Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
ANDREI
With every second that ticks by Oleg’s irritation seems to increase, the air in the room thick with violence. His right-hand has been gone a really fucking long-time, and Oleg is antsy as shit, texting and calling his men, pacing the room and swearing when he gets no response.
Something has gone wrong, that much is clear.
Anxiety skitters down my spine. My brothers and I are cuffed with our hands behind our backs and forced against the wall as two of Oleg’s goons loom over us with guns.
Kira remains at Oleg’s feet, hugging her knees, while Oleg barks commands at his men.
She throws me an apologetic look, and I shake my head.
She doesn’t need to apologize, not for this.
Kira is brave, I’ll give her that, but also reckless. Hard to fault her for something baked into her DNA.
A sharp cry rings through the air as a soldier roughly shoves Georgia into the room. Her hands are bound in front of her, and blood splatters her face.
A fresh wave of pain shoots through me. She’s the last person I wanted to pull into this nightmare.
Georgia’s gaze sweeps over the room—from the dead bodies on the ground, to Kira huddled by her father’s feet.
Finally, her eyes collide with mine. Alarm, confusion, anger—so much expressed in those wolf-like eyes of hers.
Her gaze is steady, and I subtly shake my head, letting her know that I’m unharmed.
She blinks slowly—once, then twice. It’s a message, but I don’t know what she’s trying to tell me.
Regardless, I hold still, waiting to see what she has planned.
“Ah, my little dove.” Oleg’s face lights up at her entrance.
The soldier leading Georgia towards Oleg speaks up. “She killed Kristian and Rodrigo. I found their bodies in the elevator.”
Oleg looks much more pleased than one should at this news. “My little Georgia! I always knew you had the killer instinct buried under that innocent virgin routine. Still, I’ll have to punish you for killing my best men. But don’t worry.” He winks. “I’ll make sure you have fun.”
She scowls at him, but otherwise doesn’t move a muscle.
Kira jumps up and grabs her father’s arm. “She has nothing to do with this. Please, just let her go. She shouldn’t even be here.”
“Shut-up.” Oleg slaps Kira across the face. She cries out and crumples to the ground, holding a hand to her face.
Georgia’s lips thin into a grim line.
“You motherfucker,” I snarl. “I will fucking hunt you down and kill you if it’s the last thing I do.” I get to my feet, but a soldier steps into my path, knocking me hard in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. The air whooshes out of my lungs and I dry heave when I hit the ground.
Oleg roars with laughter. “The last thing that you will do is rot away in my dungeon, your body flayed open. Maybe we’ll try feeding you your own liver. I don’t believe I’ve tried that before.”
The glee in his tone confirms that nothing brings him greater pleasure than torture, but I’ll never give him the satisfaction of touching me or anyone else in the room, and I know my brothers feel the same.
We are all primed and angry, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Even if we die today, if Kira and Georgia survive, it’ll be worth it.
“Come closer, my dove.” Oleg waves Georgia forward, so she’s standing directly in front of him. My insides retreat as he reaches up a hand and trails his palm down Georgia’s cheek. She recoils at his touch, but that only seems to excite him, his eyes shining like onyx orbs.
“My beauty. I never imagined this is how we would meet again. Have the Kozlov devils been hiding you?” His voice is soft, almost sympathetic, but barely contained fury lies beneath the surface.
“I hope not, I hope you haven’t been keeping company with these podonok, because if so…
” He roughly grabs her chin, smearing the blood on her face grotesquely.
“I’ll have to kill you, too. Well, not before I fuck you in every hole while your friends watch.
Maybe my guards deserve a turn too, since you killed three of our own. Would you like that?”
“No, please no,” she whispers, in a voice barely above a whisper.
She falls in on herself, sobs wracking her lithe frame.
My body hums with the need to attack, and I prepare to spring up, but Leo stops me with a low-whistle.
He’s watching Georgia, his eyes narrowed on something, something that holds his attention.
I look to where Georgia is crumpled forward, and that’s when I see the glint of metal.
It happens lightning fast. Georgia pulls something from the front of her pants.
A soft click is the only warning. Oleg’s mouth pulls back into a terrifying snarl as he registers what is about to happen, but she doesn’t give him time to cry out.
Georgia holds a pistol between her bound hands and shoots Oleg square between the eyes.
Shock registers on his face even as the life is sucked out of him and he collapses, his expression frozen in a ghoulish death mask.
Before I can warn her, Oleg’s soldiers strike. A shot goes off, but she drops in time to avoid being hit. The problem is, it puts her in the line of fire of another guard, who kicks out a leg, his boot catching her face. There’s a sickening thud as her head flies back against the cold cement floor.
Everything around me slows down as I watch in horror.
“No.” My howls echo through the large space. In a flash, I’m on my feet running to her, tackling her assaulter like a linebacker with my full body-weight, before a piercing explosion causes the ground to tremble and shake. Acrid smoke fills my nose as debris flies through the air.
Yulian and my men have arrived.
GEORGIA
Thwop thwop thwop.
A whirring sound like the spinning of helicopter blades fills my ears and pulls me from the sweet oblivion I am floating in.
And then something else. My name. A desperate plea on Andrei’s lips.
“Georgia. Georgia. Stay with me.”
Drawing in a labored breath, I struggle to open my eyes as splintering pain whips through me.
But I push that aside to look up at Andrei, his face inches from my own as he cradles me in his arms. I want to tell him I’m okay.
This will all be okay because he looks so distraught, but I can’t form words, my tongue thick and heavy in my mouth.
A jagged cut runs along his right cheek, and there’s dried blood around his nose, but it’s the intensity of his eyes that scares me. They shine with the intensity of a thousand suns.
“Don’t fucking die on me, baby, I need you. Do you hear me, krasotka?” His hands tighten on the nape of my neck, as if he can somehow force life back into me. “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier, but I’m saying it now. I don’t want to live without you.”
His words reverberate through my skull, echoing in the distant recess of my mind.
Andrei loves me.
I want to tell him I love him too. That I’ll come back. I want to stay awake for him so badly; I want to be with him forever, but the darkness beckons, luring me into its sweet embrace. I can’t fight it anymore.
I stay underwater and melt into the void.