19. Brandon
brANDON
My knife is wet with blood, and the hot evidence of their deaths splatters my cheeks. I managed to quietly cut my way through them to infiltrate the warehouse, but now I’ve been made. The dying guard tumbles over the railing, and his skull smashes on the concrete like a bursting melon.
All of the men below look up at me, their faces ranging from masks of fear to cold fury.
Each of them hates me. For some of them, I can’t even remember why. I barely recognize three of the men who’ve dared to bid on my Karolina.
Her screams still echo through my head, stoking my bloodlust.
I’m always a calm killer, methodical. Efficient.
Now, white hot rage drives every murderous slash of my knife.
Another guard raises his assault rifle, but he’s too late. I slam my full weight into him and rip it from his hands. His head smashes on the concrete, too.
A third guard rushes me. I stop him with a single shot to the heart. In his final moment, his finger contracts around the trigger of his rifle. It sprays bullets as his dead weight falls.
The hail of gunfire works to my advantage. The others are panicking. They don’t know if I’m alone, or if I’ve come with a small army at my back.
The automatic rifle enables me to take out the other men on the second floor within less than a minute.
Below, my enemies are scrambling. I pick them off with precise shots as they run for their lives.
“Ragnarok!” Sokolov thunders. “Not another move, or she dies.”
Murderous energy keeps my muscles coiled tight, but I don’t fire another round. He’s holding a blade at Karolina’s throat. Even from this distance, the whites of her eyes flash with panic.
The sight of her raw terror shreds me.
I came here knowing exactly how this would end.
I took out as many of them as I could, but it’s time to trade my life for hers.
“I’m the one you want,” I call out, making my way down the metal stairs with my gun still raised. “Let her go.”
She twists in her bonds and lets out a muffled plea through the gag.
“It’s alright,” I reassure her. “I’m getting you out of here.”
She jerks against her restraints and screams.
I’ve never seen her so scared.
“Why shouldn’t I just kill you both right now?” Sokolov demands.
“Because you’d be dead before the first drop of her blood could hit the floor,” I seethe. “If she dies, you die. Then the rest of the cowards can shoot at me, and I’ll die, too.”
For now, the threat of their weapons is kept at bay by my assault rifle. I could take out several of them before they manage to end me.
Five of them are still standing. Six, if I include Sokolov.
Few enough for me to handle easily if it weren’t for the fact that he holds Karolina’s life in his hands.
“Unlock her cuffs, and let her go,” I repeat. “Then you can do whatever you want to me.”
She shrieks and writhes.
“Shut up!” the pakhan roars.
The bastard hits her with the taser again. Her back arches at the shock, and then she goes limp.
I’ve never wanted to take a man apart piece by piece like I do right now.
But I can’t do anything until he sets her free.
“Do that again, and you will wish for the release of death when I meet you in hell,” I snarl.
“She broke my fucking nose,” he hisses. “Are you going to pay for that slight, too?”
“You can break every bone in my body. You can rip out my guts slowly. You can make me scream. Anything you want, as long as she goes free.”
“You lower the gun, and I’ll take off the cuffs.”
“Not happening,” I refuse. “She walks out of here first. Then, I’ll surrender my weapon.”
“You’ll shoot me as soon as she’s out of the range of my knife,” he sneers.
“I won’t shoot you. All I care about is her. You know that, or you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to capture her.”
“Swear it,” he insists. “Swear on her life that you won’t shoot me.”
She lets out a garbled groan.
“I swear on Karolina’s life that I’ll put down my gun as soon as she’s safely out of here. I won’t fight you.”
“Done.”
A sob wracks her lithe body. She looks so heartbreakingly delicate.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I promise. “You’re going to be alright.”
Sokolov nods at the only surviving guard. His face is marked with deep red scratches. My brave, fierce Karolina must’ve fought back.
She’s not capable of fighting now. Not after getting hit with the taser.
“Get her down,” the pakhan commands. “Take her out of here.”
“She goes safely back to York,” I growl. “I want your word now.”
“You have my word,” he agrees, eyes gleaming at the prospect of making me scream.
The guard unlocks her cuffs, and Sokolov finally withdraws the blade from her throat. She stumbles, limbs still weak from the shock of the taser. The man simply lifts her over his shoulder and carries her away, following orders.
I bite my tongue to hold in an agonized roar. It’s the last time I’ll ever see her.
When the metal door clangs shut between us, I slowly lower my rifle to the floor.
The surviving men train their guns on me.
I’m completely at their mercy now.
If it weren’t for the pact I made with Sokolov, I’d have a decent chance of taking at least two of them out before they managed to kill me.
As it is, I don’t move a muscle.
“Sit.” He gestures at a metal chair that’s bolted to the floor.
I walk to it on leaden legs, each step taking me farther away from her.
But she’s already hopelessly out of reach.
She always has been.
I deluded myself into thinking I could have her, but I was never worthy. I’ve always known that.
I drop down onto the chair, and one of the survivors quickly cuffs my wrists behind my back. The metal bites into my skin, but I know there’s much worse pain to come.
I’ll endure anything for her.
The metal door bursts open with a bang, and my heart stops.
“No,” I moan in disbelief.
Karolina is running back into the room.
The guard with the scratches on his face grabs her from behind. “Dumb bitch! Do you want to live, or not?”
“Get her out of here!” I thunder.
“I’m not leaving you!” she cries. “I won’t leave you to die again.”
She elbows the guard in the face, and he drops. She grabs his gun and scrambles towards me.
“You have to leave,” I beg.
“Never,” she vows, fierce green eyes flashing. “I love you. I can’t live without you. I can’t do it again.”
My heart swells painfully in my chest.
She loves me.
She loves me, and it’s going to get her killed.
“Karolina, no!” I bark uselessly as she points the weapon at one of the bastards who dared to bid on her.
Her body jerks, and her scream pierces my heart.
Sokolov flung the blade at her, and it’s embedded deep in her shoulder. She drops at the same time as the man she shot.
The four men left standing converge on her, wrestling the gun from her hands.
“Get off her,” the pakhan snaps.
For an insane moment, I think he’s going to honor our bargain. I think he’ll let her go.
She’s injured, but she’s alive. She curls up in agony, moaning my name.
Then his hand fists in her hair, and he drags her across the floor towards me.
I strain against the cuffs. Unyielding metal cuts into my skin, but the pain is nothing compared to the abject horror of Karolina at my enemy’s feet.
“I gave you a chance,” he taunts. “You want to be with your beloved? Here he is.”
He tosses her down directly in front of me. She looks up at me with shining eyes.
“I won’t leave you,” she says, a broken promise. “Never again.”
Blood seeps from around the knife and pools on the concrete beneath her.
“Don’t die on me yet. I’m not finished torturing Ragnarok.”
But he’s not talking about cutting me open.
He lowers himself so his weight pins her beneath him. She thrashes and strikes out with her fingernails. He dodges and gives the knife a vicious twist.
My scream mingles with hers. Wet heat pours down my cheeks. Blood seeps from my torn wrists.
He gropes her breasts and licks the tears on her face. His eyes roll back like they’re the most delicious delicacy he’s ever tasted.
I’ve never truly wanted to relish in killing a man until this moment.
I’ve never taken pleasure in my kills. It came easily to me, but it wasn’t because I have a black soul.
It was easy because I was doing it all for her.
So I could survive and one day come back to her. So I could take care of her in the way she deserves.
I’m not a monster because I was born evil. I’m a killer because I love Karolina so much that it makes me insane. There’s nothing monstrous about loving her.
But the revelation is coming too late. None of it matters now.
All I know is that Sokolov needs to die, and I’m shackled to this chair, helplessly watching him torment her.
The room goes dark. But I’m not the one who shut off the lights this time.
The surviving men murmur uneasily.
The backup generator doesn’t kick in.
Logan. My friend must’ve found a way to help me remotely, after all.
I swallow my scream as I dislocate my thumb and wrench my hand free from the cuffs. The pain is nothing compared to seeing Karolina’s blood and tears.
I move through the darkness, a silent, deadly shadow.
The remaining men flee, their heavy footfalls slapping against the concrete.
There’s only Sokolov and me.
His phone lights up, casting a spotlight on the empty chair where I was trapped only moments ago.
“Ragnarok.” Like so many evil men before him, my alias is the last word he breathes.
I grasp his skull from behind and give a vicious twist. The kill is too quick, too efficient. He should suffer endlessly for what he did to Karolina.
But getting her to safety is more important.
Her life is all that matters.
I toss his dead body aside and go to her.
The lights come back on.
Thank you, Logan.
“Brandon.” She whimpers my name and reaches for me.
The movement jars her shoulder, and she falls back with a sharp cry.
“I’ve got you,” I promise thickly, blinking the haze from my eyes. “You’ll be okay.”
She’s so pale. There’s a crimson smear on her porcelain cheek where the Sokolov pinned her in the pool of her own blood.
“You’re hurt.” Her voice is faint, and her eyes are fixed on my abraded wrists.
I shush her gently. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. We’re both going to be fine.”
Her lashes flutter. “You’re safe now.”
“Don’t close your eyes. Look at me. Karolina!”
But she doesn’t obey me. Her lovely eyes slide closed. Her breathing is shallow.
There’s so much blood…
I grit my teeth and force down the panic before it can consume me.
“I’ll get us out of here,” I promise, gathering her up in my arms. “Together.”
Karolina refused to leave me, and I’ll never be parted from her again.
If she doesn’t survive the night, neither will I.