Page 92 of Bride of Vengeance
I think about our baby, about the life we're trying to build, about the freedom that's just out of reach.
The medic finishes bandaging my shoulder. "You need proper medical attention. That baby needs you to be healthy."
"The baby needs her parents free," I correct.
Rodriguez approaches carefully. "Mariana, we need to talk. About all of this. About him. About... pregnancy?"
"Later, Rodriguez. Right now, we have fugitives to track."
"We?"
"You're going to help us. Because despite your feelings, you're a good agent. And good agents want Harrison brought to justice."
He looks between Mikhail and me, and I see him finally accepting what he's been denying—that we're together, really together. All on the same side.
"Fine. But when this is over, we're having a long conversation about your choices."
"When this is over, she won't be having conversations with you at all," Mikhail says coldly.
"Mikhail—"
"He's right," Rodriguez says, surprising us both. "When this is over, you'll be free. Both of you. And I'll... I'll find a way to accept that."
Williams calls out: "We've got something! Traffic cams caught a medical van leaving the area. Heading north."
"That's them," Boris confirms. "Pavel has medical facilities in three locations upstate."
"Then we follow," I say, standing despite the medic's protests.
"You're injured—"
"I'm functional. And we're not letting them get away again."
Mikhail helps me toward the door, his arm around my waist more possessive than supportive.
"No more warehouses," he murmurs. "No more games. Next time we find them, we end it."
"Agreed."
But as we head out into the night, Harrison and Pavel somewhere ahead of us in the dark, I can't shake the feeling that they wanted to escape. That the smoke, the tunnels, the medical van—it's all part of a bigger plan.
"Mikhail?"
"I know. It was too easy."
"They're leading us somewhere."
"Let them. I'm tired of being hunted. Time to be the hunters again."
Through the earpiece, Mila's voice: "I've got them. Medical van just pinged a toll sensor heading toward Bear Mountain. Only one property up there that makes sense—"
"The Volkov estate," Mikhail finishes. "Pavel's ancestral home."
"It's a trap."
"Obviously. It's his territory."
"We're going anyway?"
