I have to give him what he wants.
“I’ll go with you,” I say, my voice flat.
Konstantin eases off me slightly.
“No games,” he warns.
“No games.” It’s a lie. The first chance I get, I’m going to kill this asshole. There are at least fifty steps between us and the front door, and I will find something to arm myself with between here and there.
Just stay calm. I remind myself that I’m still the same woman who was daring enough to bring a scalpel to Silas’s throat the first time I met him. I do not bow to powerful men. Another sob locks in my throat as a flash of his dark sapphire eyes comes to mind.
“You disappoint me,” he purrs in my ear. “I was hoping for a bit more fight from you.”
“I’m done fighting,” I say. Another lie. I’m done running. But fighting, never.
“Well, we’ll see?—”
“Get away from her, you motherfucker.”
The voice comes from behind us.
We both turn to see Gia standing at the entrance of the living room, pointing a shotgun at Konstantin.
“I said get away from her,” she repeats, in the same cold, calculating tone as her brother. “Or I will redecorate that wall with your insides.” Her smile is savage.
Konstantin’s grip loosens only a fraction.
“And who might you be?” he asks her, the amusement in his voice is thick. “Such a pretty little thing, you must be the sister.”
“I’m the woman who’s going to blow a hole in you the size of a dinner plate if you don’t take your filthy hands off her, you goddamn asshole.”
50
SILAS
Idon’t wait for my men. The moment I stop my car, I jump out.
Gun drawn, I move stealthily through the darkness toward the house.
Nearing the front entrance, I see one of my men lying face down on the gravel between the fountain and the front steps, his blood pooling beneath him.
Fuck.
I walk past his body and keep moving.
There will be time for him later.
As I approach my front door, the thunderclap of a twelve-gauge shotgun rips into the night, coming from inside. I bolt through the door, my mind alert and my heart hammering.
If Konstantin has hurt any of them, I’ll cut off his cock and then his balls and force-feed them down his throat. Death won’t come quick enough for him.
I tear through the dark house, my eyes and ears alert for any of Konstantin’s men. I hear yelling deeper inside the house and move quickly toward the ruckus.
I find them in the living room. Konstantin slumped against the wall with one arm raised to shield his face. In the stone wall behind him is a ragged hole the size of a watermelon.
Gia is on her ass on the floor, the shotgun still clamped in both hands and pointed at Konstantin. The recoil from when she pulled the trigger must’ve knocked her off her feet. Leonore is crouched beside her, as if she’s been flung across the room, and the relief I feel when I see they’re unharmed is immediate.
“You crazy bitch!” Konstantin snarls. “You’re fucking crazy?—”
