79. -78-
Nina
Sonny’s greatest talent was pretending he wasn’t a coward.
He stood under the flickering warehouse lights in an immaculate suit, his shoulders relaxed, and a satisfied smile stretched across his face.
Two armed men surrounded him, one guarding my stolen gun while the other kept Aryna trapped against his body.
Protected by weapons and muscle, Sonny looked almost fearless. Almost.
I witnessed firsthand what happened when he encountered someone stronger, more powerful than him. His confidence cracked. His temper replaced whatever intelligence he possessed, and he became exactly what he had always been. A pathetic bully who needed weaker people beneath him to feel powerful.
“You came without your husband,” Sonny remarked, slowly circling me, but I kept my attention on Aryna.
Pure fury bubbled in the lower pit of my stomach, ready to burst out. I wanted to tear every man in the building apart with my bare hands. Instead, I smiled at her.
“It’s okay, angel,” I said gently, my fingers twitching for some weapon to kill these fuckers.
“No, it isn’t,” Sonny corrected. “Nothing is going to be okay again.”
My eyes snapped to him.
“Was that supposed to frighten me?” I asked in a mocking tone, knowing exactly how to push his buttons.
His jaw ticked. Just as expected. Good. Angry men made mistakes, and Sonny made more than most.
“You cost my family too much,” he ground out. “You humiliated me in front of the entire city. You married that fucking doctor and handed the Valentino empire to the Zhumagulovs.” He raised his bandaged hand. “You were promised to me! Instead, your crazy husband permanently damaged my hand!”
“You picked an uneven fight, honey.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Why is that my fault?”
He crossed the distance between us and grabbed my chin. His fingers dug painfully into my flesh, forcing my face upward.
“You still haven’t learned when to keep your mouth shut,” he growled, his nose millimeters from mine.
“And you still need others to do your job.”
His palm connected with my face. The impact sent me stumbling into a metal table. My hip slammed against the edge, and pain shot down my leg.
“No, Mommy!” Aryna cried out, making my head whip toward her.
Sonny turned to her with a delighted smile, and my stomach dropped. He approached her slowly, like a predator ready to pounce. She pressed herself farther into the man holding her, though there was nowhere to go.
“Sonny,” I warned, but he ignored me.
“You know.” He crouched until they were nearly eye level. “None of this would be happening if your precious mommy knew how to behave.”
Aryna’s lips trembled.
“She’s my mommy. Don’t hurt her,” she sobbed.
The declaration almost shattered my heart.
Sonny reached for her face, glancing over his shoulder at me.
“Don’t touch her!” I yelled, straightening up, ready to launch at him. Yet his grin only widened. He brushed a strand of golden hair away from Aryna’s cheek, enjoying every second of my helplessness.
I quickly scanned the warehouse again. My gun rested at the back of the second guard’s waistband.
He stood to my right, close enough to reach if I could distract him.
The man holding Aryna was stronger and positioned behind her, his weapon angled toward her head.
Near the wall, half concealed under torn plastic sheets and construction debris, lay an old shovel.
But a shovel against a gun could never win.
Fuck!
An angry sound dragged my attention from an escape plan. Sonny curled his fingers around Aryna’s chin, and she glared at him. My brave little girl glared at the fucking asshole.
“Take your hand off my girl.” My voice came out threateningly low.
“Or what?” Sonny laughed.
Aryna moved before I could answer. She twisted her head and sank her teeth into the flesh between Sonny’s thumb and forefinger. He screamed, and the warehouse erupted in chaos.
Sonny tore his hand away, cursing viciously, while Aryna kicked and thrashed against the man holding her. His gun shifted from beneath her jaw as he struggled to control her.
One second. That was all my fierce girl gave me.
I lunged toward the guard. He reached for a gun, but I slammed my elbow into his throat. He choked, stumbling backward, and I ripped the weapon from his waistband.
“Run, Aryna!” I screamed, firing at the man holding her. The bullet struck his shoulder. His arm jerked away, and Aryna dropped beneath it, hitting the floor on her knees. “Run and hide! Now!”
She scrambled upright and disappeared between the stacks of wooden pallets, but Sonny lunged after her. I pulled the trigger again, but the first guard crashed into me before I could aim. The bullet hit a steel beam, and the deafening crack tore through the warehouse.
My back slammed against the floor, air exploding from my lungs. The man climbed over me, one hand closing around my throat while the other wrestled for the gun. I drove my knee upward, but he twisted his hips, taking most of the impact against his thigh.
His fingers tightened. Black dots crept into my vision. I clawed at his face, catching his cheek with my nails. Blood appeared beneath them, but he barely reacted.
“You fucking bitch,” he snarled, slamming my wrist against the concrete. Pain shot through my fingers, and the gun slipped free.
He reached for it. I rolled onto my side and kicked him behind the knee. His leg buckled, giving me enough room to crawl forward, but his fist struck my ribs before I could escape.
Agony exploded through my side. I cried out, collapsing onto my stomach.
He grabbed my ankle and dragged me backward.
My nails scraped uselessly against the filthy concrete as he pulled me under him again.
I twisted, striking his nose with the heel of my palm.
Cartilage crunched, and blood poured over his mouth.
He roared, raising his fist. I blocked the first punch. The second caught me near the eye. Light burst across my vision, and my head struck the floor.
For a second, everything blurred. But then I heard Sonny shouting Aryna’s name somewhere in the warehouse. He was hunting her. My girl was alone.
Rage burned through the dizziness. The guard wrapped both hands around my throat and squeezed. My lungs convulsed, panic shooting through me.
His face swam above me, blood dripping from his broken nose onto my cheek. I searched blindly around the floor, fingers brushing dust, broken glass, a piece of wood. The shovel.
My hand closed tightly around the handle, and I swung with all my might. The edge struck the side of his head with a sickening clang, and his grip loosened.
Sucking in a desperate breath, I swung again. The guard collapsed beside me, twitching.
I scrambled to my knees, coughing violently. My throat felt crushed, and every breath stabbed my ribs. Blood trickled from the corner of my eye, obscuring part of my vision.
The man groaned and reached toward the fallen gun. I lifted the shovel above my head and brought it down.
Once.
His body jerked.
Twice.
The metal blade connected with bone, and he stopped moving.
I stared at him for half a second, chest heaving. Then Sonny’s voice echoed from deeper inside the warehouse.
“Come out, you little brat!” he yelled, sounding unhinged.
Oh, fuck! Aryna.
I abandoned the shovel and grabbed my gun from the floor. The injured guard I had shot earlier lay several yards away, clutching his bleeding shoulder while reaching for his own weapon. I fired before he could raise it, silencing him forever.
“Kill that bitch already, idiots!” Sonny screamed from the other side, my lips pulling into a diabolical grin.
“Not today, asshole,” I hissed under my breath, sprinting in the direction of his voice.
Every step sent pain through my ribs, but I forced my legs to move faster, wiping blood from my eye with the back of my hand.
“Aryna!” he shouted, my ears barely registering it over the rush of blood in my ears. “If you come out now, I won’t hurt you!”
I rounded a corner and found him standing in an open loading area, spinning slowly as he searched the shadows.
He had no weapon. No guards. Nothing between him and me. Finally, an equal fight. I squeezed my gun with a tiny smile on my lips. Almost equal.
I raised the weapon, and he turned to me at the light click. His face went white.
“Nina,” he exhaled in shock; the fear in his voice was strangely cathartic.
“Where is she?” I asked, pointing the weapon at his chest. He lifted his hands slowly.
“We can talk about this.”
“Where is Aryna?” I repeated, my patience slipping.
“I didn’t—” The soft scraping sound interrupted him. We both looked that way, and I caught the faintest movement under a loading platform.
A flash of golden hair. Aryna was hidden perfectly between several wooden crates. She pressed both hands over her mouth, her wide eyes fixed on me.
Relief nearly weakened my knees, but he noticed her, too.
“You little…” He moved toward the platform.
“No!” I yelled, pulling the trigger. The bullet struck his thigh, dropping him before he could take another step. Screaming, he collapsed onto the concrete.
“Stay there, Aryna!” I ordered. “Don’t look!”
“You crazy fucking bitch!” Sonny clutched his leg, staring at me in disbelief. “You shot me!”
I shrugged casually, pointing at his head. His eyes widened, and he tried crawling away.
The gun in my hand suddenly felt too easy. Sonny bruised me, terrorized me. He touched Aryna. A bullet would end him before he understood what it felt like to be helpless.
My gaze landed on another shovel propped beside the loading platform. Perhaps the universe occasionally had a sense of humor.
I picked it up. Sonny stopped crawling when he heard the metal scrape against the floor.
“Nina.” His voice changed. There was no arrogance. No threats, just raw fear. He dragged himself backward, leaving a streak of blood behind him. “Think about what you’re doing.”
“I am.” I smiled sweetly, stalking him.
His back struck a stack of containers. There was nowhere left to go.
“If you kill me, my family will come for revenge.” He raised one trembling hand. “They will kill you.”
“They can try.”
“I can give you information,” he tried again. “Names. Accounts. Everything my father knows about The Circle.” It didn't stop me. “I can make everything disappear.” The shovel dragged behind me with a low metallic scrape. “I can forgive the debt.”
I stopped before him. He stared up at me, sweating and pale, nothing like the man who ordered my life and beat me. My grip on the handle tensed.
“Please,” he whispered, stunning me. Sonny Carlile was begging. What a plot twist!
I glanced toward the place where Aryna remained hidden. Her tiny wrists were still bound, eyes squeezed shut.
They touched my girl. They fucking touched her!
Every remaining piece of reason vanished, and I swung the shovel. The flat side smashed into Sonny’s shoulder, making him scream. I brought it down across his chest. A wet crack filled the warehouse.
“Nina, stop!” He curled inward, gasping.
I struck him again. His knee. His arm. Every place that carried enough strength to hurt me. He tried shielding his head, but the shovel broke through his useless defenses.
“You wanted me?” I screamed, tears blurring my vision. “You took my child because you wanted me?”
The blade struck his chest. He choked, blood bubbling between his lips, but I barely saw him anymore.
I saw Aryna crying.
I saw the gun against her temple.
I saw every bruise he had ever left on my body.
Another strike. And another. His pleas dissolved into guttural sounds, then into silence. Still, I couldn’t stop.
Not until his body lay motionless beneath me. Not until the warehouse became so quiet that I heard my own ragged breathing and the faint clatter of the shovel slipping from my blood-slicked hands.
Sonny stared upward with unseeing eyes. All his arrogance was gone.
I stood over what remained of the man who once believed I belonged to him.
“You wanted me badly enough to destroy everything in your path,” I whispered, my chest rising and falling painfully. “You got exactly what you came for.” I leaned closer, letting him take the truth into whatever darkness awaited him. “The real me.”