Page 171 of Betrayal and Vows

Vadim seems to mull that over.

I wait.

We all wait to see what happens next.

Will he kill me? Order his men to finish me?

He killed the only heir.

And then as if in slow motion, we all watch as Vadim turns the gun on himself and pulls the trigger.

Sixty seconds.

Three bodies fall.

An empire dies.

For a beat, no one moves. No one breathes.

Then chaos erupts.

Gunfire blasts from behind us. I dive, grab Lena, roll us behind an overturned table.

“Popov,” Dmitri snarls.

Lenoid screams from across the room. He’s running.

Too late.

One shot catches him in the chest. Another between the eyes.

He falls ten feet away from where we’re hiding.

She shrieks.

I pull her to her feet. We have to run. The crossfire slams all around us.

A bullet slams into my chest. Hot, sharp. It steals my breath. I stumble, fall into her.

Blood soaks her shirt.

“Anton!” she screams, voice ragged.

I want to say something.

Anything.

But the world goes sideways.

My knees hit the ground.

I collapse into her arms.

My blood stains her skin. Her hair. Her heart.

She holds me, sobbing, shouting for help that doesn’t come.

And I can’t hold her back.