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Timofey roils with tension. “Sacrificing myself won’t save anyone. You’ll kill me and then go after Piper and Benjamin all the same. The only satisfaction I can take from this is to be the one to put the bullet in your head.”
The two men stare at each other, the understanding of their mutually assured destruction pulsing between them.
But I think there might be another path yet.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I stumble sideways and crash into the metal shelf to my left. The metal bites into my ribs, and I wince in pain. My arm sprawls across the mostly empty shelf.
“Stand up!” Kreshnik barks.
As Timofey asks, “Piper?”
“I’m okay.” I give Timofey a weak smile, trying to communicate my plan to him with nothing but my eyes. I really do feel faint, so I’m not sure it’s working. “I’m just sick… because of the pregnancy.”
Timofey’s face pales as Kreshnik’s lights up. “You’re pregnant.”
I turn to him, fake shock on my face. “No. I didn’t—I’m not. That’s not what I—”
“You’re pregnant with a Viktorov spawn,” he hisses. “And here you were, offering yourself up as a womb for me. As if I wouldn’t recognize the baby wasn’t mine.”
As I clench my fists, I grab the sturdy metal rod in my hand, tucking it carefully behind my forearm. “I didn’t offer anything to you! I’d rather die than let you touch me.”
“We’ll see how history remembers this moment when you’re gone.”
“I know how they’ll remember it,” Timofey says. “Since I’ll be the one alive to tell the tale. You died like a dog, Kreshnik. After begging my woman to bed you. Don’t worry, you’ll be a sympathetic character. A cautionary tale, rife with pity…”
“I’m holding your son in my arms. Careful how you talk to me,” he barks.
“If I beg for his life, it will only give you more satisfaction in killing him. I won’t give you the pleasure,” Timofey says.
I throw myself between the two men. “Then I will. Please don’t hurt Benjamin. Let him live.”
Kreshnik sighs as if he’s bored. “We talked about this. If I don’t rip the Viktorov line out by the root, they’ll keep coming back.”
“And you’ll be dead, so what will you care? What good is any of this if you die?”
“Piper,” Timofey whispers behind me. “What are you doing?”
The truth is, I have no fucking clue.
“I’m saving your life,” I tell him. Then I turn back to Kreshnik. “And I’m saving yours. Because you’ll die here today unless you change your plan. You know that, don’t you?”
He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t need to. I press on.
“I’m pregnant with Timofey’s flesh and blood child.” I swallow, blinking back tears. “If you want revenge on him… take me.”
“No!” Timofey roars.
Whether he’s trying to entice Kreshnik further or it’s his genuine reaction, I don’t know. But it’s working.
Kreshnik smirks. “I thought you’d rather die than touch me.”
“I would. I’m asking you to kill me instead of Benjamin.”
“You want me to kill you?”
“Of course not,” I hiss. “But if someone here has to die, I’d rather it be me.”
“Kill me and save them!” Timofey says, apparently changing his tune on begging Kreshnik for anything. “Let them go. I’ll put down my gun and—”
