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If they rise against me, they’ll kill Piper, too.
And my unborn child along with her.
I hear Piper’s voice in my head.I miss him, too. That’s why I’m doing this. So you don’t have to lose anyone else.
Griefs claws at my throat, but I fight through it. “I know the risks. And I know you aren’t here to warn me about anything. You’re far too selfish for that. Tell me why you are actually here. Two minutes.”
Sergey talks a little faster now. “I’m here because I can get us both out of this tangle.”
“You killed my sister, cast my leadership into doubt, and are threatening my family days after my son has been kidnapped and killed. These are things you can’t untangle.”
“I can make sure you stay in power long enough to do something about the Albanians,” he says evenly. “They’re the real enemy here, aren’t they?”
I shake my head. “Don’t tell me who my enemies are.”
He holds up his hands in a casual surrender. “I’m just saying, I can tell the men that we were both wrong about who killed Rodion. Thanks to the Albanians’ interference and deception, we were manipulated into fighting each other. It was a distraction technique, but we caught on just in time. Now, we will fight the Albanians together and take them down.”
“You want me to help you destroy the Albanians so you can stab me in the back once the job is done? I’m not going to take out one of your enemies and make a takeover of the Bratva easier for you.”
“Youare not helpingme, Timofey. I’m helping you,” he says. “I’m helping you protect the loved ones you have left before it’s too late. That’s an offer worth considering, is it not?”
I want to reject this truce for the joke that it is. Sergey wouldn’t be making this offer if he didn’t benefit in some way. I know enough about him to know that for a fact.
But I can’t quite tear my heart away from the hallway upstairs, from the woman with auburn hair and stubborn green eyes and the largest penchant for self-destruction I’ve ever seen.
I can’t lose Piper and our baby.
The loss of Benjamin is proof enough that she is already in the Albanians’ crosshairs. If I don’t kill Kreshnik, he’ll go after Piper next.
“How much time is left now?” Sergey asks. “Are you on the same countdown clock as I am? I think you only have a minute to decide.”
“I have as much time as I want.”
He clicks his tongue. “If only that were true. You’ve made a mess of things, Timofey. You need my help before it’s too late.”
“I don’tneedanything from you.”
“This is your problem,” he murmurs. “You want to be wholly independent, but a goodpakhanknows how to rely on the people around him. He knows how to use their strengths to his advantage. I’m offering you my strength. You just have to be humble enough to take it.”
I see my life with Sergey flash before my eyes. The years of striving to please him, trying to make myself useful so he wouldn’t cast me aside. I’d seen him do it to more than enough soldiers and Vors over the years. The moment someone didn’t serve his ambitions, he got rid of them.
He’d do the same to me right now if he thought there was any real chance that he could reclaim the Bratva from me by force. The fact that he’s here means he is desperate.
“Come on, Timofey.” Sergey tries to sound frustrated, but there is an edge of panic in his voice. “You and I have both lost sons this week. Let’s not lose the Bratva, too.”
“You killed Rodion, Sergey. You didn’tlosehim. But you did lose one son today,” I tell him. “You lost me. Because I will never work with you or for you again.”
“You’re refusing me?”
“The only person who stands to lose anything here is you,” I tell him. “And I’m fine with that. If you come near my family again, I’ll kill you.”
He splutters, struggling for words. I’ve never refused him like this before, so he isn’t accustomed to the feeling.
“I won’t need to come near your family. There won’t be a family to come near,” he spits. “Your pride is going to destroy the people you love. You’re the reason Benjamin is dead and you’re going to be the reason that Piper—”
The knife makes a satisfying whirr as it whips out of the sheath inside of my jacket.
Sergey makes an even more satisfying sound as I bury the blade in his stomach.
