf, sending him spinning down to the carpet before he reaches the far corner. He screams and struggles to pull himself up but the pain sends him back down to the floor.

I follow him with a wide stride, taking Sofia’s hand in mine, driven by a pure, aching vengeance.

Gio claws at the floor to distance himself from me but I’m on him in seconds, digging my heel into his leg and he cries out in agony.

“Where is he?”
I hiss, letting up on his leg to make him stop squealing.

He smirks at me. “My son is safe.”

My rage boils, flashing white light in my eyes.

My
son. He’s
my
fucking son.

“Where?!”
I ask again, leaning into his wound.

Gio grunts with frustration. “What was it like, eh?” he spits through his teeth. “Taking another man’s wife, right under his nose? In his own fucking house?”

“Not bad, honestly,” I quip.

“Do you have no honor, Lutrova?”

“It comes and goes.” I bend down, blissfully enjoying the pain in his eyes. “And for the record, she wasn’t even your wife yet. She came to me because she
couldn’t stand
the idea of you getting to her first. And
come
, she did.”

Sofia squeezes my hand. “Luka…”

Gio’s eyes shift towards hers. “I should have known when
my
virgin bride
didn’t bleed for me.”

“She bleeds for no one,” I say. “Not anymore.”

He laughs. “You think you’re just going to walk out of here with her? Look where you are. You’re dead where you stand.”

“Your guards are gone, Gio. All of them — even that pathetic assassin you sent after me.
You want to kill me?
You’re going to have to try a little harder than this.”

“I’ll be sure to remember that.”

“Don’t bother,” I say. “You won’t see the next sunrise.”

“Your bastard won’t either,” he chuckles and licks the sweat off his lips. “Go ahead. Kill me.
I dare you.
”

I put all of my weight onto his leg and he growls in pain.

“Luka.”

I look over my shoulder at Fox and he beckons me down the hall.

“Don’t go anywhere,” I growl at Gio. “We’re not done yet.”

He spits at my feet as I push off of him. I hold Sofia’s hand a little tighter as we move down the hall towards Fox. I may never let go of her ever again after this.

“We’ve got company,” Fox says.

“Who?”

“Three cars just parked outside. Someone must have called for backup.”

“How many men?”

“A dozen? Maybe more and I’m low on ammo.”

“How low?”

“Too low.”

“Then, I hope you’re good with a knife.”

“Better than most,” he shrugs.

Definitely cocky.

I pause, taking a quick breath to try and think a little clearer. Gio has my son. There’s no way I’m leaving here without knowing where but we’re officially out of time.

Sofia stares up at me, shaking with confusion and fear behind a veil of blood on her face but I don’t see a wound anywhere.

And then I realize.

“Where’s Rosalie?” I ask her.

Her eyes swell and she looks behind my back to Gio’s study down the hall.

I move towards it and she drags her feet, dropping my hand completely by the doorway to avoid going inside.

The smell of blood and sweat reaches my nose before I even see her on the floor.

But mostly blood.

Gio laughs. He fucking laughs.

“That one is on you, by the way,” he says, propping himself up onto his elbows. “If you had kept your hands off of my wife then she never would have seen a thing and she’d still be breathing right now—”

“Shut up,” I seethe. He chuckles even louder to himself. “No, Gio, this is on you, just like
Hans Petrovin
is on you.”

He smirks. “Prove it.”

“I’m working on it.”

Fox rushes in our direction from the front of the house. “We need to move now, Luka.”

I keep my eyes on Gio. “Where is Lucian?”

He shrugs and anger spikes in me.

I stride towards him, ready to pull him off the floor and beat him to death, but Sofia grabs my arm.

“Luka—!” She pulls at me and I jump back to dodge the gunfire blazing from down the hall.

We retreat together into the study to avoid it and Fox leaps in behind us. He kneels by the doorway and peeks out with his rifle, firing off the last of his rounds before throwing the strap over his shoulder and reaching for a switchblade in his belt.

I look out into the hall again and grit my teeth in anger.

Gio is gone.

“How many?” I ask Fox.

He pokes his head out for a quick second, just narrowly dodging the bullet before it pierces the wooden doorway. “About seven.”

Sofia gasps beside me, her ears tuning to the sound before it even reaches mine.

A crying child.

“Lucian—!”
She lunges for the windows and looks outside into the back garden. “Luka, it’s him.”

I push the curtains aside and watch as Gio limps into the trees with my son thrown over his shoulder.

“Get back,” I tell Sofia, guiding her away from the windows as I spin around to grab the nearest chair.

Fox flicks his switchblade open and yanks an eager gunman from just outside the doorway. Sofia screams, jumping away as Fox flips him onto his back and plunges the knife into his chest to put him down.

I throw the chair at the window and it shatters.

“Sofia, come on!” I grab her hand as Fox pulls the assault rifle from the man’s dead fingers.

We climb outside and Fox kneels beside the window, firing bullets inside to give us time to run. Sofia bolts ahead of me, following Lucian’s piercing cries into the woods over the pop of gunfire behind us.

She slips from my fingers and she runs, weaving in and around trees in the dark without even needing a map, just like that day fifteen years ago when I followed her in as I am now.

Except this time, I’ll actually try and seek out Gio as he hides from me.

And when I find him, I’ll kill him.

“Lucian!” Sofia cries out his name, running on pure adrenaline and motherly instinct as I race behind her, trying to keep up.

I lose her in the dark and Lucian’s piercing cry disappears.

“Sofia!”

My eyes adjust to the darkness and I make out the garden shed, nestled between two large trees near the back wall. I’m struck with a vivid hesitation. The last time I saw this place, we conceived our son.

Terror grips my chest but I step towards it. “Sofia…”

I push the door open and I feel the presence in the room. It’s too dark, so I search for the string hanging down somewhere in the center of the room.

I flick the light on and there she is, kneeling on the floor with Lucian in her arms.

He’s not crying anymore but she is, holding him close and whispering in his ear as he gazes up at me with those silver eyes.

“Where’s Gio?” I growl.

Sofia shakes her head.

Shouting voices echo behind us, accompanied by feet racing towards us, and my heart stands still.

It was the ultimate trap. Use Lucian as bait to lure us out here with nowhere to go but up against a fucking wall.

Beep beep beep.

My ears twitch and I step back outside to find Fox kneeling by the wall, laying something on the ground in front of it.

He rushes over to me and ducks behind the shed.

“You might want to get down…” he says.

He reaches into his vest and pulls out a small, black device. It fits snug in his palm and he lays his thumb against a smooth, round button at its tip.

A detonator.

I fall to my knees beside Sofia and Lucian to shield them as Fox pushes the button.

The bomb explodes, shaking the earth and the shed nearly topples around us. Sofia screams, completely caught off-guard by it and I hold her even closer against me as Lucian cries in her arms.

Fox stands and runs to the hole to jump through it first. I pull Sofia up and we follow closely behind him, squinting through the dust and debris as it settles to the earth.

Then, she stops.

“Sofia, come on…” I extend my hand to her, eager to get her and Lucian as far away from this place as possible.

Her eyes fall to my fingers and for a brief moment, she smiles.

She takes my hand and we run together, leaving the confused shouts of Gio’s men behind us.

Chapter 17

Sofia

I’ve never been on a plane before.

Twenty years on this earth and I’ve never had both feet off the ground at once. It’s scarier than I thought it’d be, especially in a plane this small. Every gust of wind, every shift in pressure. I feel it all with closed eyes, counting the moments until it’s all over but when we finally land, I won’t be in Italy anymore.

I’ll be in Russia.

I sit in my seat with a white knuckle grip on the armrests around me. Lucian lays beside me, curled up in Luka’s jacket, sleeping as if he didn’t have a care in the world but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If only I could be as calm as he is. If only I could forget about all of this and grow up without any memory of tonight or where I came from.

“Sofia?”

I flinch and look up to find Luka staring down at me from the thin aisle. He extends his hand to me but I hesitate to move.

“It’s okay,” he whispers, careful not to wake Lucian.

I release the armrest and my fingers ache from stiffness. My red skin feels sticky and cold. I can’t stand to look at it but Luka shows no fear as he takes my hand. Warmth trembles my fingers as he guides me from my seat and leads me towards the back of the plane.

Yuri looks at me but turns away, forcing his eyes down at the very sight of me. I’m not sure if he’s angry or disgusted or scared or all at the same time. I know I certainly would be if I could feel anything at all right now.

My eyes fall on the American. He looks at me without turning away and I study his handsome face. Short, brown hair and big, brown eyes. Soft features, nothing like the sharp Russian ones on the others. He gives me a respectful nod and I blink at the white scar across his cheek.

Luka pushes open the restroom door and I step inside the cramped, airless space as he grabs several hand towels from a cupboard outside. He follows me in and closes the door behind him.

“Sit down,” he tells me.

I do as he says and he wets a towel with water from the tiny sink.

“Who is that man out there?” I ask.

Luka kneels in front of me with the damp towel and takes my hand. “His name is Fox,” he answers, wiping the blood off my wrist.

“Is he a friend of yours?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

I watch him work. Each swipe of the towel removes a little more red from my pale skin.

“I wouldn’t get too attached to him, though,” he adds. “He won’t be around for long.”