Page 76 of Savage Little War

“You’re making a huge mistake, Dmitri!” Artur snaps, dried blood staining the corners of his mouth.

“When they find out about this, they’ll kill every one of you!” Annika snaps, her pale-blonde hair tangled, her makeup smeared.

She looks even crazier than usual.

“Who is they?” Dmitri questions her coolly.

Annika shuts her mouth while her father glares at her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Dmitri mutters as he takes his knife out of his back pocket. “No one will recognize you when we’re done.”

Artur lets out a frustrated shout as he lurches forward, shaking the chair. He thrashes around as much as he can, but he can’t break the ropes or even knock the chair over. He settles down with an exhausted exhale, sweat glimmering on his wrinkled forehead.

“Leave. Cara and I will deal with them,” Dmitri says as he motions for his men to get out of the room.

I slip inside, oddly calm as I approach Dmitri’s side. When he presses the knife into my palm, I don’t flinch. I just wrap my fingers around the handle and adjust to its weight in my hand.

Dmitri gently touches my cheek, drawing my eyes to his. “This is your room. You’re in control.”

My heartbeat staggers for a second, but I breathe in and nod before turning to Annika. Dmitri can deal with Artur. “You were there. At the farmhouse.”

Annika narrows her eyes at me. “How would you know? You were blindfolded the whole time.”

“Nice slip,” Dmitri says with a scoff. “How did you know she was blindfolded?”

Annika’s expression wavers as she realizes her mistake.

“One of the others realized I’d missed my period,” I tell her, wanting her to remember that day as much as I do. “And then you kicked me until someone dragged you away.”

A flicker of amusement ignites her eyes as the corner of her lips turns up. “Did it work?”

Before Dmitri can even come a step closer, I lunge forward and sink the knife blade into her stomach, shocked at how easy it was to break through her skin.

“No! Annika!” Artur cries out as he watches Annika scream and shake in pain as blood soaks the front of her fitted white blouse.

I keep the blade planted and lean in, my heart pounding furiously as pure adrenaline fills my veins. “No, it didn’t work. I’m still having his baby, you sick bitch.”

Annika pulls against the ropes around her wrists, her breaths puffing in and out frantically. “Get it out! Get it out of me!”

Her screams ring in my ears, but I don’t even grimace. I drink in the sound because she deserves every ounce of pain that she’s feeling right now.

“What was the plan, Annika? Get rid of me and the baby so that you could swoop in and be with Dmitri? Did you really think that was going to work?” I question her.

She’s delusional enough to think so, and she’s evil enough to put a plan like that into play.

“I shouldn’t have stopped! I should’ve kept going!” Annika bites out, her voice and body starting to shake as blood seeps around the knife blade and stains her thighs.

Clenching my jaw, I put more pressure on the knife, driving it deeper.

Annika gasps. Her face goes pale.

“Stop! You’re going to kill her!” Artur snaps at me, sheer desperation filling his face.

As much as I want to let her bleed out, we still need answers. We’ve been vulnerable for too long.

We need to know everything that we can if we’re going to keep each other and the ones we care about safe.

“I’ll stop if you answer some questions,” I tell Artur as I plant my free hand on the top of Annika’s chair to steady myself.