Page 64 of Bratva Hostage

The remaining enemies panic. One tries to flee, but Nikolai takes him down with a clean shot to the spine. Another throws his gun down and raises his hands, trembling. Aleksei steps forward and puts a bullet between his eyes without a second thought.

My father’s men are gone. Dead or incapacitated. Now, it’s just my father, wounded and furious, facing Dimitri. He clutches his injured shoulder with red staining his shirt. “You think you’ve won?” he snarls. “You know nothing of me, Barkov.”

Dimitri steps closer, weapon at the ready. “I know you used both your daughters for your own ends. You stole their lives, their choices.”

My father’s breath rasps. “Cecily’s my daughter. You have no right to take her from me.”

“She’s mywife,” Dimitri snaps.

He aims. My father’s eyes flit to me, then to Dimitri’s rifle. I watch the realization dawn on him: he’s lost. Without warning, he lunges, trying to raise his gun with his good arm. Dimitri fires. The shot rips through my father’s chest, halting him mid-charge. His eyes go wide, and he drops to his knees before he keels over.

For a second, no one moves. My father stares at the floor, with his chest heaving with ragged breaths. Then he exhales one final time, and his body goes still.

He’s dead.

I slump back against the wall with adrenaline crashing through me. My father is gone. The man who haunted my life for so long—his tyranny, his manipulation—ended with a bullet from Dimitri’s rifle. Relief swirls with guilt, sadness, and a taste of freedom I never dared hope for.

Dimitri tosses his rifle aside and rushes to my side. “Cecily,” he breathes. He checks me over as though ensuring I’m not harmed. “Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head as tears prickle at the corners of my eyes. “No. He tried to…but you came.”

He pulls me into an embrace so tight I can hardly breathe, yet I cling to him and sob into his chest. The conflict, the fear, the heartbreak all pour out in gasping cries. He whispers soft words against my hair and wraps his arms around me like a shield.

A hand touches my shoulder gently. I glance up to see Aleksei standing beside us. “Well, this isn’t exactly how we planned it, but I suppose we accomplished more than we intended today.”

Maksim steps forward, reloading his pistol. “Are you sure you’re not hurt, Cecily?” His voice is gentler than I’ve ever heard. “You went through hell.”

I try to steady myself and wipe my tears with the back of my hand. “I’m okay. Thank you.”

Grigor nods to Dimitri. “We’ll sweep the perimeter, ensure no one else tries anything. We’ll give you two a minute.”

Dimitri bows his head in gratitude. The brothers quietly slip out, leaving the room scattered with bodies but no immediate threat. A hush settles, broken only by my ragged breathing and Dimitri’s quiet attempts to soothe me.

He cups my cheek and tilts my face to meet his eyes. “I was so afraid we’d be too late.”

The tears threaten to resurface. “I was terrified he’d kill me before you arrived.”

His hands slip around my waist. “Never again. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I bite my lip, summoning the courage to tell him everything. “Dimitri, I—I have to say something important. The reason I left… I’m pregnant, Dimitri.”

For a moment, he just stares, as though trying to process what that means. Then his expression softens with so much emotion I can hardly bear it. “Pregnant,” he whispers, brushing my tears aside. “With our child.”

I nod, voice trembling. “Yes.”

He releases a shaky breath. “You…are carrying my baby?”

I swallow hard, feeling a flood of relief that I can finally share this secret. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you. I was afraid. Afraid you might lock me up even more. Or that you wouldn’t want this.

He cradles my face and presses his forehead to mine. “Cecily, I want it more than anything. I want you, and I want our child. I’m sorry if I ever made you think otherwise.”

“You kept me so protected that I thought you didn’t trust me at all. But now I realize you were just scared, too.”

He kisses me, swallowing my tears. It’s desperate and tender, and the thunder of blood in my ears mixes with the taste of salt and gunmetal. His lips part from mine just enough to speak. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. I love you.”

I cling to him as tears drip from my lashes. “I love you, too.”

We stay like that for a moment with everything else melting away. I blink around the room one last time, seeing my father’s form slumped near his desk. Years of torment, undone by a single firefight. My gaze moves to Dimitri’s brothers, who wait near the door. They came together to save me. The Barkov family risked a war for me, proving my father wrong about them.

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