Page 79 of Deception

“I should’ve killed you too,” I manage to sputter through the blood gurgling up my throat and flooding my mouth.

The flicker of movement beside me grabs my attention. A flurry of white gauze fluttering over me as shot after shot rings out through the air, almost cutting through shrill screams and cries that have panic roaring inside me.

No. No!

I got her out of here.

“I said I would kill you,” she growls, falling to her knees beside me as the world falls quiet so that all that’s left is her voice. “I always make good on my promises.”

She does. The girl always said she would be the death of me.

EPILOGUE

LUCY

FIVE MONTHS LATER

“Ialways make good on my promises,” I sing down at the marble headstone, trailing my fingers over the curved top.

The large bouquet of twenty-four red carnations glares up at me as I crouch and place another loose stem into the angel-shaped vase beside the inlaid portrait.

“Remind me again…” I look up at Luda. Sadness darkens her blue eyes while she strokes the grave. “Why does it have to be uneven?”

“It represents the finality of life.”

My hand traces the photo as I flit my gaze to the blue eyes staring back at me. No matter how hard I try to stop my tears from getting the better of me, it’s impossible. My hormones are raging, causing my emotions to go haywire. And being here has me on edge.

“I don’t like that. It feels wrong to mark death as the end. I don’t want this to be it… I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“Petrushka…” she murmurs, stroking my cheek.

“It’s a silly tradition.” I jump at the sudden remark behind me, my heart beating so fast that the babies take it as a cue to have a good dance around in my belly. It’s so big that I already look ready to pop. “Death isn’t the end. It can’t be…”

“You say that now because you narrowly escaped it,” I snap at Tomasz as he crouches beside me. “Technically, you didn’t.”

“I’m here to tell the tale, and that’s all that matters, malyshka.” Warm lips press to the side of my head while his arm wraps around me. “She would be proud of you.”

“I’ve tried to do things the way she wanted me to.”

“Do you think maybe she told you those things because she simply wanted you to be happy and safe…maybe she wanted you to find who you are?”

“Well, if that’s the case…” I trace the small, gold frame around my grandma’s portrait and smile. “I am happy, even if the heartburn is killing me, and I am safe because there is nothing you won’t do to protect me.”

“Annoyingly, that’s a mutual thing.” With a hard nip to the tip of my nose, Tomasz levels me with a glare.

“You’ll have to forgive me at some point.”

“You plotted behind my back with Anton and my father. You risked your life and the life of our children?—”

“To save yours. If you died that night, there would be no legacy or legend. There would only be blood because they would’ve hunted us all down. One by one.”

Even if he can’t forgive me for going over his head that night, he can’t deny that I was right to. No matter how many times he punishes me or how brutal it is, I will never apologise. I stand by every action I took, and I would do it all over again if it meant saving him. I’m selfish enough to do whatever it takes to keep him with me.

“We’re all here…alive,” Luda says with a light squeeze to my shoulder. “That’s all that matters, luchik.”

A small smile quirks his face as he nods and stands, taking me up with him. Through the onslaught of pregnancy yuck, my heart beats for him, faster and faster the longer he holds me with a hand stroking the top of my belly. The twins kick at the contact, each jab of their feet, hands, and elbows following the trail of their daddy’s touch.

“You look green,” he chuckles.

---