Page 60 of Shadows of the Past
Five seconds pass just like this. And then, the most beautiful thing happens. He closes his eyes, and a guttural sound escapes him as his mouth deepens the kiss.
Tears well in my eyes again because I know what he's been through, and the fact that this kiss doesn't disgust him makes me want to jump for joy.
My hands find their way to the hair at the nape of his neck, gently running my fingers through it. When our tongues touch, a shiver runs through my entire body.
Every dream, every fantasy, every hope, never could have measured up to reality.
Maksim kisses every part of my lips, and at some point, the kiss becomes careless, hungry. When he moves his hands to my backside and lifts me around his waist, I wish I could freeze time right here.
In this moment, when we're not responsible for other lives, when all the pain and agony of past years seem distant, and when all that matters is how our hearts speak through this kiss. Because there have been days, months, years of yearning for something that seemed so impossible, and now it's happening.
I kiss each corner of his lips as softly and delicately as I can because I want him to have this. This tender love. This gentle touch. This heart.
"Julia," he breathes when we break the kiss.
I smile with all my teeth and my whole soul when he says my name like that. With such ease. With such understanding. With such unwavering devotion.
Just then, screams are heard from upstairs, and seriousness takes over his features.
"Keep that gun in your hand at all times," he tells me, and looking into my eyes, he leans down and leaves another kiss on the corner of my mouth.
I want to take his hand and run away from here. I want to live for a few moments in a bubble where no one attacks us, no one can hurt us, but I know it's a dream.
For now.
He slowly lowers me to my feet, and taking my hand, we head up the stairs. Our footsteps are the only sound heard. The gunshots and screams have stopped, and this is the first sign that something's wrong. A voice is heard a few doors away, and both Maksim and I stop.
"We don't have time to get him out of the bunker," comes from the room ahead.
How the hell do they know about the bunker?
Maksim seems to have the same thought, but he doesn't verbalize it.
I watch him signal me to get behind him, and in the next moment, we burst into the room, each raising our guns toward the intruders.
I'm no expert, but it's clear they're hired assassins, by their mode of operation. Their target is Ivan; the rest of us are just collateral damage in their mission.
Max's first bullet stops in one of their chests, while the second manages to fire a shot. My aim isn't as precise as Max's, and I manage to hit where I think the liver is.
I see that the first shot fired by the second assassin has hit Max, who's bleeding from his left forearm, and now I'm furious. As if through a red veil, I empty my entire clip into the guy who dared to make him bleed, who dared to cause him pain. I'm so caught up in my fury that I don't feel someone sneaking up behind me until I register Maksim's voice.
"Julia, down!"
I've obeyed his orders so many times during training that my body doesn't even need reason to submit to his voice, so I drop down at the last second. A knife cuts through the air where I would have been, and I take advantage of the moment of shock on the face of the guy dressed all in black, sweeping my legs into his, making him lose his balance.
Max moves over him and, with a single bullet, leaves him with open eyes in a pool of blood.
The only sound heard is our own breathing until a soldier comes running into the room.
"We've cleared the property, Mr. Rastovski."
With a simple nod, Maksim turns toward the hallway leading to the bunker where the monster from so many people's nightmares is.
We could have not intervened, but I know the old man has cameras throughout the house and would have seen this. Maksim needs to prove he's the heir Ivan has in mind, and he can't do that if he doesn't protect him in a situation like this.
And I can only imagine how much this consumes Max. Having to constantly pretend, to restrain himself from plunging a blade into the base of Ivan’s neck at every abuse carried out.
Maksim enters a code on a tablet outside a metal door, and after a sound like an alarm, Ivan and Aleksandr emerge, red-faced, from the room.
