Chapter 73
Chapter seventy-three
Alisa
“Remind me again why we can’t kill her already?” said an armed man with a nasty scar down his cheek.
Another of the Pakhan’s men shrugged in response. The look on his face said the topic of my death wasn’t even worth the effort of words.
Still, I didn’t let the delay fill me with hope. Failing my mission meant death. The moment I’d left the Italian’s headquarters with Selene still alive, a swarm of men had dragged me into a darkened van and roughly deposited me in this small room.
The speed with which they’d targeted me made me wonder if it would’ve even made a difference if I’d succeeded at my assignment.
Something told me the Pakhan had never planned on letting me live much longer.
Someone’s phone vibrated, and his eyebrows raised as he read a text. He laughed darkly, his attention firmly fixed on me.
My heart rate sped up as I imagined all the ways the Pakhan planned to make my last hours more painful.
“Turn on that surveillance video. We need to see when our cue is.”
Before I could ponder what that meant, a guard pressed a remote and an enormous screen flickered to life. My eyes widened as I spied a stone-faced Dmitri entering the Pakhan’s auditorium.
The image clarity was perfect. I let out a sigh of relief when I confirmed Dmitri didn’t have a single scratch on him.
He’d survived his mission. And by the way the Pakhan was smiling at him, it appeared successfully.
A sense of peace descended over me. Dmitri would live.
“Time to go,” said a guard.
The scarred man roughly grabbed my arm, and then yanked me forward. I cringed at the bruise I knew was forming. Although that was the least of my worries now.
The men surrounded me in a semicircle as they guided me down the Pakhan’s familiar hallways. It seemed a little unnecessary considering the chains across my body, and my lack of weapons.
I straightened my shoulders before we entered the auditorium. Fear buzzed through my veins, but I refused to let anyone see it.
The room was filled with my competitors, but the only person I could focus on was Dmitri.
His eyes were locked on the Pakhan’s. With the sheer amount of people and chatter, he hadn’t noticed my entrance yet.
All my thoughts evaporated as I stared at him from the back of the room. Unbidden, memories of our last days together streamed through my mind….
Dmitri nestling me closer while I lost myself in a new book he’d bought me. Him playing with my hair while he listened to me rant about the twist in said book. And the soft way he told me it was going to be okay when I cried as I thought about how my family had rejected me in the end.
My chest clamped as I thought about the night I’d fallen asleep in his arms and for the first time I’d dared to dream about our future.
I’d been delusional to think I could ever have my happily ever after in a world like this.
A tear streaked down my cheek. Dmitri turned away from the Pakhan, his head guiding towards me like a magnet.
When Dmitri caught sight of me, the emotionless mask slipped from his face. I swallowed as his gaze held my own, a dark intensity swirling in his eyes.
The moment he spotted the chains wrapped around my body, the tendons on his arms jutted out from his skin. And when a guard shoved me forward, Dmitri’s fingers dug into his palm so deeply that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it drew blood.
Before I hadn’t been able to hear the Pakhan’s and Dmitri’s conversation over the chatter of the crowd. But I certainly heard Dmitri’s next words.
“What the fuck is going on?” he snarled, pure rage written across his face.
The Pakhan’s expression was the polar opposite of Dmitri’s. A large smile spread across his normally impassive face.
“Your final test, Dmitri.”
Icy fingers clamped around my heart as the guards pushed me towards my death.
I tried to dig my feet into the floor, but it was futile.
There was no escaping my fate. Tears streamed down my face as I was marched to my demise.
I wanted Dmitri’s last memories of us to be him snuggling me on the couch, and me melting into his strong arms when he’d kissed me goodbye at the apartment.
Not like this.
The guards dragged me forward, and Dmitri went to take a step towards me. The Pakhan placed a firm hand on Dmitri's shoulder and whispered something in his ear that stopped him in his tracks.
A vein on Dmitri’s neck strained against his skin, and his jaw was so tight he could’ve snapped a nut in half.
“Your final test is to kill her, Dmitri. Prove your loyalty to me.”
Pure hatred rippled over Dmitri’s face. A lesser man would’ve flinched back, but the Pakhan knew he held all the cards. If Dmitri denied him, he’d just kill him as well.
“Give up your last attachments, and I’ll make you my heir,” the Pakhan said.
Dmitri stared him down. As the silence deepened, terror suffocated me. I imagined him gutted and bleeding out on the floor….
“Do it, Dmitri,” I said. “Kill me.”
Two sets of eyes snapped to me.
Pain flashed across Dmitri’s face, but I refused to take back my words. I wouldn’t let him die because of me.
It was my turn to protect him.
“I wonder if I underestimated you, Alisa…” the Pakhan said, his eyes brushing over my face.
Finally, his expression grew dismissive. “...Doubtful.”
My fingers slid into a fist, but I refrained from the profanity laden response coursing through my mind.
The Pakhan turned back to Dmitri. “Take this knife from me and you’ll become my heir. Fail to kill her and you’ll die, too.”
At the Pakhan’s words, any lingering emotion vanished from Dmitri’s face and was replaced by that inscrutable mask.
“Let me say goodbye to her first.”