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Heavy footsteps outside the door get louder and angrier. The door to the office swings open. My vision is blurred by tears and I blink fast, a gasp caught in the back of my throat.
It can’t be…
But fuck me, it is.
My father.
My father holding a gun.
My father pressing that gun against the back of Luka’s head.
Luka’s blue eyes are dark, glittering with anger. His jaw twitches when he zeroes in on Boris lying motionless on the floor.
The bully who’s been guarding me and Tori moves his gun to Tori’s temple when my dad walks inside.
I twist left and right, desperate to make sense of what the fuck is happening here. I try to scream, all sounds muted by the tape.
“Natasha, I’m sorry this had to happen. It was never my intention to hurt you. But unfortunately, I needed you to play a part in my plan.”
The frustration of not being able to yell and scream my head off grabs hold. I struggle to bang the bottom of the chair against the tile and the side of the desk next to me, the only way to express the slightest bit of what stews in my mind, my heart, and my soul.
Evil. He is pure fucking evil.
There’s no other explanation.
He wanted this. He wanted me to get caught in the crosshairs of this family. He had it all planned. And I’m the asshole who thought he might be innocent, who believed that maybe there was some other explanation, that maybe he was targeted himself.
My father nudges Luka forward with the gun, then points it at Taras and Nikolai. They all walk into the office. Seconds pass but Dmitri never appears.
My gaze falls to the floor, at the streaks of red left in the wake of their footsteps, and my gut clenches.
Is he—?
“What do you want, Resnov?” Luka turns slowly to look at him. “Why are we here?”
“You’re here because Dmitri bugged your family’s house line when the engagement to Valentina was announced. Just as a precaution, of course. But it did come in handy today. I needed leverage to finally get what I want, now that I have cleared the path to my new empire. Thanks to both of your sisters, I almost have everything.” My father’s lips lift, his facial expression channeling the black heart of Satan wedged deep inside of him.
Luka’s eyes drop to Boris again. It’s a flit of a glance, so quick I’d have missed it if I wasn’t searching his face for some confirmation that this is just a horrible nightmare and we’re going to wake up at any second. And just as quickly, the slightest movement of Boris’s arm follows.
I avert my gaze and fix a glare on my father. He circles the room like he’s the emperor instead of a goddamn bloodthirsty maniac who likely just killed Dmitri, considering the fact that none of the guys other than him and his asshole guard have guns.
“Where the fuck is Valentina?” Luka’s voice is tight and gruff. I can tell that the beast is close to erupting. He fights it but I can see it in his eyes, in his tight expression, in his death glare.
I bet the only reason he hasn’t released it is because everyone he loves is surrounded by the threat of death. And if my father doesn’t get what he wants…whatever the hell that may be…it won’t be a threat any longer. Looking at his demonic alter ego, I am one hundred percent sure of that.
“Valentina,” my father says, stroking his chin while still focusing the gun on Luka. “Sad to say that Tori and Natasha really left her in the lurch today. She needed them, but they were reckless, acting on emotion. So instead of paying attention to their surroundings, they ended up here instead. And now she’s no longer safe at Carpaccio.”
No, no, no!
Tori lets out a choked yell that is muted by all the tape.
“Relax, Tori.” My father smiles. “The good news is that you don’t have to marry Dmitri. And even better, if Luka gives me what I want, you all walk out of here to live another day. I’d take that with a grain of salt if I were you, though.”
