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My breath hitches. I step backward, my foot hitting something hard. I stumble and gasp, my eyes dropping to the red and blue chewed-up pacifier on the floor.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t try to use that as a weapon.” Danil creeps toward me like he’s a voracious lion about to pounce on a raw steak. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You assholes are gonna sit here holding your dicks while I take Larysa with me.”
“Take me where? I’m not going anywhere with you, sicko.”
“You got the gun? No? Then you don’t give the orders.”
“You’re not going to shoot me and dump me off somewhere like trash.” I squeeze Daniela to my chest. “Fuck you. I’m staying right here.”
The gun barrel approaches my face. Violence swirls in the depths of Danil’s narrowed eyes.
“So we’re negotiating now. Not my normal MO, but for you, I’ll make an exception. You’ve got two choices.” Danil inches closer until he’s practically against me. “You can give yourself up for them, or I can just kill you all right now. What’s it gonna be?”
Chapter11
Danil
“You planned this whole thing just so you could get your disgusting hands on my sister,” Hadeon shouts.
“I’ve already had my hands on your sister. Thought we established that. If you want, I can give you more details. That way, you won’t ever forget what I did to her.”
“Where are you going with Larysa?” Petro asks. “She’s innocent. She has nothing to do with our work.”
He’s right. She is innocent. She’s also got a bright red target stamped on her forehead because of “their work.”
I lift an eyebrow at him. He’s definitely the calmer brother. Has at least a few functioning brain cells. I can work with that.
Except right now, calm is the exact opposite of how I feel. To them, I may look like a cold and calculated killer, but the truth is, I’m reeling right now.
The plan was to come in here and kill Larysa, not have my objective for revenge shattered by the cries of a baby who’s my spitting fucking image. I’m convinced my mother, even in death, is hanging over my shoulder right now, pointing me in the direction of happily ever after when I’m fighting so damn hard to veer right into my original destination of justice and devastation.
This was supposed to be a simple hit, a message to the Moroz family and a retaliatory strike that would make our families even. But these people have overloaded my brain with a lot of damning information that I need time to process. And time is one thing I don’t have.
What I do have is a woman who can be used to snuff out the enemies plotting against my family, once and for all. So I’m keeping her.
“My mother was innocent, too. Funny how the innocent ones become the prey.”
“Killing me won’t bring your mother back.” Larysa clutches the baby. “It will only be another wrong committed. Will murdering me really make you feel better about losing your mom?”
Her voice is shockingly even and unaffected. Maybe she’s doing that for the baby’s benefit. I’ve heard that kids pick up on adult moods and if she wants to keep Daniela quiet, she has to be soothing.
I can play that game.
“Yes. Because if you’re stupid enough to take from us once, you’ll try to do it again. The only way to protect and defend is to cripple your enemies. To show them what they have to lose, starting with their shining star, and ending with the fucknuts who put the target on her head.”
I step closer. “But don’t worry. I’m not gonna kill you just yet. There’s something you have to do first.”
Her face pales. “I amnotsleeping with you if that’s what’s rolling around in that sick and twisted brain of yours. If that’s your plan, just slit my throat right here and now!”
“Don’t flatter yourself, baby. I’d rather slit my own throat than fuck someone with that toxic Moroz blood running through her veins.”
Larysa’s nostrils flare. “Your daughter has that toxic blood running through her veins, remember?”
My eyes fall to Daniela’s face. Her eyes crinkle in the corners, her full pink lips lifting. Her blonde hair glows like a halo under the recessed lights. An invisible force gut-punches me.
The irony that I’m the first one of my brothers to produce an heir isn’t lost on me. The fact that she’s half-tainted with enemy DNA makes it laughable.
But I can’t waste time reflecting on my past indiscretions. God knows, I’d need days to catalog that shit.
