Page 85 of Savage Little War

“Finally,” Andrei replies.

“I’m fucking ready,” Luca tells me as he gives his arms a little shake to warm up his muscles.

My grin fades a little as I look at Luca. There’s something that I need to tell him after we’re done. Something important.

I’d rip off that bandage now, but I need him focused tonight. I don’t want to lose any of these men. If Cara and I were having a more traditional wedding, they’d be my groomsmen.

It’ll just be the two of us up there with the officiant. It’ll only be our moment.

“Let’s go,” I say before Luca and Andrei join me at one SUV. Mark, Leo, and Denis head to the other SUV so we can all throw on bulletproof vests, leather gloves, and arm ourselves.

My assassination was still planned for tomorrow before I tracked down the shooter and paid him off. An attack on the Council tonight is the best way forward. They have no idea that we’re coming for them. And they just so happen to all be in town for the wedding.

Pavel Muratov has a nice house on a gated property outside of the main part of the city. The Council members think they’re so respected and powerful that they barely bother with security.

Who would be crazy enough to go after a Council member?

“Ram it,” I tell Andrei as he drives the SUV toward the gate.

Andrei floors it, plowing straight through the steel gate and ripping it off its hinges. He lets out a laugh as he drives toward the two-story house, tearing up Pavel’s lawn in the process. “Did he really think a puny gate was going to protect him?”

“They think they’re invincible,” I say, pulling my handgun out as I see a light turn on through an upstairs window.

The darkness gives us some cover, but Pavel will know who came for him soon enough.

Andrei hits the brake and puts the car in park before throwing open the door.

The six of us storm the front of the house, kicking down the door and charging into the dim foyer just as Pavel runs down a nearby staircase with a shotgun in his hands.

“Fuck,” I breathe out as he lifts the gun toward us.

We dive in different directions as Pavel fires, the blast echoing through the whole house.

Pavel aims at me, but when his eyes meet mine, he pauses. “Dmitri.”

It’s enough of a distraction for Andrei to shoot at Pavel, sending a bullet through his side.

Pavel cries out in pain as he loses his grip on the gun. It clatters at his feet as he sways, eventually losing his balance and tumbling down the stairs. He crashes onto the sleek wood of the foyer floor, blood running from a cut above his eye.

Luca grabs the shotgun and tosses it to the side out of reach, laughter rumbling from him. “You weren’t wrong. These guys are old and weak.”

Pavel glares up at us as we surround him. “Traitors! All of you! You will die for this!”

“That’s what Artur said too,” I reply with a wry smile. “Right before I killed him.”

Pavel’s eyes widen. “You…killed him?”

“Annika’s dead as well,” I tell him. “Don’t worry. I’ll pass the news along to the others.”

Pavel opens his mouth to speak, but I fire a round into his face, making his head snap back and hit the ground. Blood steadily forms a pool around him.

Andrei clicks his tongue at me. “I thought we were going to fuck him up a little more.”

“We have a lot of Council members to kill and only so many hours in a night,” I remind him as I lean down and yank Pavel’s family ring off his finger. It’s not the design Cara drew. Still, I tuck it into my pocket. “Plus, there’s one that I want to torture more than the others.”

Andrei gives me a smirk before turning around. “Let’s get going then. The next one is staying less than five miles away.”

We move like reapers through the night, storming houses and hotel suites, killing every Council member we find. A few have wives. Children. Those we leave alive, bound and shut away in another room. Their blood isn’t on my list tonight.