Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
He drops like a sack of potatoes. If he was anybody else, maybe I’d give him a chance to live. Tie him up and go on with my work. But Artem is the goddamn devil. And there’s no quit in him.
I take the knife he was just sharpening and do my bloody work. A savage slice from ear to ear that leaves the floor red. And adds one more death onto my already crowded tally.
I don’t wait to see if anybody heard. Can only pray the noise in the main room is loud enough to cover the sound of the fight.
Up the stairs, I aim my gun. Round another corner. The hallway leading to Nikolai’s office is quiet.
This is damn good luck.
A thought strikes me like a bolt of lightning.
Not luck—Rose.
We’re meant to be together. Fate is helping us along.
I stalk down the hallway, pause outside the office. From inside, I hear Nikolai’s voice. A vicious growl. Heavy with entitlement. The voice of a man who was born into Bratva royalty and never had to claw his way up.
Not like me. He never had to walk through Hell just to make a living.
“If you’re extra nice, I’ll even give you a bonus.”
A woman’s voice responds, taut and terrified, “Please don’t do this.”
“It’s already done …”
He’s right. Just not in the way he thinks.
I kick open the office door and leap across the room.
Nikolai—wide, square, solid—turns and immediately aims a gold-ringed fist at me. I slip to the side and crunch my fist into his nose. A loud snap as it breaks and he collapses against the wall.
Before he can recover, I take out my pistol and press it against his forehead. Blood gushes from his nose and over his lips.
I look at the woman. More of a girl really. Clutching her shirt to her chest with mascara streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “For whatever he did to you. For whatever he was going to do. Get out of here.”
“Thank you!” she cries, running for the door.
Nikolai flashes a blood-red smile at me. “Are you going to shoot me, Alexei? Do you think you’ll make it out of here alive if you do?”
“I’ve spent a month wondering if I’d be able to get to you, hiding in here like a rat. A month wondering if it’d be the death of me. Then I met her. She gave me the courage I needed. She turned me into the man I’d never be without her.”
He looks at me like I’m deranged.
Perhaps I am.
But if loving Rose makes me crazy, I don’t want to be sane.
“We can talk about thi—”
I shoot him in the head.
When his body drops, I lean down, pick him up.
His men are already waiting for me in the hallway, some of them staring at Artem’s dead body.
I look them in the eye. Stare down the barrels of their guns. Even with me unarmed and holding their dead leader, they look terrified. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always been a lone wolf. They know how dangerous I am.
“Nikolai Dubrov is dead,” I growl. “I killed him. Me. Alexei Markov. Anybody who has a problem with that, make it known now. We’ll settle it like men. Otherwise drop your weapons and get the fuck out of my way.”
They flinch as terror spreads through the group.
I drop the dead body. They twitch, glancing at each other. Each coward urges the other to make a move. Pleading with their eyes. But they’re all thinking the same thing.
If he killed Artem and Nikolai, he can kill us too.
What if he has backup?
We’re no match for him.
They part like the Red fucking Sea when I walk through them, their guns lowered. Oleg is with them. I meet his gaze and he quickly ducks his head.
When I’m finally back in my car, I let out a shaky breath, adrenaline flooding through me.
Then I call Pash.
Nikolai might be dead. The Bratva might be defeated.
But there’s one more loose thread to take care of.
10
ROSE
My cellphone rings. I answer without looking at the screen, thinking maybe it’s Lex. Silly idea—we didn’t even exchange numbers. But my desperation to see him blots my thoughts for a second.
It’s Roger Kent, the property developer. “You’ve made your point.”
“Excuse me?”
“Please, do me the courtesy of not playing dumb. Your lawyer just called. I’ve got no idea how you afforded him, but I understand, okay? Please tell him to back off. You’ll never hear from me again.”
What the hell is he talking about?
I take a moment, my mind whirring.
Lex.
It had to be.
I make my voice firm, like I’ve got a full grasp of the situation. “If I ever see you again, I’ll throw the full weight of the law at you, Mr Kent.”
“I—”
He hesitates.
“Apologize?” I snap.
He clears his throat. “Yes, yes, I apologize.”