AllFreeNovel
Share Us
20
VIKTOR
The sight of Caterina sets me on fire, relief and fury pouring through me in equal measure as we burst into the room, weapons out and advancing on Alexei and his party.
She’salive.
She’s here.
I’m going to kill that motherfucker for ever laying a hand on her.
It only takes an instant for the room to devolve into pure chaos. Several of Alexei’s security move towards us with the intent to keep us from going any further, but I’d meant it when I’d said there wasn’t a goddamn thing in this world that could stop me once we got inside, and especially not now that I know for sure that Caterina is here. The men we’d hired to come with us spill out on either side, firing at or fighting Alexei’s men hand to hand, while Levin and Max veer off to either side, followed by Liam and Luca, and finally me.
There’s no quarter given, no one who will escape. As we’d discussed, Levin, Max, Luca, Liam and our backup go for the guards, while I stride through the room purposefully, gun in hand as I go for Alexei.
It’s impossible to find him immediately. The room is a madhouse, guests scattering wildly at the sounds of gunshots, pouring towards any of the three exits, a few even going for the windows. I see Caterina duck to one side, grabbing Sofia and Sasha and getting them all down to the floor behind one of the stages, cowering away from any strange gunfire.
Ana is nowhere to be seen, and neither are my children. I take note of that instantly, a fresh rage rising up in me at the thought that Alexei might have dispensed with any of them, but especially Anika or Yelena.
As the room starts to clear, I catch sight of him trying to make it to the entrance on the far side of the room, where several of his security are attempting to fight off Levin and Max. He’s flanked by a few more of his security team, and I see more than one face that I recognize, men who turned to his side when he’d staged his mutiny in my absence.
I can’t entirely blame them, not when Alexei had murdered the ones who stayed loyal so brutally. But the ones who died will be avenged, and in this world, disloyalty carries a steep price. I won’t give them quarter when it comes to rescuing my family and leaving this house safely.
They’re all about to find out exactly how well-earned my reputation truly is.
“Stop right there.” Levin turns to block Alexei’s path, swinging his gun out to one side as he does and shooting the man who tries to lunge at him to disarm him point-blank in the forehead. A foot away, Max sends one of the guards heavily to the floor with a punch to the jaw, joining the growing pile of dead or injured bodies that once made up Alexei’s force of men.
Without missing a beat, Max circles behind Alexei, leveling his pistol at the back of Alexei’s head as Levin takes out the two remaining guards, one with a gunshot and the other with the heel of his hand driven up into the man’s nose, sending him to the floor with a sudden, heavy drop.
“Viktor Andreyev would like to have a word with you,” Max says, his voice even as he and Levin hold their pistols trained on Alexei’s head. “So kindly don’t move.”
I see Alexei pale slightly as I stride forwards, snatching a pair of plastic cuffs off of one of the men as I do. Luca and Liam come in from the sides as they finish dispatching the guards they were fighting, the five of us boxing him in as I grab his arms from behind, yanking his wrists behind his back and securing them with the plastic cuffs pulled just a bit too tight.
“Sit him on the edge of one of the stages,” I tell Levin, pushing Alexei towards him. “I want to check on Caterina before anything else.”
“Right away,Ussuri.” Levin grabs Alexei’s cuffs, shoving him forwards, and Alexei lurches, throwing his head back to try to strike Levin. Levin neatly sidesteps, swinging around and delivering a punch squarely to Alexei’s gut.
The blond man doubles over, coughing as Levin hauls him back upright, twisting the cuffs until Alexei’s eyes widen with pain. “If you think that hurts,” he growls near Alexei’s ear, “just wait until thepakhanhas had time to attend to you.”
Luca, Liam, Max and I rush immediately towards the stage where Caterina is still crouched with Sasha and Sofia, the latter of whom looks dangerously pale.
“Viktor!” Caterina gasps, leaping to her feet. “I thought—” she chokes on her words, and I can see that she’s shaking. I go to her instantly, reaching for her to steady her as Luca kneels down next to us, helping Sofia to her feet.
“Here, let me help you.” Max holds out a hand to Sasha, and her eyes widen as she looks up and sees him, her cheeks flushing as she takes the hand he’s holding out, letting him help her up to her feet. For a moment she sways, as if she wants to topple into his arms, but she steadies herself, looking up at him with those startlingly bright blue-green eyes of hers.
“You came too,” she murmurs softly, and Max’s expression softens, his eyes locking with hers in a way that I’ve never seen him do with any woman. For as long as he’s been under my protection, he’s denied all female company, and never so much as flirted with a woman that I’ve seen. The fact that he hasn’t let yet go of her hand is, for him, highly unusual.
“Shit.” Luca curses as Sofia totters on her high heels, all of the blood suddenly draining out of her face as her knees give out. Caterina reaches for her instinctively, helping to support her as Luca gathers his fainted wife into his arms.
“There’s bedrooms upstairs,” Caterina says quickly. “Anika and Yelena should be in one of them, Alexei had them removed from the party not long before you got here.”
“I’ll take her there, then.” Luca lifts his wife as if she weighs nothing, cradling her in his arms bridal-style. “And stay with her, if you don’t require my presence, Viktor.” His voice is terse, and I know that the tensions that have existed between us are far from entirely dissolved. We’ve worked together these past weeks, the bad blood between the mafia and the Bratva thinned with our truce, but there’s still mistrust there, the seeds of bitterness.
It will take time to heal those wounds. But just as I hope to make a fresh start in my own life, I hope to continue to keep our new peace from souring. It’s one of my highest priorities—right after dealing with Alexei Egorov.
“We can handle it,” I tell him firmly. “Stay with your wife.” I glance over at Caterina and Sasha. “Do you want to go with him? You don’t need to stay and see what I’m about to do. It won’t be…pleasant.”
Caterina and Sasha both look at Alexei almost in unison, and the expressions on both of their faces would be frightening, if they had been directed at me. I’ve never seen such vicious hatred on the face of either woman—anywoman, I think, and a feeling of sick dread knots my stomach.
