“Five million?” I utter. “Someone put five million on my head?”
“Gergo. Don’t worry,” Yan says with menace. “I’ve doubled it on his head.”
Oh, my God. I’m a walking target. “I’m putting you in danger. Hanna, Lena, all of you.”
“Nobody save for us, Lena, and Hanna knows you’re here,” Yan says. “We’re safe.”
“Anton is using the storeroom as a base to monitor our surroundings,” Ilya says. “You don’t have to worry about anything except getting better. Speaking of which, I’m going to help Anton carry some of the heavier stuff.” He winks at me. “I’ll catch you later, malyshka.”
“All the loose ends are tied up,” I say when Ilya is gone, “with the exception of Gergo.” I never thought betrayal could feel like a physical burn in your stomach.
“Not for long,” Yan says darkly. He turns sideways to the window, staring at the gardens with tense shoulders and a clenched jaw.
“What’s wrong?”
A heartbeat passes before he speaks. “Lena told me.”
“Told you what?”
He looks back at me. The pain splayed over his face is so raw it rips my chest open. “That you have cancer.”
Shit. No. This isn’t how I wanted him to find out.
“That you’d been in remission for sixteen months,” he continues. “You didn’t cut off your hair when you left the military. It fell out after your chemo treatment. You must’ve barely recovered the night I abducted you in Budapest. And now it’s back.”
“Yan,” I say achingly. I should’ve told him the minute I came to, but I desperately wanted to pretend we were just another regular couple, at least for a short while.
“That’s why you got the hummingbird tattoo—a symbol of life, survival.”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you came here when you ran away? For Lena to run tests?”
I avert my gaze. “I suspected when the nose bleeds and the bruising started.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I dare to meet his eyes again. “Things were… different between us.”
“You were my prisoner.” His tone is thick with self-loathing. “How could you trust me?”
I know what his uncharacteristic bout of guilt is about. It’s about grief. It’s about losing someone when you’ve only just discovered you love that person. “It’s not your fault.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me when things were different?”
“I wanted to finish the Dimitrov job. I needed the money for Hanna, and I didn’t think you’d let me if you knew the truth.”
“Damn right,” he says savagely. “Still, you should’ve confided in me. I took care of it.”
“Took care of what?”
“I made a donation in Hanna’s name, enough to secure her stay and cover the bills for the rest of her life.”
My chest squeezes tight with a mixture of joy and relief. “Yan. Why would you do that?”
“Why do you think?”
Because he loves me. Despite the ordeal of the last twenty-four hours and what’s yet to come, my heart soars with the knowledge. This is the purest portion of my entire life.
“You should’ve told me, Mina. Fuck, how could you keep this from me?”
“You’ve kept things from me, too,” I point out gently. “You didn’t tell me you’d made a donation.”
He scrubs a hand over his face. “There’ve been too many fucking secrets between us. No more, do you hear me?”
“I can live with that.”
He walks to the bed and grabs my hand between both of his. “I never knew what I was looking for until I found you. You’re everything I never had and will never have again. Please, Mina, I beg you, fight for us.”
My stomach knots. “It’s not that simple.” I try to pull away, but he holds fast.
“I know, Minochka, I know. Hanna told me. She told me how sick you were, how you lost all your hair and vomited until you were so weak you couldn’t even make it to the bathroom.” He inhales sharply, as if the mental image is torture. “I know it’s been tougher than I can ever imagine, but this time, I’ll be here for you.”
I cup his cheek, trying to soften the blow. “The survival rate is low. Treatment may only prolong the suffering.”
His eyes take on a feverish light. “I’ve done my homework. There’s a new treatment. It’s still experimental, but the results are extremely promising.”
“The previous treatment was experimental. I paid a small mountain of gold for it, and here I am.”
“This is different. It’s more than stem cell transplants and blood transfusions and alternative healing and Reiki and whatever else you’ve tried. It’s revolutionary. Yes, it will involve some chemotherapy, but not as much as you’ve had before. The researcher who’s developing it is a genius. He’s not just doing research and clinical trials. He’s using volunteers. That’s why he’s making such big progress so fast. Please do it, Mina. I beg you. Do it for us. Fight for us.”
Tears blur my vision. “Yan, please… I don’t want you to go through the disappointment if it doesn’t work. When I told you not to fall in love with me, it was to protect you. Please don’t fall any deeper than you already have.”
He grips my shoulders. “Fuck that. I’m already going through it, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. I can never love you more than I already do. Nobody can.” His fierce gaze is bright with his own unshed tears, his hold almost too tight. “No matter how much distance you try to force between us, I’m going to hurt. I am hurting. I’ll take whatever I can get. A month. A day. A few minutes. I’ll give my life for just a moment with you.”
His hands fall away as if that speech has taken every last bit of his energy. The man facing me is crestfallen, crushed, lost. It’s as much as I can take.
Drawing in a breath, I hold out my arms like an invitation. When he bends down within my reach, I fold my arms around him and hold him close to my chest, my heart splitting open as I feel the tremors wracking his
