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“Don’t tell me what to do or what I can do. Let me handle that,” I growled, bending forward to wrap my arms around her. She gripped my hand and squeezed.
“You can’t, Viktor. You can’t.”
She was right. It would slow us down, and we were already wasting precious time.
Irina was fucking right, but I couldn’t accept it. Failure tasted bitter on my tongue, and I refused to succumb to it.
“You might be a hero but you are no superhero. Stop trying so hard to protect everyone.”
“Irina—”
“You promised, Viktor,” she whispered, her voice hauntingly soft.
My chest clenched, and sorrow turned my heart into a barren field of nothingness.
“Irina,” I said through clenched teeth. My stomach churned and I fought the urge to retch at the mere thought…
My eyes snapped up when I heard loud swearing. Two, very big, very bulky men were running toward us. Trained assassins. The Goddamn devils. They were still far enough we could escape, make a run for it. But not in this state.
Irina looked over her shoulders, a silent whimper escaping past her lips. She let out a shuddering breath and then she swallowed, hard. She fought back her tears.
“Please.” Her quiet begging was almost my undoing. Her voice would haunt me forever. All the bad fucking shit I’d done in my life—I was paying for it right now.
My decision was wrong or right…I didn’t fucking know.
Was it evil or was it my only option…I. Didn’t. Fucking. Know.
But in this moment, it was my only choice.
I bristled with anger, disgust…hate…self-loathing.
“Go,” she mouthed.
I did.
Fuck me, but I did.
Straightening up, I grasped Valerie by the arm and pulled her up. She looked at me in confusion first, and she must have seen the final decision flashing in my eyes because she started to struggle.
“No,” she roared, pounding her tiny fist against the wall of my chest. “You can’t!”
Irina gave me a final nod.
I backtracked, pulling Valerie away. My myshka screamed, swore, slapped me, and cried. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to reach for Irina, but I kept pulling. My legs threatened to buckle, aching and sore. I continued to bleed. But we had to go.
Or none of us would make it out alive.
Valerie begged.
And for the first time, I didn’t listen.
“Go,” Irina mouthed again.
The last thing I saw before dragging Valerie away was Irina kneeling on the floor, her palms on her knees.
A prized possession.
A sacrifice.
A successful distraction.
She was exactly what they needed and wanted.
“I’ll let you save me on one condition. Promise me, Viktor—whatever happens tomorrow, if you need to choose…choose Valerie. If something happens to me, make sure Valerie gets out of here. Safely. They want Valerie and me. We are the prized possessions of Solonik. I have been a sex slave for almost all my life. Do you know how much they can sell us for? Too much. If something goes bad tomorrow, I will be the distraction. If they can’t have Valerie, they can at least have me.”
“It won’t come to that.”
“I said if…then promise me.”
“Irina…”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Valerie struggled all the way. We were slower, my legs making it harder to run. The world was full of pain, noise, and too much confusion. I only had four bullets left, and they pierced through anyone who came into my path with a sickening crunch of metal meeting flesh. No question and without a second thought.
As the door grew closer, time slowed to a shocking crawl. I could see Erik’s men coming forward and covering for me. Never-ending sounds of gunshots and there were fucking dead bodies all over.
Fire continued to spread through the estate, and the smell of burning flesh was pungent. We only had minutes left before the flames took over the whole mansion.
Somewhere in my pain-stricken brain, I registered Erik calling my name. He was standing by the door, only several feet away. I pulled Valerie forward and then pushed her into his waiting arms.
I turned around, just in time to slam my fist into the shithead at my heel. “Piece of shit!” I roared, cold rage pumping through me. Taking out my knife from my pocket, I dug it into his eyes and watched as he screamed like a little girl. With my fingers wrapped around the handle, I twisted the blade and blood sprayed out, covering my face with it. His mouth opened and he gurgled some incorrigible words. His body spasmed out and then he fell from my grasp. I left my favourite knife in his eyes. A fucking souvenir.
He was going to burn, anyway.
“See you in hell.”
A loud boom came through the walls of the estate. I looked back at the stairs one final time.
Irina.
With my heart in my throat and my chest feeling too tight to breathe normally, I turned around and walked away.
I stepped through the back door and was met with the sweet rays of the morning sunlight.
