27. Sierra
“Now do you believe me?” I mutter to Yuri, but there’s no heat to the words.
I’d sort of wanted to be wrong, even though I know that would’ve made the upcoming punishment I’m going to face that much worse.
Nikolai, who’d been pacing across the room like a caged tiger, spins around to face us. When he sees me, his expression turns ugly, but he and Yuri exchange a look that has him pausing in his steps instead of coming right for me.
My wrist is already going to be bruised after how roughly Yuri handled me, but I have a feeling that’s not going to be the worst of it.
Later, though. I can’t worry about that right now, or I’ll wish I’d just let them all die.
It’s a harsh thought, but I’ve always been practical — which means I have no idea why I took this route instead of taking care of myself and my mother.
“What the fuck is this?” Nikolai demands. “I thought—” He glances at the other man in the room, and whatever he was going to say dies abruptly .
“Later,” Yuri says brusquely.
The man looks between us, arching a brow. “Just so you know, I was joking about the orgy. If you’re going to fuck her, I’ll watch but I won’t touch.”
I pull the cardigan more closely around myself, more protectively, despite his words. I think I recognize the voice, but I’ve been introduced to so many people tonight that I can’t place it. I try for firm, for confident , as I say, “You need to get in there. Right now.” I point at the adjacent door. “Stop them from eating and drinking anything.”
Fuck, I hope this man isn’t one of Marino’s.
Yuri says something to Nikolai in Russian, then he looks over at the third man. “Corvi is in the room too. If Kotya—Konstantin—is in danger, then your boss is too.”
I realize where I’ve heard this man’s voice before. He was Victor Corvi’s attendant. Angelo, he’d said.
Angelo’s stance remains casual, but his brows furrow. “Danger? What’s actually going on? You—Sierra, right? Explain it properly.”
Impatience nips at me, but I tell him, “Two guys were talking about ‘dosing’ the people in that room, on Don Marino’s orders. All of them. I somehow don’t think they meant happy drugs.”
“And you just happened to find that out?” Nikolai asks, his lip curling. He glances at Yuri. “Do you actually believe her?”
“I found her running in our direction. She wasn’t trying to escape,” Yuri says, and he takes half a step between me and Nikolai as if to protect me.
“I could have gone with my brother and Silvano!” I say, which is technically true, even if the thought of joining Kyran and Silvano revolts me. “Please. We don’t have time for this.”
Angelo pushes away from the wall. “You guys can squabble. I’m going to check it out.”
“Thank you,” I say hoarsely, dropping my heels on the floor. “Fuck. What can I do?”
“Stay out of it,” Nikolai says, his voice curt. “We’ll figure out what to do with you later.”
“I’m not leaving her on her own!” Yuri snaps, and I want to cry all over again because he still gives a fuck about me somehow. Goddamn it. I need to get myself under control. “They’ll murder her.”
Angelo walks past us to the door and rattles the handle. It’s locked, as expected. He sighs and looks over to Yuri. “Can I borrow the gun you’re hiding?”
Nikolai looks between them. “Where’d you get a gun?” he asks Yuri. “Do you have more than one?”
Yuri pulls out a gun, and I have no idea how he snuck that past security.
“I, ah, found it. While looking around the mansion.” Yuri eyes Angelo. “What are you planning on doing?”
Angelo points to the door handle. “What do you think? You can do it instead. Just be ready to use it again immediately.”
There’s so much at stake, and the knowledge that I could be wrong grips me. What if I am? What if I somehow misunderstood, and they go in — literally — guns blazing?
But I know in my gut that I’m right.
I hurry to stand across the room, well out of the way of any potential ricochet, and Nikolai scowls but does the same. He even puts his body between mine and the door, and I think that maybe, just maybe, I’m not as fucked as I think I am.
Then again, they need me alive if they’re going to punish me.
Yuri glances between Angelo and the door before reluctantly handing him the gun. “You’d better be a good shot.” He pulls out two knives from sheaths I hadn’t even known were strapped to his legs, and I have no idea how he got those through security either.
Angelo lets out a dark chuckle. “Right now? These fuckers won’t have time to blink before I get them.”
I brace myself, and a second later I hear the gunshot. Angelo immediately follows up by kicking the door open. A guard cries out, and I don’t even have to breathe before Angelo shoots the guy who pops into the doorway.
The other guard tries to push his way inside, but Yuri is waiting just beside the door. He drives his knife directly into the guy’s throat, his blood erupting in a large spray. It hits Angelo directly in the face .
Angelo grumbles. “And here I thought I could get through one single fucking party without getting bloodstains on my suit.”
Nikolai barks out a laugh. “Yuri, give me one of those,” he says, crossing the room in a few quick, long strides. “Sierra, stay close behind me.”
Yuri hands Nikolai one of the knives without any hesitation at all. “I spotted at least three other guys patrolling the halls earlier.”
“Yeah. I know a few of them.” Angelo grimaces. “I really hope they don’t make me shoot them.”
I follow them, feeling helpless and wishing I had a gun of my own. Kyran had taught me how to use them…
Bitterness and rage and utter sadness threaten to overwhelm me, and I swallow a sob as I remind myself that I am not breaking the fuck down right here and now.
I follow the men down the hall, staying close to Nikolai.
I take slow, deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I’m safe, or as safe as I can be. And the others…
I can’t believe I’m hoping Konstantin is okay, but I am.
Nikolai presses forward, and a glance at his hand shows his white-knuckled grasp on the handle of the knife Yuri had given him.
There are three guards standing in front of a large set of double-doors. They reach for their guns as soon as they see us.
Angelo shoots one of the guards without any warning at all. His chest erupts in blood.
Yuri dashes forward while the other two are looking to their dying comrade. He stabs the taller of the remaining guards directly in the gut.
The show of blood threatens to bring back memories, the wash of red tugging at my mind and trying to drag it down into something I can’t handle right now.
But it’s so much fucking blood, and my breath hitches.
Nikolai hesitates, and he kisses the top of my head. “Close your eyes, zaya,” he says roughly. He pulls me along with him, keeping a firm grasp on me, and the show of sentimentality when he’s been such a train wreck lately is a pleasant one.
Not enough to make me feel better, but it’s still nice .
The last guard screams and drops his gun. “I give up! Don’t kill me!”
Yuri lets out a dark laugh. “You Americans are so soft.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, but I still hear the sickening sound of a knife plunging into flesh a split second later. Dead. They’re all dead. They’re all covered in blood because this was a fucking slaughter. It couldn’t be anything else, not given the time frame.
What if it’s already too late?
The sound of a door opening comes next, and I brace myself. This is where things are really going to get rough because everyone is going to be confused and disoriented.
Or already sick and dying.
“What the fuck is going on?” Don Marino’s voice rings out. “Raphael?”
“Sorry, he’s dead,” Angelo says, shoving Don Marino aside and heading into the room. “Princess? Victor?”
Please don’t let Konstantin be hurt .
I can’t hear any replies coming from inside of the room — and I can’t focus on it, either, because from behind me, I hear Kyran’s familiar voice yelling my name. I don’t turn and look.
I wonder how much blood there was when Silvano shot my father.
“Let her go, you motherfucker!” Kyran shouts.
Nikolai pulls me closer to him.
“Kotya!” Yuri calls out, ignoring Kyran. He shouts something in Russian, and Konstantin’s deep, rumbling voice answers back.
Thank god.
Unfortunately, I open my eyes to see more guards appearing just on Kyran and Silvano’s heels.
“From behind!” Nikolai calls out. He curses, hauling me closer to the wall as he seems undecided on which direction to try to guard me from. “They have guns, Yuri!”
“Stand down!” Don Marino shouts.
Other people start shouting too, and it’s hard to keep track of who is where.
“Don Marino is trying to poison all of you!” I say, hoping it’s enough to convince somebody to lay down their weapons or side with us.
The people inside the big living room get louder, everybody speaking all at once. I have no idea what’s going on anymore.
Yuri takes the gun off one of the dead people and aims at Kyran.
“No!” I yell automatically, pushing away from Nikolai. No matter what Kyran has done, I can’t handle the idea of losing even one more family member. “Yuri?—”
Another shot rings out. I stare at Kyran, and sigh in relief when he doesn’t keel over. No blood appears anywhere on him. I can sort out how I feel about him later. But for now…
I stumble forward a step.
Pain blossoms in my chest.
“Sierra!” Nikolai shouts.
I try to turn to face him, confusion brimming inside of me, but it feels too hard to move.
He catches me when I lose my balance, and I hear my name, over and over again from different voices.
But no matter how hard I try, I can’t get the words out to tell everyone I’m fine.
Huh.
I try to draw in a breath to make another attempt, but it just won’t come. Confusion blossoms inside of me alongside a rapidly intensifying pain, but I can’t…
It all goes black.