Chapter Twenty-five #3
“Well, I guess it’s clear now that Serenity’s kidnapping by the Sawyers was staged.
The only reason it failed was because she was rescued.
And our little criminal mastermind here realized that now that Serenity knew her husband loved her and would never kill her, it would be even harder to reach her with him protecting her.
So the only way to get to the protected was to eliminate the protector.
Contacting the uncle who swore to protect his niece and telling him she was being held hostage and would be executed soon.
That was a clever move, I’ll admit. Still, the plan would have collapsed if anyone saw the two of them together tonight, giving us all a demonstration of their love, like they just did.
No one could believe that a man who’d die for his woman was actually planning to kill her.
I knew Valery’s strategy was to isolate Serenity from Konflict so he could be eliminated.
Nobody would have questioned it. Then she could have gotten rid of Serenity later.
Being so close to her, it would have been easy to make it look like she was just collateral damage in the attack.
Very, very clever, I’ll give her that. Too bad I figured it all out ahead of time.
Honestly, I found it thrilling to wait in the dark, hidden under the trees, just to watch you arrive and confirm my theories.
There’s a kind of pleasure in realizing you were right.
But, all the fun’s over now. I’m bored. I’ll leave you to your family drama,” Viper said, before turning and jumping into the speedboat.
“Viper! You could have warned me. I came here for nothing. And damn it, I lost a few men in a battle that didn’t even need to happen,” my uncle growled.
“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that? And well, they were weak anyway. See you around.”
“Fucking little shit,” my uncle hissed. Then he turned to me.
“Serenity, I haven’t seen you since you were ten, and now you’re a woman.
My relationship with Vince soured after my last visit here.
I promised myself I’d never deal with him again.
I heard he was killed, but I didn’t look into it.
I regret not keeping in touch with you, not checking up on you.
When I heard someone was trying to have you killed, guilt ate me alive, and I wanted to make things right by coming to save you.
I should have checked the facts first. If things had gone wrong tonight, your husband could have died because of me.
I’m sorry for that.” He turned to Konflict. “No hard feelings about earlier?”
Konflict looked at my uncle’s outstretched hand for a long moment before finally shaking it. “No hard feelings. But next time your men attack me, I won’t be so forgiving.”
“I believe it. You look fierce. Take care of my niece.”
He came up and hugged me, strong and brief. “You were tough even at ten and you’re even tougher now. Get rid of the snakes around you. Put a bullet in that one. She doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you,” he whispered in my ear.
He stepped back and signaled to his team—or what was left of it—to leave the yacht. They disappeared, leaving us with Valery.
“What a night!” I heard Draven say. “Seriously though, what are we doing with the brain behind all this? That was a touching story, but her punishment needs to fit her crimes. K, what’s the plan?”
“Since she’s responsible for my mother’s death, I think I’d like to kill her a little every day for a year. Putting a bullet in her head would be too easy.”
“Oh, you mean the acid thing where you stick her leg in a tub and make her watch it dissolve? Please, let me do that!” Draven offered with a twisted grin.
I had no idea how he could joke at a time like this, when I was literally speechless. It hurt to know I’d trusted someone I thought I knew. My sister tried to kill me. Wow. I really didn’t know if I’d ever recover from that.
“Sis, do you have any particular, exciting revenge you want to take on her? After all, you’re the most affected. Well, Krash too. If you want to each take an arm and dip it in acid, I’m game,” Draven added.
I was angry, but mostly I was sad. Sad to lose the one person I thought would always be by my side. We’d been through so much together, and I couldn’t accept this ending. I knew Konflict and Krash would kill her and she deserved it. But I didn’t want to see it.
“Do what you want with her,” I said, my voice hollow.
I gave Valery one last look full of contempt and heartbreak before walking away. I needed to put some distance between us, to try and process all of this.
But as I was about to leave, Valery grabbed my arm, yanked me back, and wrapped her arm around me, locking me in place. She pressed a gun—one she’d had on her the whole time—against my head.
“I know you’re all going to kill me, but I’m not going alone. I’ll take her with me,” she said, digging the gun harder into my skull.
“I was planning a slow death for you, but now you’re really pissing me off. You’d better not touch a single hair on my wife’s head,” Konflict threatened.
“Or what? You’ll kill me? Go ahead. By the time I’m dead, I’ll have pulled the trigger and your precious wife will be gone with me. Hm, dear little sister, we live together and we die together, right?” she hissed in my ear.
At that moment, all my fear vanished, replaced by a tremendous rage.
“You don’t regret anything? You’re not even going to ask for forgiveness?” I said, bitterness in my voice.
“Why should I? Did anyone ever apologize to me for what I suffered? Why should I always be the one to do right by others?”
“I was good to you,” Krash said, his voice raw. “I fucking loved you. I wanted a family with you. I guess I made a huge mistake. If this is the ending you choose, then so be it.” He aimed his gun at Valery.
Konflict raised his weapon too. Draven, Kalash, and Kusch followed suit.
“Oooh, look at you, all so eager to shoot me. I’m not afraid to die. But I’ll leave you with something to mourn, because I’m taking Serenity with me,” she taunted, her finger tightening on the trigger.
She didn’t have time to react before I pressed a gun to her stomach and fired.
Shock crossed her face as she stumbled back, clutching her bleeding belly.
I spun and shot her in the head. Krash and Konflict both put bullets in her head, too.
Draven and Kalash each fired two into her chest, near her heart.
Her bullet-riddled body hit the floor at our feet, and with it, all the love I’d ever had for the big sister I thought I knew.
I turned and collapsed into my husband’s arms and he pulled me close, holding me tight.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his hands moving over me, checking that I was really all right. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m okay, baby.”
Konflict kissed me, pouring all his relief into that kiss. The ordeal had been brutal. I could have lost him. He could have lost me. But we made it through together.
“Get a room. Don’t be fucking in front of us,” Draven called out, his voice teasing.
That guy, no matter the circumstances, never let anything get to him. He always seems relaxed, even in the worst moments.
“By the way, sis, where did you get your gun?” Draven asked, as I stayed wrapped up in Konflict’s embrace.
I turned to him. “Viper. He slipped it into my pocket when he brought us back to the yacht. I didn’t know why, but I could sense something was off with Valery. I just wanted to be ready.”
“Huh… not bad. He seemed like an interesting guy. I’ve got the feeling we’ll be seeing him again.”
“He held a gun to my wife’s head. Bluff or not, he’ll pay for it,” Konflict growled.
Krash, who had been staring at Valery’s body the whole time, finally turned away and left the yacht without a word.
“Will he be okay?” I asked Konflict softly.
“I hope so. It’ll take him a long time to accept this. He was going to propose to her. It’s not easy to shoot the woman you love. He’ll need time.”
Poor Krash. I couldn’t even imagine his pain. Mine was unbearable because she was like a sister to me. But for Krash, she was the love of his life. It would take time, but I hoped he would heal and find love again someday.
With the nightmare over, Kalash and Kusch took care of disposing of all the bodies that had fallen tonight, while Draven left after hugging us goodbye. I was finally alone with my husband, and I knew if he weren’t here, I’d fall apart.
Konflict took me back to the Korven estate because there was no way we were staying on that yacht after everything that had happened. We both needed to be somewhere calmer and more familiar.
When we arrived home, I felt a little pang in my chest because the last time I was here, Valery had been with me.
Memories of her were everywhere, especially from that year of marriage when Konflict wasn’t by my side.
I didn’t know how I was going to adjust to this new reality, but I didn’t have a choice.
“What are you thinking about?” Konflict asked as we walked into our bedroom, the one we should have been sharing since the day we got married.
“Huh… I was just thinking that it’ll never be the same without… without Valery. I still can’t believe everything that happened today. I feel like I’m stuck in a nightmare I’ll wake up from, and she’ll still be here,” I said, my voice trembling.
I hadn’t shed a single tear since I watched her lifeless body hit the floor. It was like I was refusing to accept reality. But being here, in this house, brought all the emotions I had been pushing away right back to the surface.