Chapter 36 – Sebastian
Chapter
Thirty-Six
SEBASTIAN
I am running every possible angle through my mind as I glare up at the bastard. Everything has gone wrong so quickly. I’m struggling to make sense of it, and Taylor’s blood flowing red and warm and sticky around my fingers isn’t helping. The kid saved my life, and now I can’t tell if he’s breathing.
Worse than that, Lauren is vulnerable. There’s only a flimsy bit of wood between her and this lunatic. I have no doubt that he means every word he says—he’d throw her to the wolves and let the predators he mixes with tear her to pieces. It might take hours, it might take years, but they would tear her to pieces. My beautiful, brave girl deserves so much better. It’s that thought breaking me, not the sight of the gun barrel or the fact that I’m about to die. We all fucking die, and getting shot in the head in the woods isn’t the worst way for a man like me to go. But leaving her to Volkov’s nonexistent mercy? That’s making my guts churn and my mouth go dry. I need one more play. I need one more way to neutralize this cunt and keep her safe, even if it means the end of me.
I could tell him who she is—that she’s a Montoya. Or does he already know? Would he care? I wouldn’t want Alejandro as an enemy, but Volkov is arrogant. Like Caroline said, he doesn’t think the rules apply to him, and it looks like she was fucking well right. We underestimated him, and now the only thing I can do is make sure that Lauren doesn’t pay the price.
I grab up a handful of dirt as I crouch there before him. Rolling it in my hand, I wait for my moment. All I need to do is get some in his eyes. If I can distract him for even a second, I’m in with a chance. In that second, I could get to my gun, or I could tackle him—the man’s big, but I have no doubt I can take him. But while he has that Makarov pointing right at my head, I’m helpless.
“I can almost see your brain working, Mr. Donovan. Are you trying to figure out what to do next? Wondering if the cavalry will be coming any time soon? Imagining that you could throw me to the ground before I manage to get my shot off? My advice would be to simply ask forgiveness from any god you believe in, because this game is over.” I don’t suppose he lasted this long without good instincts. He narrows his eyes at me. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t. You are going to die, but it can be clean with a bullet to the head, or I can take my time with you. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Fuck. I don’t want him taking his time with me. I don’t want to be tortured by this sick cunt, and I don’t want him here any longer than he needs to be. He needs to get gone so Lauren has a chance. At all costs, I want her to live. I blink as I look up and around me, at the green canopy of the woods, the sunlight dappling down onto the earth. The birds calling, the breeze whistling through the trees, the scent of grass and green.
It’s beautiful here, and if this really is the end, then at least I knew love. Real love. I turn back to Volkov and grin. “See you in hell, you fucker.”
He drops his chin in acknowledgment, and his finger tightens on the trigger. This is it. Please, Lauren, stay still. Stay hidden. Stay safe.
As if thinking her name summoned her, she explodes from the wooden hide with a sudden burst of wild energy, her curls tumbling and her feet flying as she leaps down the grassy slope toward us in a blur of speed and fury.
“No!” I shout as Volkov twists around to meet her head on. The gun moves from me to her, and I scramble to my feet, desperate to stop him.
She looks so unwavering, so determined that I don’t even recognize her face, not an ounce of fear in her as she hurtles toward a murderer and his gun. She is a warrior on the war path, an avenging angel bearing an axe. She comes at him, screaming full blast, the sound shrill and ear-piercing, an aural assault. She throws the axe, and it spins, two, three times and lodges itself in his body with a crunching thud.
He stops dead in his tracks and looks down. The pistol falls from his fingers, and his hands fly to his chest to be immediately covered in gushing blood. Skin pale and eyes wide, he stares at her, and blood trickles from the corner of his mouth as he mutters something in Russian.
I run over and kick the gun away just in case, then whirl around to watch Lauren calmly approach him. Her eyes are blazing and her lips are parted, giving her the look of a feral animal as she reaches Volkov, who by some miracle is still standing.
She stares him in the eyes and says, “You are nothing , Ivan. Nothing but a cruel piece of shit who nobody loves. This man here is worth a thousand of you, and nobody messes with him, you hear me?”
His mouth opens, but no words come out, just blood pouring from his lips. She shoves him hard on his shoulder, and he topples to the ground, the axe sticking up from his chest like a prop in a horror movie. She looks on as his eyes glaze over and the final seconds of life seep out of him, and I take her in my arms, remembering how affected she was by the same moment with Brad Schmidt.
“You saved my life,” I murmur, kissing her hair and inhaling her scent. “You’re a goddamn miracle of a woman. Don’t waste any guilt on this bastard.”
“I’m not,” she replies, relaxing into my arms as the adrenaline fades. “It was easier the second time around. Not sure that’s a good thing. I just wish… I wish I’d been able to make him tell us where Caroline and Nicky are. You okay? What about Taylor?”
Shit. Taylor. We both crouch down by his side, and it doesn’t look good. His whole torso is painted red, and his skin is pale and clammy. “There’s a pulse,” Lauren announces, her fingers at his neck. “We need to get him to a hospital right now. It wasn’t only me who saved your life, Seb, it was him as well.”
She looks distraught now, like everything is catching up with her physically and emotionally. Tears stream down her cheeks, and she holds Taylor’s hand, squeezing his fingers as though she can bring him back with touch alone. Maybe she fucking can—she’s so magnificent, I wouldn’t rule anything out.
It goes against all my instincts to involve the police, but we need an ambulance here right away, and I can’t mess around when Taylor’s life is in my hands, no matter how much explaining I’ll have to do. I’ll call the emergency services first, my lawyer second.
As I’m about to dial the number, a cry comes from the direction of the cabin, and I’m instantly on my feet, gun out, ready to go again. “Seb! You out there, my friend? I’m finding a trail of injured Russians so I’m guessing you might be.”
I smile with relief. Thank fuck, it’s Sasha.