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I bound up the staircase three steps at a time. One last cluster of Adrik’s men stands at the ready outside the final room at the end of the corridor. I don’t bother breaking stride—I just mow them all down with ruthless efficiency. Truth be told, they were dead long before I arrived.
They just didn’t know it yet.
I leap over the pile of still-warm bodies. It takes only one strong kick to send the door they were guarding flying off its hinges. I hear a collection of gasps and screams but it’s all music to my ears.
Emma. Reagan. Caroline. Josh.
They’re all here, crowded behind the mattress flipped on its side.
But someone else is in here, too.
Adrik is standing in the middle of the room, his face twisted with a scowl. He makes a show of waving his gun in the air.
“Cut the shit, Adrik,” I snarl. “It’s over. You’ve got nothing left. No men, no resources. And no more Daddy to bail you out.”
Adrik’s eyes narrow. “You killed him.”
“No,youkilled him. By pulling this shit. Put down the gun and be sensible.”
“Sensible?” he repeats furiously. “Sensible?! Being ‘sensible’ is what forced my father into a life of servitude.”
My eyes roll with contempt. “He lived in a seven-bedroom penthouse in New York City. He ate caviar for breakfast and traveled in a private jet all around the world. If it was a life of servitude he had, most men alive would slaughter everyone they know for just one day of it.”
Adrik is unconvinced. “He should have been thepahkan.”
“What you’re saying is thatyouwant to bepahkan.”
He turns his weapon to the side, pointing it at Emma and the kids. I freeze immediately. They all do. Reagan is buried under Emma’s arm while Caroline is hiding behind her back. Josh is the only one who’s not ducking behind the bed, despite Emma’s best efforts to pull him down beside her.
Adrik shakes his head. “You always did think you were better than me.”
“Prove me wrong then,” I say. “Stop waving a gun at children. Fight me like a man and take what you think you deserve.”
Glowering fiercely at me, Adrik slowly lowers his weapon. Someone calls my name, one of the girls, but I don’t dare take my eyes off Adrik for a second.
“Emma,” I say without glancing at her, “cover the girls’ eyes.”
I hear her whispering to them. Soft, urgent words that I can’t make out. Adrik’s gaze stays fixed on me. “How did you kill him?” he asks as we start to slowly circle each other.
“Bullet to the head. He didn’t see it coming. I made sure of that.”
“How merciful of you,” Adrik snarls sarcastically. “I always told him that you’d turn on him the first chance you got.”
“Then you don’t know a thing about me.”
“I know that you’re an entitled—”
I don’t allow him to finish the sentence. I lunge closer and punch him right in the face, sending him keeling back towards the window.
His rage doesn’t hinder him like I expect. In fact, it makes him faster, more determined. He charges toward me, unloading a barrage of jabs and hooks, one of which catches me cleanly on the jaw.
Suddenly, I’m a boy again. I’m with Leonid in the gym.Move your head. Anticipate. Feel the air move before the punch comes.
That lesson ended with me eating punch after punch from him. So did the next lesson, and the next, and the one after that. But slowly, I learned how to move. Leonid didn’t go easy on me, but that was a gift in and of itself.Our enemies won’t go easy on you, little brother. Why would I?
I catch sight of Josh over Adrik’s shoulder. His eyes are huge, his jaw clenched brutally tight. I want more than anything to keep them safe. To show him what it is to be a man, the same way my brother taught me the meaning of it. I want them to know I will protect them.
But the distraction gives Adrik just enough of an opening to slam a fist into my gut. When I double over with a grunt of pain, he throws a knee into my chin hard enough to make me see stars.
