Chapter 23
Cara
When the antique shop door bangs open, my heart rate spikes.
They’re finally here.
I stand from the chair in the hallway, watching Isaak head into the main part of the store as muffled grunts and thuds sound from the entrance. I lean to the side and finally catch sight of Dmitri and his men hauling Artur and Annika toward me.
When Annika’s eyes land on mine, every ounce of oxygen leaves my lungs. The hatred on her face is instant, and I just know that she’s the one who kicked me. No other woman on this planet hates me like she does.
I got what she wanted, and she tried to take it away from me.
Isaak steps in front of me and guides me back from the interrogation-room door.
Dmitri and his men take Artur and Annika inside and strap them to the waiting chairs, rope biting into their wrists. They strip off their gags and step back as the two thrash and struggle in their seats, bitter words spilling from their lips.
“You’re making a huge mistake, Dmitri!” Artur snaps, dried blood staining the corners of his mouth.
“When they find out about this, they’ll kill every one of you!” Annika snaps, her pale-blonde hair tangled, her makeup smeared.
She looks even crazier than usual.
“Who is they?” Dmitri questions her coolly.
Annika shuts her mouth while her father glares at her.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dmitri mutters as he takes his knife out of his back pocket. “No one will recognize you when we’re done.”
Artur lets out a frustrated shout as he lurches forward, shaking the chair. He thrashes around as much as he can, but he can’t break the ropes or even knock the chair over. He settles down with an exhausted exhale, sweat glimmering on his wrinkled forehead.
“Leave. Cara and I will deal with them,” Dmitri says as he motions for his men to get out of the room.
I slip inside, oddly calm as I approach Dmitri’s side. When he presses the knife into my palm, I don’t flinch. I just wrap my fingers around the handle and adjust to its weight in my hand.
Dmitri gently touches my cheek, drawing my eyes to his. “This is your room. You’re in control.”
My heartbeat staggers for a second, but I breathe in and nod before turning to Annika. Dmitri can deal with Artur. “You were there. At the farmhouse.”
Annika narrows her eyes at me. “How would you know? You were blindfolded the whole time.”
“Nice slip,” Dmitri says with a scoff. “How did you know she was blindfolded?”
Annika’s expression wavers as she realizes her mistake.
“One of the others realized I’d missed my period,” I tell her, wanting her to remember that day as much as I do. “And then you kicked me until someone dragged you away.”
A flicker of amusement ignites her eyes as the corner of her lips turns up. “Did it work?”
Before Dmitri can even come a step closer, I lunge forward and sink the knife blade into her stomach, shocked at how easy it was to break through her skin.
“No! Annika!” Artur cries out as he watches Annika scream and shake in pain as blood soaks the front of her fitted white blouse.
I keep the blade planted and lean in, my heart pounding furiously as pure adrenaline fills my veins. “No, it didn’t work. I’m still having his baby, you sick bitch.”
Annika pulls against the ropes around her wrists, her breaths puffing in and out frantically. “Get it out! Get it out of me!”
Her screams ring in my ears, but I don’t even grimace. I drink in the sound because she deserves every ounce of pain that she’s feeling right now.
“What was the plan, Annika? Get rid of me and the baby so that you could swoop in and be with Dmitri? Did you really think that was going to work?” I question her.
She’s delusional enough to think so, and she’s evil enough to put a plan like that into play.
“I shouldn’t have stopped! I should’ve kept going!” Annika bites out, her voice and body starting to shake as blood seeps around the knife blade and stains her thighs.
Clenching my jaw, I put more pressure on the knife, driving it deeper.
Annika gasps. Her face goes pale.
“Stop! You’re going to kill her!” Artur snaps at me, sheer desperation filling his face.
As much as I want to let her bleed out, we still need answers. We’ve been vulnerable for too long.
We need to know everything that we can if we’re going to keep each other and the ones we care about safe.
“I’ll stop if you answer some questions,” I tell Artur as I plant my free hand on the top of Annika’s chair to steady myself.
“Fine!” Artur grits out.
“When did you start working with the Italians?” I question him, hearing Dmitri step up behind me.
Artur exhales sharply, frustration lacing his tone. “A-After Dmitri called off the marriage, Enrico Ferro reached out to me. He heard the alliance fell apart.”
“He knew you would be pissed at me,” Dmitri says in understanding, sounding pissed.
Artur grinds his teeth. “He told me about how you humiliated him and how you were working with a traitor to his family.”
“And you two idiots found out you had something in common,” Dmitri replies with a scoff.
“You broke my daughter’s heart for that whore!” Artur snaps at him.
I slightly rotate the knife, making Annika cry out.
“Stop!” Artur shouts, his eyes bulging with fear as he watches his daughter whimper in pain.
“Well, you two figured out how to hurt me the most. I’ll give you that,” Dmitri says bitterly. “You felt so wronged that you had to go after the woman I love. How did that work out for you both?”
Artur glares at Dmitri. “We’re not the only ones you pissed off. Even if you kill me too, you won’t be safe.”
I look over at Dmitri, sharing a look with him. We can’t catch a break. We kill one enemy, and two more take their place.
How many people are we going to have to kill before we finally feel safe?
“I think that’s all we need to know,” I say before turning back to Annika. “You were never going to have him. Not from the moment I walked into his office. I won.”
“You…bitch…”
Dmitri brushes past me and yanks the knife free.
“No!” Artur shouts.
He doesn’t get another word out before Dmitri opens his throat, blood pouring down the front of his shirt. He jerks around for a few seconds until he goes still, his eyes staring up lifelessly at the ceiling.
Annika makes a small, wet sound as blood flows from her wound, her eyes fluttering as her consciousness seeps away. She leans forward until she’s slumped over, blood spilling off the edge of the chair and dripping onto the floor at her feet.
Dmitri lets out a slow, controlled exhale as he drops the knife on the ground, his expression hardening as he stares at them. “This could’ve all been avoided if they’d just accepted that the marriage wasn’t going to happen.”
I tear my eyes away from Annika and walk over to Dmitri, my stomach twisting and turning as the smell of blood fills my nose.
“She wanted you so badly that she was willing to kill me and your child to have you. Her father loved her so much that he was willing to start a war for her. There was no saving them.”
Dmitri shakes his head, his eyes not leaving Artur. “I should’ve known that Artur and Enrico were working together. I should’ve figured this shit out sooner!”
“They were smart about it,” I tell him as I cup the frame of his face with my bloody hands and coax his eyes down to mine. I feel no guilt. Not even a hint at what we did. “It sounded like they were working with someone else.”
Dmitri scoffs bitterly. “There’s no end in sight with this bullshit.”
“We’re almost there,” I assure him, feeling that in my soul. We’re taking out the big hitters. Soon, there won’t be anyone left who is dangerous enough to make us feel threatened. “Enrico is dead. Paolo was handled. Now Annika and Artur. Look at all we’ve accomplished.”
Dmitri lowers his forehead to mine, the corner of his lips lifting. “And I’ll kill a million more if it means keeping you and our baby safe.”
I wind my arms around his neck. He doesn’t care if my fingers are sticky with blood. “You could share that burden with me.”
Dmitri smirks, his eyes glinting. “What happened to the girl who refused to kill?”
I glance back over at Annika, memories of my time in the basement flickering through my mind like a horror movie on constant replay. “That version of me died the second she kicked me in that farmhouse. I’m what’s left, a mother who will do anything to protect her baby.”
Dmitri cups my cheek, leaving behind his own blood stains on me as our gazes meet once more. “I loved that version of you, but I love this one even more. Not because you’re deadly, but because you’re as strong as I always knew you were deep down.”
A soft ache fills my heart. Dmitri’s always believed in me more than anyone else, and I don’t see that ever changing. He’s the only one who can truly see me for who I am.
Who I can become. Who we are together.
“I love you,” I tell him as I place my hand over his.
Even before I truly knew him, there was a part of me that felt connected to him. I understood his pain. His grief. His anger.
When Dmitri finally lowered his walls and let me know him, we became forever bound to each other. Even when the truth came out about me, it wasn’t enough to push us away from each other.
We’re meant to be together.
“Let’s get out of here,” Dmitri says, not even passing another look at the lifeless bodies next to us. He grabs my hand and leads me out of the room, pausing for a second to talk to his men as they wait for his orders. “Dispose of them and torch their building.”
“Yes, sir,” a chorus of voices replies along with a couple of, “Gladly, sir.”
Dmitri takes me out of the antique shop, blood staining our fingers as they lace together. We don’t let go.