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I had never fired a gun before, and I certainly didn’t have one on me then. But I couldn’t handle waiting any longer. Wondering and guessing when Erasmo might squeeze that trigger and fire a bullet directly into my brain.
I wasn’t a physical fighter like my brothers or cousins, but if it meant saving my own life and getting the chance to be with Nik again, then I damn well had to try. Even if I risked failing.
I just had to find my in. The moment needed to be right.
“We both know that isn’t true,” Erasmo muttered, growing more unpredictable with his movements. “They may have spared you after the ambush, but that was only due to your sham marriage with this one. Otherwise, you would’ve been as dead as your buddy Gabe. Splattered on the cement floor with no remorse.”
There was no missing the immediate grief that crossed Nik’s eyes, and I knew that was a sore spot for him. He probably had no idea, given how Ari had apparently knocked him out before taking him to the interrogation room.
Even if their loyalties were in different places, I could only imagine hearing about his friend’s death didn’t help his high-strung emotions.
Everyone was tense as Erasmo had the gun against my head, worried any kind of movement might set it off.
“Now that I’m trapped here, what else am I supposed to do? We all know that the moment I let her go, I’ll eat a few bullets, and you’ll leave me for my family to deal with. That’s right, isn’t it? None of this so-called compromise. No, that doesn’t happen in this world,” Erasmo continued, seemingly ranting by then. “No loose ends. No witnesses. No trusting anyone outside your family. And you want me to believe I can walk away from this?”
“Easy,” Nik warned him, tightening his grip on the gun as his old boss pushed the short barrel square in the back of my head, lifting his opposite arm that had held me in place with disbelief.
Glancing down at my right side, I caught a glimpse of an ornate black vase with gold trim sitting on a solid stone ledge, and thanks to his frantic movements, we managed to shuffle closer to it. It was a long shot, but there was enough at stake to warrant the risk.
“You can dedicate your entire life to a cause, only for it to result in nothing but failure. You can give a man food, shelter, and the clothes off your back just for him to turn around and slit your throat—”
With a violent swing upward, the vase cracked against Erasmo’s head and shattered upon impact. He stumbled back and dropped the gun as I threw myself behind the fountain, hitting the ground to escape any stray bullets.
The impact shoved the breath out of my chest, but that single gunshot made it all worth it.
Sneaking a look back, I caught sight of Erasmo stumbling back even further, pausing there as if to process what had happened. Like his brain needed the moment to realize it was all over.
Blood trickled down from his forehead, and with a single sway, his body lost balance and hit the ground in a heap.
Everything went still, and the world itself seemed to stop. I could hardly believe it.
Not only was I free and Erasmo no longer a threat, but I had done it. I had seized the moment and saved myself.
Then, the reality of everything caught up, and the others were immediately on the scene.
Standing up from where I'd landed, I found Nik there, holding the gun that killed Erasmo. We locked eyes, and at once, he shoved the gun into his waistband and rushed over.
“Anastasia—”
Without missing a beat, I threw myself against him despite not being able to embrace him fully yet. Close to him at last, I breathed in his scent and let the comfort only he could offer me sink into my skin.
“I’m so glad you came,” I said, overwhelmed by the rush of emotions as I looked up at him, appreciating how lucky I was for the chance to do exactly that.
“My world was falling apart without you,” Nik confessed, giving me a tight squeeze before focusing on the rope around my wrists, cutting them with a pocket knife. The moment the rope fell away, he gently massaged my wrists. “There was no way I’d let you face that alone. Although, you seemed to have everything covered yourself.”
Despite how scary it had been, the slight amusement in his tone and the faint smile on his lips made me crack. “That was a pretty cool move, huh?”
Nik chuckled and pulled me into him, placing a gentle hand against the back of my head as if to soothe where the gun had been. “You certainly impressed me.”
Before long, the property and house were completely neutralized, and as the threat was no longer active, some of the extra units were sent off, leaving me to tell Andrei and Ari everything that happened after I was abducted.
Thankfully, Nik stayed close, holding my hand and giving me the occasional squeeze of reassurance.
“There you are,” Yaro said as he emerged after finishing up the work he and the others had to take care of first.
Immediately, he reached out for me, pulling me in for an affectionate hug. Being near my family scratched a different itch entirely, and I was so thankful to see them all.
When he pulled back, Yaro held my arms gently and met my gaze. His eyes were softer than usual, and I could tell the whole ordeal had been hard on him. “Thank god you’re alright. I’m starting to think I should put a tracker on you directly.”
