30. Ciro
30
CIRO
E verything fucking sucks.
Mostly the bullet in my back. I can’t really figure out where it is. It just makes me wanna roll around like a dog in shit. Or someone on fire.
Gasping for breath from the impact of the fall and the bullet as much as the pain, I stay hidden, shoved under the remains of a couch. All around me I hear sounds of fighting.
Who the fuck is fighting in a natural disaster?
Oh. Right.
That would be the Mocro. Guess Pyotr told Adil where he could shove his negotiations.
I am debating taking a really long nap or maybe puking my guts up when I hear her voice. The angel of my dreams. My she wolf.
“Ero. Ghost.”
And I know that tone.
It promises pain and retribution.
I scoot out, trying to get an angle on them, to stop her from going up against my insane brother. Because as much as I trust her, he’s a natural born killer.
And I cannot bear the thought of losing her.
Which must be why I find myself miraculously on my feet when the crack splits the floor, dropping out under her. Two steps. A flying leap.
“Gotcha!” I feel her hand in mine, lying flat on my stomach over the edge. The floor slopes down at a steep slant, dropping off into the garages below, another hole gaping just beneath us. If she slips, she falls three floors.
But I can’t get up.
Agony lances through me, shooting down my arm, weakening my grip.
“Ciro!”
“Hang on!” I wrench out through clenched teeth.
“Are you sure? I was considering joining the circus, like you. Learn how to fly.”
“That. Was. Awesome. And. You. Know. It.”
“Not as awesome as pulling me up…”
A gunshot pings off the marble tiling next to my hand, making me flinch and lose the tiny bit of progress I made.
“Or as stupid as taking that bullet for a fucking Bratva ,” Ero’s wavering voice reaches me across the hole. The gun clicks again as he cocks it.
“I would take a bullet for any of my brothers.”
“Then take one for me. From me.” He fires again, grazing my shoulder, spraying blood into my face.
“Why are you doing this Ero?!”
“Because I have to. You won’t let me save you. So you have to go. Be with our brothers.” He’s delirious. Delusional.
And I can’t shout that our brothers are alive and well and in hiding.
Ero levels the gun at me again.
“I’m sorry, Ciro.”
“I am too. You brought this on yourself.” I sob, the pain in my body compounding with the pain in my heart. Because I see Bratva, here and there, soldiers returning for survivors, to eliminate the Mocro, even some pulling themselves out of the rubble. They’re all armed. Taking aim at my twin brother.
“Yes. he brought down the entire organization too.” A melodic, rich voice joins the symphony of chaos. “Because they took from me what they should not have.”
Adil Abas.
“Where is my son?” he asks no one in particular.
He rests his hand on Ero’s shoulder, sliding his fingers over his arm, guiding the gun lower. Aiming it right at Vanya. “Lower your weapons, or my assassin will kill her. One child of a leader for another, eh, Vanya Sokolov?”
Ero nods in agreement, dazed.
But I have no doubt he could still hit her before anyone could shoot him. They’re all at a distance, behind cover. He’s fifteen feet away, framed by rubble.
“We will retreat once you have put down your weapons and vacated the ballroom. Then you will lay down your weapons for good. I have the city surrounded.”
“Fuck you, Abas,” Vanya shouts. “Do not obey him. Pyotr would not concede! Neither shall I!”
“Girl, you hang by a thread. I could simply walk away and do nothing and he will eventually drop you.” Adil shifts as he spots more of our guys taking aim. Several to the side, he’s guarded by a fallen pillar.
“I would rather fall to my death than surrender to you.”
“Funny. Pyotr did surrender, right before he died.” The man’s eyes flare, savoring her helplessness, her impotent fury.
“Liar!” Vanya screams.
And I want to scream it too. I want our guys to fucking shred these Mocro bastards. But I can’t move. No one can, really.
The scene sort of freezes in a stalemate. Our guys hesitate, unsure of whose orders to follow. None of them lower their weapons either.
It’s only a matter of time before somebody shoots.
And me? My grip is slipping. My body is giving out.
I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that I’ll be the death of the love of my life, or that I will have to watch her, watch me drop her.
Selfish, I know.
I’ll probably slide off too and just faceplant in the basement. Why do pancakes sound so good all of a sudden?
Probably the blood loss.
Which also would explain the strange sight I see across from me. A goddamn zombie, blood soaked and huge, rising up behind Adil Abas standing several feet behind my brother, under an overhang.
“If you will not stand down, then all of you will die.” Adil smiles, that smug, sinister grin I hate so much. He reaches for his phone, swiping the call button.
“You first.” That mighty growl sends a chill through my body.
Everything happens at once.
“Papa!” Vanya cries, tears in her eyes at the state of him.
The gore-soaked grizzly bear that is Pyotr takes one powerful limping step forward, wrapping Adil in a bear hug. Bones snap in that grip, Adil screaming as Pyotr throws his impressive weight forward.
Ero’s eyes widen, watching his master, his tormentor spray blood from his mouth.
We all watch as they fall, Vanya screaming, other Bratva shouting.
Fiero’s face contorts, his grip tightening, the gun raising.
But no one notices Pyotr’s hand, reaching out.
No one but me.
I see his eyes for a fraction of a second.
Right before I catch the gun he throws me.
I look my little brother right in the eye when I shoot him. Two times. In the chest. The pain of both shots burst through my ribcage simultaneously, my heart shattering.
He falls.
And I know I will follow.
Vanya looks up at me, her arms shaking, her feet trying to gain purchase, her ankle is broken.
“I love you,” I mumble.
“I love you, Shakal.”
Our fingers slip.
And a powerful hand clamps around her wrist, an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. A soot and dust coated mound of muscle heaves back, dragging us both to safety.
“I said save her, you fuckbrain.” Fyodor slumps down, his back to a pile of rocks.
“You came back for me. I just wish I had one last Dolph movie reference for you…” I’m sprawled out, still holding Vanya’s hand. She scoots closer, propping herself up next to me.
“I think we have been Punished enough for one day, no?”
“Oh! Oh! She didn’t!” I holler.
Right about the time I black out.