Page 116 of Fierce Pursuit

Everything that had happened was completely on me and I would never forgive myself for it.

It wasn’t her recklessness that had put her in danger; it wasn’t even her sister’s impulsive nature that had done this to her. I did it.

Over and over, her fist pounded on my chest while she screamed her accusations at me.

She blamed me and she was right to.

“It’s all your fault. My sister is dead because you couldn’t protect her,” she wailed. “They found me because you led them straight to me. Then you let them take me. How could you? How could you? And for what? This bag filled with dirty money? That’s all you wanted. So take it.”

She hit me with the bag, over and over, until finally her voice cracked and she crumpled against my chest.

I wrapped my arms around her and just held her to me as she sobbed.

Every pained cry that came from her body cut deeper, her tears pouring salt into every single wound.

“I almost died,” she whispered. “He was going to do things to me he—” Marina dissolved into another fit of tears.

“We need to go,” Damien said, pulling my attention from Marina. “The cops are on their way and there’s only so much footage the police commissioner can delete from body cams.”

I nodded and picked Marina up in my arms, cradling her tiny shaking body to my chest again as I carried her the rest of the way back to the Mercedes.

Damien grabbed the bag and followed.

A better man would have put her in the back seat, buckled her seat belt and then gone to the front.

I didn’t deserve to comfort her. I had put her in danger, and I had failed her in a way that was so profound she should have hated me.

But I couldn’t let her out of my arms.

I couldn’t bear the thought of not being the one that held her and comforted her.

So I slid into the back seat of the Mercedes and just held her to me as she continued to cry, while Damian put the bag at my feet and got into the driver’s seat, taking us toward the Ivanov compound in Virginia.

He made the call to Gregor to let them know what was happening, and I just held Marina, pressing my lips to her forehead as she finally settled into my lap, her sobs turning into whimpers, until eventually she fell asleep in my arms. Exhausted by all that had happened.

I told myself that I was comforting her, but really, I was taking comfort in the fact that she was still alive, that I had not failed her so completely that it had cost her her life… yet.

CHAPTER 33

KOSTYA

The yelling started downstairs, and I knew it was time for me to face the music.

Damien had driven us four hours straight through the night to Gregor’s compound in Virginia.

Gregor’s wife had taken their children and gone a few miles north to be with his sister, Nadia. They had decided to stay there while everything else was secured. It had less to do with the safety of the compound and more to do with keeping them away from the planning, the negotiations, and the grim realities of what needed to be done.

When we arrived, Marina was sound asleep in my arms, her weight soft and trusting against my chest. She had curled into me in the car, her breath warm against my neck, her body relaxed in the way only exhaustion can force.

I couldn’t bear the idea of waking her. Not when she had finally found a sliver of peace after the chaos of the last few days.

I carried her upstairs, cradling her carefully, makingsure each step was steady. She didn’t stir, not even when I nudged the bedroom door open with my foot and crossed the threshold into the dimly lit room.

Lowering her onto the bed was an exercise in restraint.

Gently, I peeled off her shoes, my fingers brushing along her ankles as I slid them from her feet. She made a soft noise—a sigh, barely there—as I set them aside. Her jeans were next. I worked them down slowly, not wanting to disturb her, even though the sight of her in nothing but her soft sweater and white lace panties sent a deep, possessive hunger curling in my gut.

Seeing her like this did things to me.

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