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Watching them absorb it hurt. That pissed me off almost as much as the rest of it.

I hadn’t forgotten the kidnapping, the chains, or the time they’d spent trying to prove I deserved everything they did to me. Caring that someone hurt them didn’t erase any of it or magically turn abduction into foreplay. Both things fit inside me, inconvenient as hell.

Apparently, emotional complexity was my life now. I missed the days when my biggest problem was a batch of macarons cracking in the oven. Or Nora needing cookies for school the next day.

Roman’s fingers returned to the keys. “I’ll rebuild every layer he touched.”

“Tonight?” I sat forward, worry for them and Nora and the whole bullshit situation turning into a hard knot in my stomach.

His gaze cut toward me. “Immediately.”

Of course. Roman could probably survive the end of the world if someone gave him enough screens and let him run himself into the ground.

I reached over and lowered the laptop lid onto his hands.

“Anika.” He didn't resist physically, but the look he sent me held some warning.

“The accounts are locked, men are hunting Yvelt, and none of us can crawl through the computer to drag Nora home. No one wants her back more than I do, and to do that, we have to keep ourselves together.” Saying her name scraped my throat raw, but I made myself continue. “You can give me ten minutes.”

Maksim straightened. “For what?”

I shifted in my seat, uncertain with where I wanted this to go even though I knew what I wanted.

Kirill’s grin surfaced for the first time since he found Yvelt’s name. “I suddenly support this break.”

“You would.” It came out with a sharpness I didn't mean, and I dropped my head with a sigh. “We're all worried, but I can't stop thinking about this. About us.”

His smile disappeared when I kissed him.

I gave in and let my emotions rampage every inch of my body, driving my desire and my actions. Fear had chewed through every soft place since Alina walked Nora out of the mansion, and rage kept filling the holes. Kirill took both without trying to calm me down. One hand closed around my hip while the other slid into my hair, holding on as I bit his lower lip and tasted whiskey.

When I stepped back, his chest rose hard beneath my fists.

Roman had gone perfectly still behind the laptop and Maksim watched me with the concentration I had only seen during an interrogation.

“Before either of you ruins this, I’m not confused.” I let go of Kirill and crossed to Roman. “I’m not rewarding you for protecting me, and I’m not reaching for you because I’m too frightened to stand on my own.”

Roman’s jaw flexed when I pushed the laptop aside and climbed onto the edge of the table in front of him. “Your daughter is missing.”

“I’m painfully fucking aware.” I hooked two fingers into his belt and pulled him between my knees. “So are you. That’s why you’re trying to disappear into your work and Maksim is one bad report away from invading half the city. Kirill wants to skin someone, but that’s more of a baseline condition.”

“Accurate.” Kirill came up behind me and swept my hair away from my neck.

I shivered when he trailed his lips over the skin beneath my ear. “I know what lust feels like. I let it talk me into a hotel room with three masked strangers. This isn’t only lust.” My fingers tightened on Roman’s belt. “I care what happens to you. I care that Yvelt hurt you, and I’m starting to picture three armed lunatics showing up for Nora’s school plays. Those feelings aren’t gratitude, and you didn’t frighten them into me. They’re mine.”

Maksim crossed the room, stopping close enough that the heat of his body pressed against my knee. “Say it again.”

“All three of you.” I tugged Roman closer.

Maksim’s hand closed around the back of my neck, and he kissed me hard enough to push a startled sound from my mouth. I hadn’t realized I was still gripping Roman’s belt until he surged forward, trapping my hand between us. Kirill laughed against my neck, and the absurdity of kissing one man while another worked at my neck and the third occupied my fist broke through the terror for one precious second.

A laugh burst out of me, messy enough that all three men froze.

“Don’t make it weird.” I smacked Maksim’s chest. “We have ten minutes, and I don't want to waste anymore time.”

Kirill scooped me off the table before I finished. I yelped, locked my legs around his waist, and clung to his shoulders while he carried me toward the nearest bedroom.

“Nine minutes is plenty.” His teeth caught my bottom lip in a quick nip. “I can accomplish remarkable things under pressure.”