Chapter Twenty-Five #2
I step back, but he’s faster than he used to be, driven by the desperation of a madman.
He lurches forward, and the tip of the blade tears through my leather jacket, grazing my ribs.
A sharp pain flares in my side, but my face remains a mask of stone.
“Never thought I’d see the day when Leonid Nazarov cared too much,” Vasili taunts, trying to get under my skin. “You’ve always thought you’re some kind of god, yeah? King of the docks! Fucking bullshit! You’re bullshit, Leonid. I’m something too, you know?”
“No, I don’t.”
He laughs, but it’s dry and empty. “Look at you, bleeding for the girl. Such a show of love. Such an adorable older brother, right?”
I dodge another slash of his knife.
“Hmm…” Vasili grins. “What happens when I take the other one? What happens when I find your sweet Elena?”
Her name solidifies the ice in my veins.
I counter his next wild swing with pure, unadulterated ruthlessness.
I step into his guard, ignoring the blade as it slices the palm of my hand.
I seethe. “You think you can touch her?”
“I know I can, Leo. I have Tatiana right here, don’t I?” He chuckles, then swings. I duck, barely dodging, but he comes at me again. “You think you’re invincible. I’m proof that you’re not. I’m going to take whatever you think is yours, and there’ll be absolutely nothing you can do about it!”
I smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. “You’re even more delusional than I thought if you believe that.”
He pauses briefly, smirking. “I don’t believe it; I fucking know it.”
He swings the knife again, and my white-knuckled grip clamps down on his wrist like steel. I twist violently, applying brutal pressure until I hear the faint snap of the bones in his forearm.
“You know nothing, Vasili.” I press down again, watching his face contort in excruciating pain.
“You should have stayed in your lane, remained hidden in the shadows, and conducted your little business on the docks.” I twist his arm even more.
“But you chose to reckon with a force that’s much bigger than you, and now you’re going to pay for that mistake. ”
He groans, but I don’t let go until the knife clatters uselessly to the concrete.
Vasili gasps, his eyes widening in sudden, paralyzing terror as he realizes he’s completely miscalculated.
I strike hard, delivering a devastating headbutt that shatters his nose in an explosion of crimson.
My muscles burn with a crushing fatigue and the wound at my ribs throbs with every heartbeat, but I completely ignore the pain.
This is what those years of brutal pain prepared me for—Vasili’s execution.
I drive a heavy blow into his solar plexus, knocking the air straight from his lungs, followed by a sweeping kick that takes his legs out from under him.
He crashes heavily onto his back, gasping, defeated, and broken on the dusty floor.
I stand over him. My breathing is ragged and heavy in the quiet room.
“I would’ve started with your fingers, bastard. But I’ve changed my mind.”
I don’t grant him the dignity of final words.
My gun lifts, the black barrel pointing directly between his tear-filled eyes, and I finally pull the trigger.
Bang.
The sound is a loud crack against the walls. Vasili’s body jerks once and then goes completely still, sprawled out on the cold ground, reduced to nothing but an empty shell.
I slide my gun into the holster strapped across my chest and step over Vasili’s unmoving body. My boots crunch on the shattered glass and debris as I make my way across the room.
Beneath the bright, swinging lightbulb, Tatiana’s small frame trembles violently. A soft, fractured whimper slips from her lips, and her eyes stay wide and wet with a terror that I intend to make the rest of the world pay for.
I drop to one knee before her, and my hands, still slick with the blood, move with a practiced gentleness as I work at the heavy ropes biting into her wrists.
The rough cord gives way, and the moment she’s free, she collapses forward onto my chest.
Her arms lock around my neck in a desperate grip. She buries her face into the shoulder of my leather jacket, and her heavy, shaking sobs echo around us.
I shift at the sound of boots crunching glass on the floor behind us, and my hand slides to my holster on instinct. I look over my shoulder and relax when I see Mikhail standing guard at the hallway with the rest of my men.
I hold Tati close, pressing a hand to the back of her head to anchor her against me. Blood, sweat, and tears mix against my skin—the price we just paid for her survival.
But I am victorious.
The threat that loomed over my family is bleeding out on the floor behind me. I have won the battle, ripped my sister from the jaws of death, and irrevocably cemented my absolute control over every single shipping lane and dock in this harbor.
No one will ever look at me again without seeing Vasili’s ghost. They will always remember the consequences that come with resisting me.
But as my sister shakes against my chest, my blood remains at a violent, chaotic boil. I’m still seething. The victory doesn’t extinguish the dark, protective fury clawing at the inside of my ribs.
I look past her shoulder into the shadows of the empty room, and my jaw locks tight in certainty.
The harbor is mine. My family is safe. And now, nothing stands between me and the long drive back to the mansion. Back to the only other woman who holds the key to my heart.