Chapter 49
Gavriil
“Dominik’s been hit! He’s down!”
I hear one of my men report into his mic behind me as everyone takes cover. At first, I can’t move as I watch Dominik hit the ground, blood already pooling beneath him.
Everything happened so fucking fast.
He pushed me out of the way. He took that bullet for me.
“Is Dominik okay? Tell me he’s okay!” Alina’s voice sounds in my ear, full of fear.
A sudden wave of fury and concern hit me hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I’m not letting him die. Not after protecting me. Not when Alina needs him.
My men and the Italians give me cover as I run over to Dominik, hearing him groan in pain. That’s a good thing, though. Feeling pain means he’s still alive.
“Come on, Bratishka,” I say as I push him up into a sitting position and pull his arm over my shoulders. “One, two, three.”
I haul him up to his feet, grateful that he’s strong enough to not immediately crumble back down to the ground. I duck under a bullet that sails just over my head, my heart slamming against my ribs as more zip around us.
As fast as I can, I usher him into the nearby dining room as the others split into different rooms, enemies continuing to make their way down the stairs.
“Fuck, my head,” Dominik mutters as he stumbles along with me.
I drop him down into one of the chairs at the long dining table before pushing his shirt sleeve up to look at his wound. “Through and through. You need to put pressure on it.”
Dominik waves me off. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”
I grab his jaw and turn his head, making sure that he isn’t bleeding from his head from falling so hard. “Do you know what day it is?”
“I don’t have a concussion, Gavriil,” Dominik tells me. He sounds dazed, though.
“Quiet,” I say, hearing gun shots coming from nearby rooms. “Stay here. I need to go back out there.”
Dominik’s eyes sharpen. “I said I’m fine. I’m not—behind you!”
I whip around just as a man wearing a balaclava and a bulletproof vest steps into the room. He must be part of the unknown faction. I fire at his head, but he ducks out of the way.
Dominik tries to stand. I shove him back into the chair then run at the man, tackling him before he can raise his gun at me. I take him down to the ground and pin the hand holding the gun to the floor.
The man grunts in anger and swings his other hand at me, punching me in the jaw.
Pain rings throughout my face, but I stay steady and keep him pinned.
With a shout, the man slams his fist against my throat, making me choke on air. He grabs the front of my shirt and yanks me off balance, rolling us so that he can pin me down instead.
I struggle to breathe, my lungs burning from lack of air and my throat aching so bad that my vision blurs.
The man points the gun at my forehead, but before his finger can even move to the trigger, I see a chair above him.
Dominik slams the chair he was sitting in against the man’s back with a shout.
I cover my face with my arms as the chair splinters into pieces, the legs clattering on the floor on either side of me.
The man slumps on top of me, knocked out cold.
“Bastard,” Dominik breathes out before kicking the man off me. He grabs my wrist and pulls me up, his other hand clamping down on my shoulder as we both catch our breath.
“Not done yet,” I tell him, hearing a report of enemies being pushed downstairs by our forces upstairs. The tide is turning up there, bringing the main fight to the foyer.
Dominik nods. “Let’s finish it then.”
Adrenaline was doing most of the work now for my brother. His body hadn’t realized yet how badly it was hurt.
I grab my gun off the floor and approach the doorway, peering through it into the foyer to see the Italians engaging in close combat with a mixture of Armenians and Irishmen. A few Bratva soldiers are in the mix, but I can hear more fighting in the nearby living room and kitchen.
Maximo fights with a man on the stairs, dodging punches and moving like a breeze. He thrusts his knee up against the man’s stomach before grabbing his shoulders and shoving him over the railing.
The man hits the floor on his head with a crack, his body remaining still in a crumbled pile.
Before Dominik and I can say anything, a broad-shouldered Irishman in a blood-covered white button-down kicks Maximo in the chest, knocking him down the stairs.
Maximo tumbles violently down the steps and lands hard on his shoulder at the bottom with a shout of pain.
“That’s Cormac Doyle, the Irish leader,” I tell Dominik once I get a better look at him. “We kill him, we end this!”
Dominik nods before speaking into the mic. “Cormac has been spotted coming down the stairs. Gavriil and I will handle him. The rest of you, pick off the remaining enemies.”
Together, we rush out of the dining room, dodging bullets fired across the room and sidestepping brawls until we’re right in front of Cormac.
He narrows his eyes at the sight of us and cracks his knuckles. “Finally. I’m going to bury both of you.”
“You can fucking try,” Dominik growls before swinging at him first.
Cormac ducks under his arm and slams his fist against Dominik’s stomach, punching the air out of his lungs.
I retaliate and elbow Cormac in the nose, feeling the bone crack.
Cormac hisses in pain, but he’s resilient and barely stumbles back, even as blood pours from his nostrils. He kicks my gun out of my hand before backhanding Dominik, sending my brother into the wall.
Fuck, he won’t even let us catch our breath.
With a frustrated shout, I run at Cormac, driving him into the wall next to Dominik.
The back of Cormac’s head strikes the wall with a loud thud, making him grunt in pain.
Dominik stumbles to his feet just as I grab the front of Cormac’s shirt and drag him over to the doorway that leads down to the prison.
I shove him backward, making him fall down the first short flight of stairs.
Cormac crawls down the second flight that leads into the prison. He gets to his feet by the time Dominik and I head down the stairs. “Come on!”
Fury burns within me as I run at him first. I try to strike at his face, but he catches my fist in his hand.
Cormac counters with a punch to my side, hitting the spot where a bullet clipped me.
A pained shout breaks from me as a deep, agonizing ache radiates through my side. I lose my breath and bend over, my knees threatening to buckle under me.
Dominik takes over and deals a quick jab to Cormac’s cheek, knocking him backward a few steps. He sidesteps a retaliating punch and responds with a kick to the inside of Cormac’s knee, making him lose his balance.
Cormac drops down to one knee, his legs splitting uncomfortably.
I recover and hit him in the face so hard that my hand aches. Then, Dominik hits him.
Cormac’s face becomes bloody and bruised, but he doesn’t submit yet. He’s a tough son of a bitch.
He manages to shove himself up to his feet, his balance wavering. He grabs Dominik, yanking him forward before smashing his forearm against Dominik’s face.
Dominik still manages to storm forward, sending him and Cormac into the nearest cell. Through their tussle, the door gets pulled shut, the lock engaging.
Fuck.
I run to the door, trying to get it open as Cormac gets the upper hand and pins Dominik against the back wall with his hands wrapped around my brother’s neck.
“Dominik!” I shout as I kick at the door, making the metal rattle.
My brother weakly pries at Cormac’s hands as the lack of oxygen drains his strength. He lets out a strangled grunt that makes my stomach sink.
He’s going to fucking die in there, and I can’t do anything to save him.
That’s when I hear Alina’s voice in my ear, and I know that Dominik can hear her too.
“Gavriil? Dom? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re both okay.”
I catch Dominik’s eyes over Cormac’s shoulder, and I see the fire reignite in his eyes.
A growl rips from Dominik’s throat as he gathers all the strength and pushes himself off the wall. He shoves Cormac back as hard as he can, causing him to hit the cell door.
I shove my arm through the bars and hook it around his throat.
Cormac lets out a startled sound and tries to yank himself free, but I grab my wrist and hold tight, my arm digging into his throat, cutting off Cormac’s air.
Dominik drops to his hands and knees, wheezing as he catches his breath.
Cormac claws at my arm, his grunts becoming fainter and fainter until his body slumps against the door. Only then do I finally release him.
Dominik looks up at me through the bars, giving me a nod of gratitude.
I nod back. “I’ll get someone down here to let you out.”
“We’re okay,” Dominik says into the mic, his voice hoarse.
I hear Alina’s sigh of relief, and I feel it in my soul.
My brother is okay.
We killed the bastard.
“Give me a report,” I say into the mic.
“The last few are fleeing!” Matvei reports. “Should we follow them?”
I glance over at Dominik, who shakes his head. It’ll be risky for the remaining men that we have left. We can’t afford to lose anyone else.
“No, let them go. Dominik is stuck in one of the prison cells. Someone come down here and get him out,” I say.
“On the way. Sorry I haven’t checked in.”
I take a deep breath when I finally hear Pyotr’s voice. “Thought you were dead.”
“Halfway there,” Pyotr replies with a weak laugh.
I think we’re all in that state.
I take a deep breath and peer at my brother through the bars, tension winding around my chest as I realize how much I hate being separated from him like this. I couldn’t protect him like I wanted to.
And I couldn’t have won this fight without him. Without Alina.
When Pyotr reaches the prison and frees Dominik from the cell, I step up to my brother and pull his arm around my shoulders, knowing that he’s hurt. We both are, but we’re not leaving each other’s sides.
We fought together. We bled together. We won together.
That’s how we should remain.
Together we’re unstoppable.