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I can’t save my family.
I try to slow my stilted breaths and pull Dmitri up from the floor with one hand, the other still gripping the blade.
“Luka,” Taras yells. “Get down.”
Boom! Crack!
The shots are fired before I can react. I twist to see the two guys who’d been holding Taras and Nikolai fall to the floor like bags of wet cement. Blood puddles under them, spreading over the floor.
I let go of Dmitri’s shirt, drop my knife, and make a grab for Dmitri’s gun while my brothers swipe the guns of the slain thugs sprawled out on the floor.
Jumping to my feet, I scour the area, looking for any movement at all. Dmitri pulls himself off the floor, sputtering in Russian about revenge and an assortment of threats he’ll never get a chance to deliver on as long as I’m boss.
“Who took those shots?” Nikolai says, turning in a circle, the gun in his outstretched hand. “One of your other asshat guys, Dmitri?”
“Definitely not an asshat. And most definitely not one of Dmitri’s guys.” Footsteps click along the shiny floor, and the sweat dripping down my spine transforms into ice.
No. Fucking. Way.
“Drop the guns. All of you, or else Tori dies.” Ivan Resnov narrows his eyes at me and my brothers. “Don’t test me. You’ve seen just how far I’ll go to get what I want.”
“You sonofabitch,” I growl. “You were in on this all along. Where the fuck is Valentina?”
“All you need to know is that you’re captain of a rapidly sinking ship. And instead of asking questions, you’d better be prepared with some answers.”
“What the fuck are you doing, Resnov?” Dmitri shouts. “You ruined everything. I had him. And we had an agreement. I get Luka here, you get your list since big bad Boris didn’t know shit about it.”
My breath hitches. The list. He knows about the fucking list?
“You had nothing.” Ivan Resnov walks toward us from the foyer, his gun trained in my and Dmitri’s direction. “I got tired of listening to your bullshit power trip. I told you I’d take care of everything. I asked you to let them in here without shooting at anyone, that we’d figure out the details of your arrangement later, but you never listen. You just had to swing your dick around.” He stops and lets out a deep sigh. “Even though I told you not to.”
“You brought me in here because you need me. You know what I bring to the table.”
Ivan takes a few more steps toward us. “I don’t need you, Dmitri. Not anymore. You did your job. You brought the girls here. You delivered the new boss of the Malikov family.” He levels Dmitri with a murderous glare. “Thank you…and goodbye.”
Crack!
