Page 103 of Barinov

“Viktor!” his brothers scream at the cage.

“Do it,” Luca purrs through the speakers. “End him.”

His dead eyes meet mine, blinking through sweat and tears. “Please,” he whimpers. “D-d-don’t.”

I hesitate for just a breath.

Then our girl’s gut-wrenching and helpless sobs cut through the speakers. “Stop! Please… ahhhhh! Please stop!” Bella cries, her pain bouncing off the walls and rattling in my ears.

“I told you, Lexie, she’ll pay for your disobedience.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

I raise the bat and slam it into his forehead. Once. Twice. Skull meets wood with a wet, splintering sound.

Again.

And again.

Until the only sound left is my own rabid breathing. No more of Bella’s screaming echoing in my ears. No more whimpering and grunting of a distant family member. Just a limp body and a deep red pool soaking into the mat under my boot.

Chapter 23

CADE

Miami, Florida

24 days since Bella’s kidnapping.

“Oh my God,” I breathe, the words barely more than a vapor as I collapse onto the cold bleacher. The metal bites through my jeans, grounding me into a reality I’m nowhere near ready to face.

Lex is still standing in the ring over Viktor’s broken body. The wooden bat dangling from his fists like a forgotten toy, soaked in red from tip to handle. There’s blood on his throat, on his knuckles, and even in the whites of his eyes.

I can’t stop staring at him. The man I love, bloody and breathing like a god of war.

And this was only the first fight.

Rez murmurs something beside me. He’s talking to Roman. Probably about Lex and what just happened in that ring, but I can’t hear him. His voice sounds like distant waves muffled underwater.

I clutch my sweaty palms between my knees and try to breathe through the nausea making its way up my throat.

The cage door screeches open.

The two guards with Luca’s C branded into their skin step inside. They silently grab Viktor’s corpse. His head lolling backwards as they drag him out by the ankles.

Lex’s eyes narrow in on them.

“Don’t do it, Lex,” Rez roars beside me, his words clearing the fog in my head.

“What’s happening?” Tex seethes in my ear.

The second Lex takes a step toward the guards, his body jolts. The bat clatters to the mat as his legs give out from underneath him. He drops to one knee, the impact ricocheting through the gym. The collar around his neck glowing and hissing.

“Lex!” I surge forward, but Rez holds me in place with an iron grip on my arm.

Lex’s teeth grit hard enough I swear I hear the sound of bones grating. One hand braces against the blood-soaked mat, the other curling into a fist. The beast inside him looking like he might just try to take them on anyway.

The intercom hisses.