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LUKA
“I don’t have all day, asshole,” Dmitri says, stalking toward me. “What’s it gonna be?”
“If you think killing me will solve your problems, then do it. Pull the trigger.” I grit my teeth. “But do it your damn self. Don’t be a pussy. Show some strength, for fuck’s sake. Be a man and take what you want.”
“Your family humiliated me,” he roars, shoving me into the guy with his gun still pressed to my head. He waves his gun in front of my face, his eyes taking on a manic glow.
“That’s something you take up with me,” I growl. “You have a problem with me, not my brothers. Not Natasha and Tori. So deal with me.”
“I don’t need you. I can take what I want right now.” He drags the gun down the front of his reddening face. It’s like the rage is literally bubbling beneath his skin, ready to tear through.
“You think if you kill me, you’ll win. You’ll take the power and control. But you won’t. Our allies won’t let you keep it. Our partners will come for you,” I say.
“What partners?” he spews. “Boris is back there, practically dead. He can’t help you. You have nothing. Nobody! Resnov incinerated your family five years ago. He crippled your businesses.”
I nod, the lump in my throat swelling when I hear about my friend and the danger I brought to his home. “And five years later, we’re back, more powerful than we were before. Remember, Dmitri, the strongest family isn’t the one with the most firepower. The strongest family is the one who keeps rising up after being torched to the ground.”
“Oh, so now you’re some kind of phoenix?” he sneers. “You became boss by default. It was never supposed to be you at the top.” He nods toward my brothers. “And you think these idiots are gonna be your muscle?”
“They’re the only muscle I need.” I force myself to keep my voice even while I plot out my next moves. If Taras and Nik weren’t being held at gunpoint, I could take these fuckers out by myself, without a weapon and with my eyes closed.
I fight bringing in my Maxim Molotov skills with everything in me because I know I need to pull a different set of tools from my arsenal right now. Dmitri is losing his shit. I just have to push him a little further and then he’ll be mine. I can work with his twisted brain. I can mold it. I can beat him.
“You couldn’t stop that wedding attack.” Dmitri’s eyes glitter with malice. “And without my family as a partner, the Malikov name will be buried along with its newest boss.”
“If I’m so weak, why do you need the gun? Shooting me when I have no weapon isn’t exactly a fair fight. You wanna show the world how powerful you are? Then do it like a man. Not like a guy who’s had everything handed to him. You want me? Fucking take me out, asshole,” I growl.
Scenarios race through my mind at top speed and I can’t catch a single one that can save us from this clusterfuck. Dmitri inches toward me, his gun outstretched. He grins and drops it on the floor.
“Vlad, let him go,” Dmitri says in Russian to the guy holding me. Vlad drops his gun and releases his death-like grip on my arm before stepping backward.
“You wanted a story, right?” I mutter, flexing my fingers. “You’re gonna get one.” I leave out the part that he won’t survive to tell it.
Dmitri winds up his arm in a sad attempt to launch a punch at me, and I can make a sandwich in the amount of time it takes to even come close to my jaw.
I duck out of the way and drive a shot to the side of his head. He crumples to the ground, his hands slapping against the floor. He grunts and staggers to his feet.
Someone grabs my arm and tugs on it while Dmitri readies himself for round two. “Let him go, Vlad,” he yells. “He’s mine, do you understand? Nobody dies unless I give the word.”
I wait for him to run at me again, swerving another one of his pathetic punches. Then I drive a punch into Dmitri’s throat, and his hands fly up to his neck. He doubles over, choking from the force and damage done to his esophagus courtesy of my fist. “Fuck you, Luka. This fight doesn’t mean shit. I will get Tori and my money. This game won’t save you or your family. At the end of this, you’re gonna die, and I win.”
“Unless I don’t die. And you lose.” I dive at him, knocking him to the floor. His head cracks against the tile. I drive my knee into his sternum before grabbing the stiletto from my ankle strap. I pop open the blade and hold it against his throat.
He gasps, struggling beneath me. The jerking motion causes the tip of the blade to tear into his flesh and a dot of blood appears. “Tell your guys to let my brothers go. Now.” I hiss.
“I’ve kept you, your brothers, and the girls alive so we can agree on the new terms of our arrangement. If you try to kill me now, my guys will kill everyone else,” he says. “You’re screwed either way. Either you give me what I want or you all die. The game hasn’t changed at all, Luka. You’ve only dug yourself deeper into your own shithole.”
I clutch the handle of the knife, keeping it pressed into his throat. A tightness in my chest constricts my ability to breathe even though I’m the one wielding the weapon.
And I know it’s because he’s right. I may be the one in the power position now but it’s fleeting.
He’s got the control.
Goddammit!
I have to save my family.
Reality swoops in and chokes me.
