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For all of half a second, I felt on top of the world. Power surged through my veins and self-satisfaction made me glow from the inside. The shocked gasps of the women surrounding me were the cherry on the top.
I saw his fist coming but was powerless to stop it. Baldy knocked me hard, right on the jaw. I slid into a miserable little heap at the base of the wall. There was blood in my mouth, coating my cracked lips.
Then the kicking started. His foot connected with my stomach and I nearly puked. Spikes of pain shot through my ribs until I drifted off into the sweet unconsciousness of oblivion.
8
KRISTOFF
Like the shit stain he was, Kolev was hiding in a crappy warehouse in an even crappier neighborhood of San Fran. There didn’t seem to be a game plan, or any thought of a possible forced extraction. Men like Kolev knew only one thing: blood and bones.
We burst into the building, completely taking them by surprise. My men decimated the Bulgarians one by one in a deadly, coordinated attack. There were benefits to having ex-military in the Bratva.
By the time we got to the back room, I’d stepped over half a dozen corpses. No Kolev, though. Even worse, there was no sign of Katya.
What if she wasn’t alive? Again my stomach cramped, and my palms got sweaty. Something was wrong with me, but I didn’t have the time to think about it. The monster inside of me howled and unleashed his ferocity as I took down two more Bulgarians.
Viking ran ahead of me, throwing open doors on his left and right.
One of Kolev’s men saw him coming. He turned tail and ran.
“Smart choice,” Viking growled and barreled down the corridor in search of Katya. He opened the last door, peered inside, and skidded to a halt. “Fuck. Oh, fuck.”
I wondered what had the big guy flustered like that. There was a reason Viking was my second in command—he was always steady during an op. But in the back of my mind, I already knew what he’d found.
He stood in the doorway, rooted to the spot. I pushed him aside and entered the dimly lit room. It was cold and I felt as if I’d stepped into a cooler. My eyes roamed over a dozen scantily dressed women until I found the one I’d come here for.
There, on the ground near a small sink, Katya lay on her side facing the door. Her legs and arms were bruised, and she was a bloody mess. Her cheek was swollen, her eyes closed. My guts were shredded to a bloody pulp.
A large, bald man stood over Katya, holding a gun to her head.
“Stand back!” Sweat dripped from his brow. His eyes frantically darted between me, Viking, and the half-dozen men I had at my back.
Even though he was an immediate threat, I ignored him. First, I needed to be sure she was alive. This city would go up in flames if she’d left me behind to go to a place where I couldn’t follow.
“Ekaterina.”
My heart stopped for a few beats until her eyes shot open. There was so much agony in her baby blues. But pain was good. It meant she was alive.
“Stay the fuck back!” the bald fucker yelled.
I held up my hands in mock surrender. “I’m guessing Kolev left you behind to clean up this mess.” When his eyes narrowed, I knew I’d hit a spot. “All I want is her. Anyone with half a brain would know that there’s no way in hell I’m stepping back or leaving without her.” I was about to offer him amnesty in exchange for Katya, when a girl who sat behind her spoke.
“You’re Kristoff. She told me you’d come for her.” She sniffed. “I didn’t believe her.”
The man turned white as a sheet. “The Soulless One…”
I nodded, acknowledging my nickname.
The girl’s hands clenched into fists, then she turned to the bald fucker. “You were going to rape her. You were going to do to her what you did to…” She swallowed. “To all of us.”
Nausea swept over me like a wayward wind of pestilence, poisoning me from the inside. Sometimes it felt as if I had lived a thousand lives and had taken even more, extinguishing the light from anyone who got in my way. But never before did I want to smash someone in a bloody pulp like I did with this piece of shit who still held a gun to Katya’s head.
I stepped aside, giving him a way out. “Leave now. Or stay and die.”
He hesitated only for a beat, then he made himself scarce. No one stopped him. I exchanged a look with Viking, and he left the room to hunt.
I knelt next to Katya. She pulled her legs beneath her and leaned back against the wall. She looked like she was about to break into pieces, but her pride kept her from doing it.
