Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
AUDRY
I opened my mouth to tell Aleksandr that the obvious care in Marco’s voice was part of my plan - that that was what a mark was – but I saw immediately that he would not believe me. My heart was thudding hard as he bore down on me. I knew that whatever pain he’d inflicted on me before, it was going to be nothing compared to what he would do to me now.
Knowing that Marco cared for me seemed to have given him even more motivation.
I tried to back away. The huge desk behind me served as an impediment to my goals.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You're a fool if you think that harming me is going to harm him. You'd be doing him a favor, because I was in the process of stealing from him .”
Yegorov threw back his head and laughed. “Of course you were.” He stopped, laughing abruptly and stared at me with diamond hard eyes, “Is that how you got him to fall for you?”
“He's playing you.” I said with a sneer, “he wants you to think that you'd be hurting him by killing me.”
“Is that so?” Yegorov sneered back but there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.
“It is so.” I stared steadily into his eyes so that he would know I wasn't joking. It helped that I wasn't at all sure if Marco really cared for me or not. For all I knew, what I was saying was true.
He hesitated, clearly caught in the indecision of doing something that Marco wanted done and wanting to do it himself.
“No,” he said finally. There is no way that he wants to kill you. You are his second chance.”
I wanted to insist that, ‘no I wasn't!’ but I knew that would just engender the opposite reaction. He would think I was protesting too much… which honestly, I was, but I was just out of ideas.
He continued advancing towards me, and I continued to sidle away. It wasn't long before he caught up to me, his hands sliding around my neck and squeezing. I dug my nails into his skin, trying to make him let go, but he just squeezed tighter.
We struggled together, him squeezing and me fighting. I did some damage. His arms were bleeding, but that didn't seem to move him. He simply continued to strangle me. Suddenly the sounds of gunshots broke the silence. Both Yegorov and I jerked in startlement. He even loosened his grip on my neck a little, but I was too surprised to use it as a chance to get away. By the time I thought to start struggling again, he had resumed strangling me. He lifted me off the ground, my legs kicking as my vision began to blur.
I began to think that whoever had come to rescue me might just find me dead. I struggled in earnest, digging my fingers between his hands and my neck to no avail. I began to choke, gasp, and sputter. My chest ached with the lack of oxygen. My vision began to darken.
The sound of gunshots came closer and closer, they might have been almost deafening if I hadn’t been too busy dying.
The few brain cells I could spare took a moment to marvel at just how completely Yegorov was ignoring what was clearly a major gunfight taking place right in his house. I figured he was counting on the other henchman in the room to defend him. If I could have spoken, I would have asked him if this was really the time to be killing me, when his own life was in danger.
Suddenly the hands were gone from around my neck and I couldn't stand either. I fell to the ground choking and coughing and taking huge gulps of air into my abused throat. It was the most painful, most beautiful thing I had ever done.
“Audry?” Hands landed on my shoulders and I cowered away from them. “It's me. You're safe. I'll protect you.”
I relaxed into him with a sigh of relief, my body recognizing him even before I did. His hands were gentle on my shoulders, making soothing motions along my back as if calming a skittish horse. I closed my eyes and leaned into the motion, allowing myself that bit of comfort before I had to deal with reality again.
I coughed, feeling embarrassed at the rough raspy sound of it, yet relieved that I could breathe at all. Marco rubbed my back as I coughed, murmuring comforting words as he waited for my fit to be over.
Finally, I was able to look up at him, half in disbelief that he was even here. After everything I had done to him, he had still come for me. Every time I tried to compute it, I got error messages.
“Are you okay?” he asked me softly, peering down at me with concerned eyes. I barely remembered to answer. I was just staring up at him with my mouth open.
“Audry?”
I gasped, taking in a deep breath as if I had just emerged from the deep end of a pool. “Yes, yes I'm fine.”
He gave me a decisive nod, before getting back up to his feet. That's when I saw Yegorov on the other side of the room. His head was bleeding and he was lying on his side but judging from how his hands were moving, he was trying to get back on his feet. The three other hench men in the room also lay sprawled on the ground. I couldn't tell if they were alive or dead.
I was hyperventilating a little and had to lean back against the table before I fell down completely. I kept staring at Marco, still in a state of disbelief about his presence.
Why did you rescue me?
Could it be that he had really meant what he said, about us being a team? My heart began to thud a little harder with something that felt mortifyingly like hope. Was I really going to allow myself to believe that Marco cared for me?
Looks like…
Then Marco aimed a kick at Yegorov, getting him right in the belly as the Pakhan successfully managed to get on his hands and knees.
I struggled to get on my own knees, determined to stand by Marco’s side as he dealt with his nemesis once and for all. In spite of being kicked in the stomach, Yegorov managed to get one foot under him and stagger to his feet.
From where I struggled to my own feet, leaning heavily against the desk, I watched the hatred burning in Marco’s eyes. He needed this. For himself, his family, and my sister. He needed to finish Yegorov.
Yegorov rushed at him, shoulders down, and slammed his shoulder into Marco’s belly before trying to lift him up so he could throw him down. But Marco clung to him, wrapping his arms around Yegorov’s neck and holding on, the gun falling from his hand. They both staggered and slid all over the floor in blood and other fluids.
Marco managed to pull Yegorov’s head back, literally trying to snap his neck, but Yegorov slammed his fist into Marco’s crotch, making him grunt, stagger backwards and bend over in pain. Unfortunately, he was physically too slow to take advantage of this tactical victory and Marco was back on the attack, punching Yegorov in the face again and again, making the Russian boss stagger backwards with every blow until he hit the wall and there was nowhere to go.
“You think you can take everything from me?” he articulated with every blow. “First my father, then Amy, now Audry? Have you lost your mind?”
His face as swollen and bloody as mine, Yegorov grinned, showing his teeth, stained red with blood. “You always were too emotional for your own good.” He said sneeringly.
Between one blink and the next, the gun was back in Marco’s hand. He pulled the trigger and Yegorov was dead, his eyes still staring straight ahead, his mouth still twisted in a sneer. Marco stepped back and slowly, Yegorov’s body slid down the wall to the floor. Marco stared at him for a long time, probably in disbelief that it was finally done. Then he spat on the body and turned away, his eyes seeking me out.
The emotion in his eyes was too much for me and I lurched over to him, practically falling into his arms. He held me tight, his body shaking slightly and I held him back, just as fiercely, saying with my body what I couldn’t with my mouth.
I am here for you.
“It’s over,” he whispered.
I just held him tighter.