Chapter 36 #2
I don’t think; I just pull the trigger, the recoil jolting through my arms as the bullets slam into his stomach, groin, wherever I can get them. He stumbles backward, eyes blown wide behind the mask, then crumples over the wooden floor.
When I look at the other man, he’s still alive, bleeding heavily from his leg and scrambling backward in a panic as I kick his weapon out of reach.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move.” I lift the gun and aim it at him.
My hands are shaky, but still, he gets the message.
Mom breaks into sobs, her hands covering her mouth while Dad groans and slumps against the wall, blood wet against his temple. My fingers tremble so hard the pistol almost slips from my grip.
“Dad, are you okay?” My voice cracks as I call over to him.
He nods, though it’s barely more than a dip of his chin. “Are you?”
“I-I-I’m fine. I need to call Aleksei.”
Still holding the gun trained on the man, I fumble my free hand into my pocket and yank out my phone. My thumb shakes as I tap his name. It rings once before he answers.
“Privet, lyubov mo—”
A strangled sob rips out of me. “Aleksei, please. You have to come to my parents’ house.”
“Tell me what happened.” His tone snaps from warm to lethal in a heartbeat.
“Two men in masks broke in.” My breath hitches. “One’s dead. He’s here in the kitchen. The other one is bleeding on the floor from his leg, and I can’t reach the guards. I don’t know if they’re…if they’re alive…”
I register immediate shuffling and voices.
“Are you hurt? Are your parents?”
“My dad’s bleeding from his head.”
“I’m fine,” Dad calls weakly.
Mom is already moving, grabbing a rag from the kitchen and pressing it firmly against the wound when she returns.
“Put me on speaker,” Aleksei says.
“Okay…” I don’t even have the energy to ask why.
His words fill the room, dark and razor-sharp. “Make sure that piece of shit is listening, okay, detka?”
“He’s looking right at me.”
“Don’t you fucking look at my wife, svolich.
” The way he says it turns my whole body tense.
“And listen closely. When I get there, you’d better still be on that floor.
If you are not, I will take whatever DNA is left and find every living relative you have.
I will skin every single one of them alive.
Your mother. Your third cousin twice removed.
All of them. Do you understand? Tell him to nod. ”
The tiniest curl pulls at my mouth when the bastard flinches and nods like a terrified child.
“He is.”
“Good. Now take off your mask, or my wife will shoot your other leg.”
I will?
Panic ripples through me. I haven’t even processed the fact that I killed someone. The adrenaline is gone, leaving only the sick twist in my stomach. I don’t know if I could pull the trigger again, even if I had to.
The man tightens a fist, breathing heavy, losing blood by the second. But he pulls the mask off anyway.
When he reveals his face, there’s nothing special about him. Dark eyes and hair. Mid-thirties, probably. The kind of man you would pass on the street without looking twice.
“Take a picture of him just in case.”
“Okay.” I snap a shot and send it to Aleksei.
“Good girl. Now leave him there and go upstairs and lock the door, then move the dresser in front. Don’t open for anyone until I am there. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Go now, but do not hang up.”
I hurry to my parents. Dad tries to stand, but nearly buckles, still clutching the gun, so I slip my phone into my pocket, then lock an arm around him and support his weight. We move up the stairs as fast as possible, Mom leading the way.
Aleksei is still on the line as he shouts to the others in Russian. Car doors slam. Engines roar to life. Every sound tells me he’s coming and nothing will stop him.
We reach my parents’ bedroom, and I lock the door behind us. My mind races, spinning through every possibility.
Were these men hired by whoever has been sending me notes, or by someone else entirely? Is this because of Aleksei or because of me? I can’t piece any of it together.
“We’re going to move the dresser now,” I tell him, placing the phone and gun on the bed as my parents help me shove the heavy furniture across the floor until it sits firmly against the door.
“I’ll be there soon,” he says, then goes quiet. “I’m sorry.”
The words are heavy with a regret so thick it sinks straight into me.
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is, but I will take care of it. Keep your gun with you. If anyone tries to open that door before I arrive, shoot first.”
“Okay.”
He releases a hard breath. “With everything in me, Fiona, I swear I will hunt down every person involved in this and I will tear them apart. No one touches you and lives. Do you hear me? No one.”
I do hear him. Every word hits straight in my bones.
My heart knocks against my ribs as I stare at the barricaded door, waiting for the sound of engines outside. Waiting for the man I once swore I could never love to come save the family I would die for.
ALEKSEI
Ya ikh unichtozhu. I will destroy them.
That is all I think about as the engine roars while I speed through the street. Konstantin is silent beside me, Kirill and Anton in the back, a convoy of SUVs full of our men swallowing the road behind us.
Fiona is still on speaker, her breathing faint but shaky. I can just imagine how afraid she was. What they could have done to her.
I slam my foot down harder, weaving through traffic like the laws of this city do not apply to me, blowing past lights and signs without registering a single one. The only thought in my head is her name. The only picture behind my eyes is what they could have done to her.
She fought for her life tonight. And I was not there.
Blyat!
My grip tightens around the wheel until the leather bites into my palms. Fury boils through me, climbing up my spine in a way that is almost uncontrollable, but beneath it sits something far more dangerous for a man like me.
Fear. Not for myself, but for her.
The realization slams into me with the force of a crash.
I could have lost her today. Lost the one person who slipped through every crack in my armor without even trying. And if she had died, there would be nothing left of me worth saving.
Konstantin taps two fingers against the console, pointing to the phone. A silent order to mute her.
“I am putting you on mute for a second, but I’m still here,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She sounds strong, and I’m glad for it, though that bastard’s death won’t be any better for it.
I press the button, silencing her line.
“What?” I ask my brother.
“Viktor and Leonid are still not answering. They have either been captured or they are dead.”
“They would never let themselves be captured.”
He nods as the truth settles between us. If they aren’t answering, we already know the outcome.
We are all used to death. We’ve seen it with family, friends. It shouldn’t be as easy as it is, but we don’t have much choice other than to move on.
Konstantin glances at me again. “Emilia does not hear about what happened to Fiona. I do not want her upset.”
“She won’t.”
“And Fiona?” Konstantin asks.
“She won’t say a word,” I grit out. “She would never stress her out when she is pregnant.”
My fingers curl tighter around the wheel. Fiona’s voice is still in my ears, trembling when she told me what happened. Konstantin watches me for half a second longer, then nods, and I immediately unmute her.
“Fiona? I’m here.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes. Konstantin was worried about Emilia finding out.”
“Well, none of you better tell her anything.”
Konstantin smirks, and I shoot him a look that says told you so. He tosses his hands up in surrender, but we both know he’s only trying to protect his wife in the same way I’m trying to protect mine.
“Stay with me. Keep talking if you need to. I’m getting closer.”
The SUV surges forward, engine growling beneath my hands as the speedometer climbs, matching the ferocity in my chest. Homes and buildings smear into colorless blurs. Every turn, every stretch of road, is nothing but space between me and her.
When I reach that house, I will tear the truth out of the bastard who touched her. And then I will make damn sure she is never out of my sight again.