Page 87 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

Her eyes widened, but I hadn’t been talking to her. Daisy knew straight away who and what I meant. Spinning her body around, she curled it over the crouching form of my son.

"Close your eyes, Alec." She wrapped him in her arms. Hand pressing his face into her stomach as she bodily shifted him away from what she knew was about to happen.

Good. Alec had gone through enough. He didn’t need to see this.

"Ilya, I—" In a last-ditch effort to fool me, Marguerite reached out, but her fingers never made contact.

I shot her once, at point-blank range, and she fell backwards with a thud. Blood and brain matter already spilling from the back of her ruined skull.

Giving myself one second to enjoy the glassy look in her eyes, I finally straightened.

It was finally over. Sure, there would always be dangers. In the world I lived in, there always were. But this one was dealt with.

It would be a long time until someone was brave enough to try and hurt the people I loved again. I had sent a pretty firm message.

You messed with what was mine, and I would wipe your entire bloodline out of existence.

The people I loved—even though I had just straightened to step over her dead body, I fell to my knees again. "Alec."

My voice cracked with all the emotions I hadn’t been allowed to show over the last few days.

"Papa?"

God, his voice was tiny.

"I’m here. I’m here." He rushed into my arms, a frail little thing that I didn’t deserve. "I’m here," I said again, and this time my whole body shuddered into a sob as I pulled my son into my arms and hugged him as tightly as his broken little body would let me.

I didn’t want to hurt him, but I didn’t want to ever let him go either.

"It’s going to be okay. I’m going to take you home."

"Are the bad people gone?" he shuddered into my chest.

"Yes, sweet boy, they are all gone." Dead, I added silently. Dead and cold; they would never hurt him again. "I’m going to need you to keep your eyes closed until we get to the car, okay?" I asked.

It was time to take him home. Where we could begin to heal, but I didn’t want him to see the carnage around us. He had already been through so much.

"Okay, Papa."

Bony arms tight around my neck, I stood up. "Just keep them closed. We will be home soon, and—"

"Can Mama come back with us? Can she stay with us forever?"

"Of course. She’s not—" Half-turning, I expected to see her crouched in the corner and felt like an asshole because I hadn’t checked she was okay, but the corner was empty.

The room was empty.

In the few seconds that I hadn’t had my eyes on her, Daisy had disappeared.

Again.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Daisy

I don’t remember standing up and walking away. Everything was a daze, so I didn’t know what was real and what was in my imagination. All I knew was that I had to get out of the room and feel the fresh air on my face even for a second.

It was only when I reached the outer door that reality crept back in. Pausing just for a second, I glanced behind me. To the dead bodies that littered the floor. Every single person who had hurt me was dead.