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My muscles are shaking with the restraint it takes not to rip his head from his body. With the effort required to not kill him from the moment I walked into the room.
But I can release it all now.
I swing the bat right and left, turning his head into fucking pulp. By the fourth swing, he’s limp. He isn’t moving except when I hit him. But I keep going.
When the bat breaks against his skull, I cut through the rope holding him to the chair and let his body fall to the floor.
A strangled breath forces its way out of his throat. His chest heaves with watery inhales and exhales.
I kick him in the stomach and then lower, nailing him hard in the balls. For Mariya.
Blood is oozing out of his ears and eyes. There’s a sizable puddle around his head. But the fucker is still breathing.
Nikandr is lying in a hospital gurney, fighting for his life because Akim’s man shot him in the chest, yet Akim keeps going.
“Die, you son of a bitch.” I kick him in the chest, sending a spray of blood out of his mouth. “Fucking die!”
I kick him in the forehead and feel the snap. The sound of it echoes through the room.
Then, finally, he’s dead.
But I’m not done. I keep kicking. I drive my heel into the empty shell of his head until I’m tired. Until I fall down in the chair bolted to the floor and stare at his wasted corpse.
He nearly took everything from me today. Mariya, Luna, my child… Nik. He might still get Nik.
Akim deserved every blow. He deserved worse. But no amount of torture could make up for any of it. Even his death isn’t enough.
12
LUNA
I wake up with strong hands on my face. Calloused thumbs brushing over my cheekbones.
Yakov is standing next to my bed, repeating my name over and over again. “I’m here, Luna. You’re safe.”
He wipes tears off of my cheeks. I didn’t even realize I was crying. For a few seconds, even while I’m staring into his stern face, I’m back in that tiny, windowless room.
Then it comes back to me.
“You’re safe,” Yakov croons again. He folds my hand in both of his. “I’m here.”
I’m at the hospital. Yakov is with me. Akim is…
“Where were you?” I rasp. “Where did you go?”
Last night, Mariya said Yakov was going to kill Akim. She said something about a “clean-up shed,” but then seemed to think better of it. When I asked what in the hell that was, she wouldn’t tell me.
Yakov shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I just want to know what’s going to happen to?—”
“Dr. Jenkins is here,” Yakov interrupts.
"The obstetrician? Already?” The clock above the door says it’s only half past seven. “It's early. We were up most of the night. Have you even slept yet?”
“I don’t need sleep.”
I frown. “Everyone needs sleep.”
