He smiles at me again, like I’ve made his whole year just by being here with him, and I wonder how I can talk Blair into coming back more often. Is once a week too much? Maybe she’ll settle for once a month. I’d be willing to work with that. Niko deserves to have a fun day that’s all about him.
And maybe I just want to enjoy the fact that he likes spending time with me.
I’ll never be able to step into his father’s role, but I hope he can learn to lean on me. Even if I haven’t earned the privilege, I want to have some small part in shaping his life.
When the crowds become too thick for him to shove through, he asks me to carry him so that he can see the fossils, eagerly telling me everything he knows about every single dinosaur species.
By the time we’re getting ready to leave, he’s practically catatonic and reaching for Blair. She takes him with a smile while we walk back to my car, adjusting his grip on the stuffed brontosaurus that he picked out in the gift shop.
“Thank you for suggesting this.” She looks content while she rubs his back, smiling at me. “I’m pretty sure you made his whole week.”
“Yeah?”
She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear as she nods, masterfully balancing him on one hip.
“I’m pretty sure you’re his favorite person.”
I wrap my arm around her, holding tight around her shoulders. I never thought I’d manage to find an actual place in this little family, but her words move something inside me. Her gentle smiles, the way she speaks without any hesitation or resistance. It makes me feel complete. Like I’ve finally managed to stumble through the dark to exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“Zolotse…” My voice trails off as the hair on the back of my neck prickles. I sweep my eyes around us, pushing Blair quickly toward my car.
I can feel her looking at me curiously at the same moment I catch sight of a black SUV rolling down the street toward us. The windows are tinted dark enough that I can’t see anything inside, and when one window rolls down just enough for thebarrel of a gun to poke out, I shove Blair behind a parked car, keeping my body between her and the SUV.
“Get down!”
No sooner do the words leave my mouth before the sounds of semiautomatic gunfire ring out. Around us, people scream and run away while I pull out my own gun, aiming over the hood of the car with one hand while I push Blair and Niko further down with the other.
Glass showers around us as bullets shatter the bullets shatter the windows and tear through the metal frame with heart-stoppingthunks.
I return fire, taking no solace when I see their back windshield crack and shatter while they tear off, weaving through traffic and away from the chaos. There are bullet holes in the building behind us, and the sweet smell of coolant invades my nostrils as I pull Blair into my arms.
Her whole body is curled around Niko, who’s sobbing into her chest, eyes wide with terror and confusion. I check him over before I look at Blair. I don’t see any blood, but it’s a small consolation.
My hands are shaking while I run my hands over her cheeks, pulling them into my arms.
Who the fuck did this?
“We’re okay,” she pants, like she’s trying to convince herself just as much as she is Niko. “We’re going to be okay.”
I rock them back and forth, but my mind’s a hundred miles away. They’re physically okay, but I can’t spend too long here. I can already hear sirens coming, and we need to make ourselves scarce before the cops get here. My heart demands blood, butI can’t afford to let it rule in the heat of the moment. I need to push my feelings aside and make sure my family is safe and never in this position again.
I pull Blair up, scooping up Niko’s forgotten toy, and urge her to walk, but she seems numb while we hurry to my car. Thank fuck it’s far enough away and didn’t get hit by any stray bullets.
I push her into the car, driving off while she holds Niko in the back seat, trying to calm him down.
I should call Maksim. The windows were too dark for me to identify anyone in the SUV, but I’d bet anything that this was retaliation for the hit on Sotero. If The Outfit managed to take me out, they’d have Maksim pinned. He needs me to clean up his messes before the law can get involved, and without me, he’d have to fight against both of them.
But with how he’s been acting? There’s a real chance this is exactly the sort of ammo he’s been looking for to stage an all-out war.
And if this was any indication, he’s already been sloppy. If he tries to antagonize the Italians any further, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my family out of the crosshairs. This was already too fucking close.
Fuck.
Gritting my teeth, I pull out my phone and call Alexei, trying to take a calming breath before he answers.
“What do you—” he asks, immediately shutting up when he hears Niko’s panicked wailing. Blair’s trying to hush him, but that’s not going to happen before his ears stop ringing.Blyad, this could have been so much worse than it was. “What’s going on?”
“There was a shooting.”
