Unholy Tsar: A Dark Mafia Romance (Ruthless Dynasty Book 4)

Chapter 32

The excruciating pain is the first thing I’m aware of when I wake up.

What the hell happened?

Turning my head, I try to make sense of it all, but the world swims around me. A clanking sound rattles through my skull and rough voices pierce my eardrums.

Slowly, I realize I’m on a stretcher. Men flank my sides as I’m pulled down a hallway.

“What the fuck?” I groan.

Just like that, we stop. The stretcher is dropped to the floor with a bone-jarring impact, sending another blast of pain ripping through me.

“Nice of you to finally wake up and join the party, little brother.”

That voice.

Suddenly, it all comes rushing back to me.

Vera. She’s still alive. So is Viktor.

Cecilia.

“What are you doing?” I grumble, trying to sit up. It’s even harder than I expected, and I have to shut my eyes and grimace the whole way up. When I manage to open them again, half a dozen gun barrels stares back at me, framing the face of my long-lost sister, a twisted glee lifting her lips.

“I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you,” she warns. “My men can be so trigger-happy, and then what will happen to your little Cecilia?”

“Don’t you fucking say her name,” I growl. My heart starts hammering, each beat like a battering ram against my aching skull.

Cecilia is with Viktor. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Vera raises her hands in mocking surrender. “All you have to do is follow me quietly, and she’ll be fine. For now.”

“Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

She glowers at me and takes a threatening step forward. “Everything you have, traitor.”

“Traitor?”

“Stop pretending like you didn’t leave us to die in that house. You betrayed us, and while you flourished overseas, we suffered. But now our suffering is over. Unfortunately, yours has just begun.”

“I never betrayed you, Vera. What the hell are you talking about? You and Viktor almost got me killed with your reckless greed. You were dead! I almost died!”

She rolls her eyes, disgust etched across her face. “Moron. That night was a test… which you failed woefully. You woke up in a burning house. Your family strewn around you. But you didn’t even think to save your siblings. If you had, we’d all be royalty by now. Instead, it’s come to this.”

My heart trips, and I sway on my feet, feeling the room dissolve into a dizzying haze. My very foundation seems to be crumbling. “What do you mean it was a test?”

She explains it all to me, and with every word, confusion gives way to anger.

“All that scheming. For what?” A fierce pounding ache starts up from the back of my skull and spreads around my head. “You nearly ended our bloodline. Threw it all away. For what? You could have lost your lives.” Our parents did lose their lives.

“No thanks to you,” she says with vitriol. “But enough chit-chat. We need to keep moving.” She nods at the men and kicks away the stretcher. A gun is pressed at my back as I’m led further down the hallway.

I try to walk as slowly as possible, searching for any possible escape route. There must be a way out of this. And I need to find it, quick. For Cecilia’s sake.

“So foolish,” I mumble, just loud enough for her to hear. “All of that scheming just to end up hiding in some abandoned Gulag?”

“I won’t be like this forever. Once we get to our destination, your little tsarina will be killed, and so will you. Then Viktor and I will take over the filthy empire you built in America.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It will be,” she promises. “As always, you underestimate me, Maksim. But you’ve made that mistake for the last time. We have your tsarina. You will do whatever we say, or she will suffer for it.”

She’s right. As long as my cooperation keeps Cecilia alive, I’ll do whatever she and Viktor want. I just need to keep biding my time. Rian, Tytus, Roz, and Gabriel should be in the country any time now.

They’ll figure everything out. Then they’ll come looking for us. I just have to keep us alive until then. “So, let’s say you kill me, then what? What’s your grand plan?”

“Like I said, Viktor and I will go after your empire in America. Only after we get there, our dear brother will encounter an accident where he loses his life. I alone will rule.”

“So heartless.”

She grins at me. “Are you disappointed in me, little brother? That’s a shame. I thought you, of all people, would understand that in this life, only the ruthless win. We beat you because of your weakness. I don’t have any.”

“Having emotions isn’t a weakness.”

“I beg to differ. You became too comfortable with your new family. The Kilpatricks. Your emotions distracted you, leaving the door open for me to infiltrate your empire. Just like we hollowed out your palace here, we hollowed out everything you worked for over there. Now, we’ll fill both with your blood and the blood of everyone you’ve ever loved. Call it a lesson. Tough love.”

“You’re crazy.”

We stop in front of a door and Vera nods at her men. But her words still rattle through my skull.

Just like we hollowed out your palace here, we hollowed out everything you worked for over there. Now, we’ll fill both with your blood and the blood of everyone you’ve ever loved.

It all clicks together. I know where Viktor is holding Cecilia.

“What did you do with my men?” I ask Vera.

“After you lost consciousness, I had my snipers take care of them. They’re dead.”

A gust of rage blasts through meas I’m pushed through the doorway. We come out onto the compound, still awash with floodlights. Sure enough, everywhere I look, blood stains the ground. To my surprise, though, there are no bodies.

Hope snakes through my fury.

That means there’s a chance they’re still alive. I almost stop in my tracks with relief at the revelation, but the gun digs deeper into my back, forcing me ahead.

“Keep moving,” Vera demands.

They’re alive. Dante probably discovered the trap and quickly evacuated everybody. Vera just doesn’t want to admit she was outmaneuvered.

Nothing is lost yet. I just need to come up with a plan. Anything.

I’m still brainstorming when we reach a convoy of cars. I’m shoved into one of them, closely accompanied by Vera and two men.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Not to your woman, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m not that—”

All of a sudden, a blinding flash erupts outside, and the rest of Vera’s words are drowned out by a massive explosion. The car we’re in bounces from the impact. Ahead, I can just barely make out the cause.

Part of the convoy has been completely obliterated. Men spill out of the wreckage, their bodies engulfed in flames. And thick white smoke billows up, choking the air.

My heavy heart lifts. That white smoke—I’d recognize it anywhere. Tytus.

I grin. Looks like Rian is finally here, and he didn’t come alone.

I turn to Vera, but she’s already stumbling out of the car with her men, fleeing. Fuck. I jump out, but by the time I’ve gathered my bearings, they’ve already vanished into the smoke. The distinct crackle of gunshots fills the air, mingling with the screams of dying men.

I glance around for a weapon, a discarded gun or knife, anything I can use. But nothing shows up. Fuck. It doesn’t matter. Bracing myself, I walk into the smoke anyway.

It doesn’t take long before I come across one of Vera’s men. He’s panicked and isolated. An easy target. I come up from behind and grab him in a chokehold.

He curses as I bring him to the ground. “Where is Vera going?” I demand.

“I–I don’t know,” he chokes out. But I don’t have time for games. I snap his neck and toss his body aside. He only has a knife on him, but that’s enough. I take it and continue through the smoke, taking down my enemies one by one until there are none left.

By the time the smoke clears, only Tytus, Rian, Roz, Gabriel, and myself are left standing.

“Ah, there you are,” Rian teases when he finally spots me. “Our little damsel in distress.”

“Nice to see you too,” I nod. As nice as it is to see him, I’m not ready to joke around just yet. “But our actual damsel is still in danger.”

Gabriel steps up. “Cecilia? I have my men on it already and—”

“I know where she is,” I interrupt.

“That would help,” Tytus and Roz say in unison.

“Let’s get to it, then,” Rian orders.

They lead me to their cars, and I get in with Gabriel. He hardly waits for me to shut the door before he floors it. Dust kicks up behind us as we head toward my old palace.

As we drive, he fills me in on what they’ve uncovered about Vera and Viktor’s scheme so far.

Turns out, about ten years ago, Viktor and Vera, with help from Vladimir Portov and some other oligarchs, began discreetly funneling drugs and humans into the US, particularly into Kilpatrick territory. They kept the operation small so no one would notice. Anyone who did was promptly paid off or killed.

Slowly, they spread their disease through the country”s underbelly, corrupting the solid structure and communal relationships we had built. Along the way, Vera left little clues that she hoped would connect us to all their horrific crimes.

If my men hadn’t mistakenly stumbled upon that drug den a few weeks back, we’d probably still have no idea what was going on right under our noses. And that could have been bad. Really bad.

I shudder at the thought. To Vera’s credit, she was this close to bringing down an empire. But she’ll have to do better than this.

“I’m sorry, man,” Gabriel says, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “I thought my siblings were crazy, but yours are on a whole different level.”

“Thank God they’re not as smart as Tytus and Roz. Otherwise, we’d be in real trouble.”

“Amen.”

“But we’re not out of the woods yet. Where’s your phone?”

He gestures toward the glove compartment. I punch it open and grab the phone. Gabriel gives me the password, and I text Dante the address to my old palace, hoping beyond hope that he made it out alive.

My thoughts return to Cecilia. My fingers curl into fists. My pounding heart steels itself.

“Drive faster,” I tell Gabriel.

He doesn’t need to be asked twice.

I’m coming, dushen’ka. Just hold on a little longer for me. Please.