Chapter Twenty-Nine
The walls are closing in. I can’t breathe, no matter how hard I tryto gasp in a breath of air. All I can do is stare at the man standing near Lilianna’s bed. His icy blue eyes have been burned into my brain for ten years. Is he really standing in front of me right now? Or is this another nightmare?
“Nikolai?” Kaz asks.
Nikolai. His name is Nikolai. Panic rises, swallowing me like quicksand. His name is Nikolai Volkov. He’s their cousin. Oh my god. Time freezes. For a second, I don’t know what to do. I’ve searched for him for so long. I dug and dug to find anything out about him. I always failed. But now, now he’s here. In the flesh, right in front of me. I can hear my father’s voice telling me what to do, but I can’t get my body to mind his words. I’m frozen. In fear or shock, I’m not sure.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Mikhail’s voice booms behind me, making me jump. My attention drops down to the bed. Lilianna lays there, her eyes wide and teary. Her silver dress is in tatters around the bed. She’s staring at Arkadi as he pins her down on the bed.
Looking around, I notice three other boys in the room with us. They’re shoved against a wall, staring at Mikhail, Kaz, and Dmitri in horror. It’s happening again. He’s doing it again.
No. Not this time. I won’t let history repeat itself. I won’t let Nikolai claim another. I can’t. The last ten years I’ve spent hunting men like him. Always seeing him while I drove my stake through their heart. Now, it’s his turn. I finally get to slay my own personal demon.
“It’s been a long time, Vivienne,” Nikolai says.
His voice is just as abrasive and slimy. Hearing him say my name is repulsive. My stomach feels queasy with ire.
“You remember me,” I state.
I don’t know why I thought he wouldn’t. Guess I just always imagined him as a heartless beast with no control or memory of his crimes.
“Every man remembers his first.”
This man has some fucking nerve. I stare at him, imagining all the ways I’m going to make him scream. Every one of them involving my father’s blade. And when the time comes, I’ll make him feel the same way he made me feel. He will know my pain before he knows death.
“You two know each other?” Dmitri asks. “How?”
“We’re old friends,” Nikolai says with a smirk, challenging me with his chilled eyes.
“Tell them the truth,” I demand.
The room goes silent, waiting for him to say anything. But like the coward Nikolai is, he keeps his mouth shut. Shocker.
“Vivienne?” Dmitri asks. “How do you know Nikolai?”
Without taking my eyes off my attacker, I answer him. “He raped me. On my sixteenth birthday, in a room just like this,” I spit. Hot tears of fury rush down my face. “I’ll even guess that Arkadi was the bait. Like Lucas.”
“Lucas?” Kaz asks.
“The boy who pretended to like me for the sake of getting me to him.”
“You’re making up stories, pretty one. You wanted what happened, and you know it.”
“Keep talking while you still can,” I reply. “Sometime soon, I’m going to rip your motherfucking throat out.”
Nikolai blanches. Like he’s heard of the things I’ve done. Typical. He thinks he’s a god. Yet, when faced with the monster of his creation, he’s scared. I smile. He has no idea just how damn scared he should be. He’s going to find out right now.
Taking one step towards Nikolai, all hell breaks loose. There’s a loud bang somewhere downstairs. The floors shake, walls cracking as they move.
“What the fuck?” Mikhail growls.
Screaming and yelling can be heard throughout the house. It feels like the entire house is quaking. All at once, every boy in the room flees for the door. Lilianna cries out as Arkadi leaps off her. He opts to go out the window instead of following his three friends to the door.
“I got him,” Dmitri says.
He leaps out the window like he’s ten years younger than he really is. Kaz points his gun at Nikolai.
“Take Mikhail and hunt the others,” I tell him. “This one is mine.”
“Princess,” he says.
“Go. Get Lilianna out of here, too.”
“Are you sure?” Mikhail asks. “We don’t want to leave you.”
I chuckle. “He can’t hurt me.”
There’s hardly any left of me to hurt. Kaz nor Mikhail look sure but Lilianna sobs from her place on the bed. The sound makes their choice for them. Kaz squeezes my hand before doing as I asked. I wait for them to cross over the threshold. Mikhail holding Lilianna in his arms. Kaz’s jacket draped around her front as she hangs onto her father for dear life.
The moment I hear their footsteps outside the door, I pull my hair up into a high bun. Nikolai smiles.
“Come on, Vivienne. We both know what you want.”
“I’m not sure we do,” I reply. “Why don’t you tell me what I want?”
“You want a round two,” he says, pulling his gray jacket off. “Don’t worry, Vivi, that’s what your family calls you, right?”
I raise an eyebrow. A question niggling at the back of my mind. Slowly, I move to the chest, sitting at the end of the bed. My heels are long forgotten by the bottom of the stairs.
“Now, see, that’s something I’ve always wondered. Did you know who I was when you raped me?”
He scoffs. “I didn’t rape you. Simply showed you what you want.”
I reach down for the hem of my dress. I pull it up slowly as I look at Nikolai. He’s not quite the monster I made him out to be in my head. From where I’m sitting, he looks like the smallest man in the world. And that’s exactly what he is. Just a man. I’ve killed hundreds of them.
“Did you know?” I repeat.
“I don’t know why I’m bothering to tell you this,” he replies, shaking his head. “But no. Not at the time. I didn’t. But when you killed those other four young men, I figured it out.”
“I’ve been looking for you.”
My hand coils around the dagger next to my thigh. The handle is warm in my hand as I pull it free of its constraints.
“I figured that out, too,” he says, smiling proudly. “Did you like my disappearing act?”
“A real-life Houdini,” I mutter. “One last question.”
“What?”
I toss the knife at him. It lands in his shoulder. Nikolai screams. He falls to the ground.
“You fucking bitch!”
Walking over to him, I stand above him. “Why me?”
“Why not? Your pussy is just as good as any.”
“You’re a sick fuck, Nikolai.”
I yank my blade free from his skin. A small puddle of blood leaks from the wound. Before I can say anything more, Nikolai hits me in the back of the knee with his elbow. I groan from the impact, my knee giving in.
Nikolai takes that opportunity to stand up. It’s a second more before he hits me. The first punch is hard, landing right on my jaw. I feel it pop, shifting back and forth with the collision. I gasp as the second impact hits me on the cheek—an open-handed slap across the face.
“Who’s the sick fuck, Vivienne? The rapist or the whore fucking the rapist’s own flesh and blood?”
“I’m really starting to hate that word,” I growl.
I jump, locking my legs around his waist. My sudden movement takes him off guard. The two of us fall with a thud. I bring my dagger up. Gunshots ring out downstairs, distracting me for a split second. But that’s all Nikolai needs. He rolls us. His body lays on top of mine, and I fight the urge to scream. I never wanted to feel this again.
“It feels even better than last time,” Nikolai groans.
I wiggle around until I can give my hand enough room to strike. My assault hits him in the side of the gut. I relish the way he howls in his pain. But it’s not enough; I want more.
Rolling us back over, I wrench my blade out of his gut. Aiming once again, I get ready to strike. My hands fly, headed right for his heart. But then I hear my big brother’s voice.
“Volkov. Vivienne.”
Oh fuck. He’s in the house. Whatever the hell has been happening is his fault; I just know it. Shit. He’s going to kill the guys. I have a split second to decide, and it’s not even a thought.
A scream twists its way out of my chest. It is one of frustration and hopelessness, but it is also an acceptance of my decision. I know what I need to do. Getting up, I leave Nikolai bleeding on the floor and run out of the room.
My face aches as I race down the stairs. The sequins of my dress scratch my hand as I hike it up. I’m tempted to tear the bottom half off, but I don’t have that kind of time.
The bottom of the stairs comes so slowly and so fast at the same time. By the time I reach the living room where the party was happening, I see Mikhail, Dmitri, and Kaz kneeling on the floor in front of my brother. Declan is pointing a gun at Mikhail’s lowered head. My heart stops.
I barely register anything over the primal compulsion to protect my men. To protect my heart. Running, I charge at Declan. I scream as I tackle him to the ground.
The gun goes off. All I can think about is I love them. I love Mikhail, Dmitri, and crazy Kaz. All three of them. And now, because of my stubbornness, they’re never going to know.