Chapter 55 Stefan
STEFAN
The farmhouse sits in a clearing surrounded by trees.
I park far enough away to avoid detection for now, then kill the engine and get out of the car.
Taras pulls up beside me in his jeep and joins Iakov and me.
We stand there for a moment, three men staring through the trees at a house full of people who want us dead.
“This is insane,” Taras mutters.
I snort. “You have a better idea?”
“Yeah. We come back with more men. We plan this properly. We don’t just waltz empty-handed into a fucking ambush.”
“We don’t have time for that.”
Iakov steps forward, hands in his pockets, looking far too calm for what we’re about to do. “Stefan is right. If we wait, Natalia will know we’re coming. She’ll move Olivia somewhere else.”
“So what’s the plan?” Taras asks. “We just knock on the door and ask nicely?”
“Pretty much,” I say.
Taras looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have.
But I no longer fucking care.
I start walking toward the house. Iakov falls into step beside me. Taras swears under his breath, then follows.
The armed men notice us immediately. They raise their weapons, shouting warnings in Russian. I keep walking. I don’t slow down, don’t stop, don’t reach for my gun.
One of them steps in front of me, blocking my path. “Far enough.”
“I’m here to see Natalia.”
“She’s not seeing anyone.”
“She’ll see me.”
He doesn’t budge. I look past him at the house. The front door opens and Natalia steps out onto the porch.
She looks exactly the same as she did fifteen years ago. Same sharp cheekbones, same cold eyes, same air of superiority that makes my blood boil.
“Stefan!” she calls out. “What a surprise.”
I have no intention of wasting time on her bullshit. “I want Olivia.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“Where is she?”
Natalia descends the porch steps and crosses the grass toward us. She stops a few feet away, arms crossed. “She’s safe. For now.”
“Let her go.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll kill every single person here until I find her.”
She laughs. “You really are your father’s son. Delusional as him, too.”
I take a step closer. The armed men tense up, but don’t fire. “This isn’t about him. This is about you and me.”
“Is it?” Her gaze shifts to Iakov. “And what about you, darling boy? Have you finally come to your senses?”
Iakov doesn’t answer.
Natalia clicks her tongue. “Disappointing. I would have made you my heir, you know. You would have had all the power and resources of my Bratva at your beck and call.”
“I’m nothing like you,” Iakov spits. “I don’t want power.”
“No, you want love.” She couldn’t possibly sound any more disgusted with that word.
“Both of you have been ruined by something so frivolous and pedestrian. So common.” She shakes her head.
“You could have been great. But instead, you chose weakness. And what a silly choice! Love makes you do such stupid things. Like walk into enemy territory unarmed.”
I raise my chin. “Then why haven’t you ordered your men to shoot us?”
She smiles. “Because I’m curious to know what you think you’re going to accomplish here.”
“I’m going to take Olivia and leave.”
“And if I say no?”
“Then we’ll have a problem.”
“We already have a problem, Stefan.” She shakes her head sadly, like she regrets what she has to do, even though she’s the one who fucking planned it all. “You tried to kill me. You exiled your uncle. You destroyed everything I built.”
“You destroyed it yourself when you killed my father.”
“I didn’t kill him. His tumor did.”
“You drove him to it,” I growl. “You broke him. You—”
The front door opens again and Mikayla steps out. She’s pale and thin, but her eyes are sharp. She moves to stand beside Natalia.
Natalia’s smile widens. “See? My true child is Mikayla. She’s the only one with the guts to do what needs to be done.”
Mikayla doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me.
“I’m aware she’s had her doubts,” Natalia continues, “but she’s always come back to me. She’s been loyal and true.”
“Really?” I ask. “I’m surprised. I would have thought she’d have more loyalty towards her sister.”
Mikayla’s eyes narrow. “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know?” I glance at Natalia. “You didn’t tell her?”
Natalia blinks. “Tell her what?”
“That you killed Mila.”
Mikayla goes very still.
“It’s true,” Iakov adds. “Natalia told us herself. She drugged Mila, put that ring on her finger, and left her in that cabin to burn.”
“No.” Mikayla shakes her head. “No, that’s not true.”
“Ask her,” I suggest. “Ask her what really happened.”
Mikayla turns to Natalia. “Is it true?”
Natalia meets her gaze without flinching. “They’re lying. They’re trying to turn you against me.”
“Are they?” Mikayla’s voice is hollow and the pallor of her face goes whiter and whiter, as if the truth is slowly sinking in, one layer of skin at a time.
Then muscle. Then bone. Until it hits the core of her and finds a home there, a home that’s always been waiting for it.
“Because it… it makes sense. You said it was him, but it never felt right. It never—”
“Mikayla, listen to me—”
“Did you do what he’s saying or not?”
Natalia doesn’t answer.
That’s answer enough.
“You killed my sister.” Mikayla stumbles backwards. “You killed her and you let me believe it was him.”
Natalia’s face twists into an impudent sneer. “I did what I had to do.”
“You murdered an innocent girl!”
Mikayla’s hand goes to the gun at her hip. She draws it slowly, the barrel trembling as she points it at Natalia.
“Put that away, you stupid girl,” Natalia says calmly.
“No.”
“Mikayla—”
“You killed her. You killed Mila and you lied to me for years.”
“I saved your life. I gave you purpose. I—”
Mikayla starts to pull the trigger.
But Natalia is faster. Her gun is already out, already aimed. She fires once.
And Mikayla crumples to the ground.
I lunge forward, but Taras grabs my arm, holding me back. The armed men surrounding us raise their weapons, fingers on triggers.
Natalia lowers her smoking gun and looks down at Mikayla’s body. “Well, that’s certainly disappointing.”
I want to kill her. I want to put a bullet in her skull and watch the life drain from her eyes.
But I can’t. Not yet. Not until I find Olivia.
Natalia turns to Iakov. “And now, you’ve teamed up with your father’s murderer? Are you that pathetic? Have you no love for the man who raised you?”
“Stefan didn’t kill my father.”
“Of course he did. How many times must we go over this? He exiled him, and in his grief, Mikhail—”
A voice cuts through the air. Weak. Raspy. But unmistakable. “She’s lying.”
We all turn.
Mikayla is still on the ground, blood pooling beneath her. But she’s not dead. She’s propped up on one elbow, pale and shaking, but alive. “It wasn’t suicide,” she mumbles through fat lips quickly darkening to blue as the blood seeps into the grass. “Mikhail was murdered.”
Natalia’s face goes blank. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I was there.” Mikayla coughs, blood flecking her lips. “I saw it happen.”
“You’re delirious.”
“I saw you.” Mikayla’s eyes lock on Natalia. “I saw you kill him.”
Iakov looks like someone just slugged him in the gut. “What?”
“She killed him,” Mikayla repeats. “Made it look like suicide. But I was there. I saw everything.”
“Stupid bitch!” Natalia raises her gun again, aiming at Mikayla’s head. “You should have died the first time.”
I move without thinking. My hand goes to my gun, my finger on the trigger.
But before I can fire, there’s a crash.
Everything happens at once. The cattle shed door flies open. And Olivia bursts out, running full speed across the yard.
Her arms are pumping, hair flying behind her, dead-set on one target and one target only: Natalia.
My mother swings her gun toward Olivia. I raise mine toward Natalia.
Iakov draws his weapon and aims at his mother.
Taras goes for Natalia’s men. The armed guards all point in different directions, no longer sure what to do or when.
“Olivia, get down!” I roar.
She doesn’t listen. She keeps running, straight toward us, toward the gunfire, toward certain death.
Right as she plows into Natalia, I fire.
But so does someone else.