AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t understand. What do you mean, cost you everything?”
“Stasia and Angelina. The accident that took their lives? It wasn’t an accident.”
“Oh my God. You never said anything about that. Do you know who’s responsible?”
He looks at me, his blue eyes steely. “I do and have for some time. Turns out, betrayal can take on many different forms. In this case, it was the form of a dear friend. A friend whom I’d always supported and helped whenever possible. A friend whom I trusted and confided in. A friend I’d pledged my loyalty to.”
“Boris, I—” I snap my mouth closed, the dread in my gut spreading into my limbs, rendering them powerless to move.
“I lost my wife so long ago. Stasia and Angelina filled that void. They were my life. And then one night, my life was ripped away from me.”
I shudder, feeling too tight in my own skin. It prickles and stings with a sudden rush of fear. I’m torn between wanting to ask and admitting to myself that I already know the answer.
“Who caused that accident?” My voice is barely louder than a whisper.
His gaze hooks on to mine with such intensity and fire. I want to look anywhere else, but like an impending train wreck, I can’t pull my eyes away.
“The night after you were kidnapped, your father managed to get footage from arena security of the truck that took you and Charly. He went to Alek Severinov and found the men who drove it. Then they ordered a hit on them. After a high-speed chase, they ran a light, killing my daughter and granddaughter in a horrific wreck. My life ended in those seconds.”
My jaw drops.No, please God, no…
“Viktor buried the evidence of the hit and the footage. Neither he nor Alek took responsibility for the accident. Your father stood by me at the wake and funeral like he didn’t know a damn thing, like he wasn’t responsible. I found everything later, stashed in his safe with the combination hethoughtwas secure. But I was able to bypass it. He kept everything from me. It was the worst act of betrayal I could imagine.”
“But, Boris, it was an accident. He couldn’t have known it would be your family who’d be hit.”
“It wasn’t an accident that he lied to my face. Told me that he’d find the people responsible and handle them, which he never did because it was him who orchestrated their deaths.”
“You’re being irrational right now.” Panic bubbles in my chest and I step backward. “It was wrong not to take responsibility, but he didn’t—”
“It doesn’t matter. He lied to me, broke my trust and my loyalty. After that, I found Branko myself. I decided to right the first wrong by getting revenge on your father. It was the first step in my plan.” He takes a couple of steps to close the distance between us.
“Your plan.” I shake my head. “No. No, no, no! Did you…” I stop, almost choking on the words. “Was it you who killed my father and Dima? My mother?”
“When you’re born into this life, you aren’t given much choice. You accept your place, and you do whatever is necessary to protect it. Your father’s deception told me that my place was in jeopardy. I had a choice—protect it or watch it crumble.”
“And to protect it, you needed to kill a third of my family?” I ball my fingers into tight fists, my shoulders quaking with rage. “You’re the reason why Quinn and I were ambushed in Vegas, why we could have been killed so many times over. You’re the fucking leak.”
“I am the fucking king,” he seethes, sliding a hand into his jacket. He pulls out a gun and points it at me. “I own you all and will enjoy every second watching all of Red Ladro implode. Everyone will pay the price of my loss.”
“You think that will make things better? That money and power will put you back together?” I cry out. “Because it won’t. It never will.”
“An eye for an eye, Valentina. Everyone else is dead. Just like Alek said, there’s nobody left to take what I’ve built. I made sure of that. Only one loose end remains before I disappear forever.”
He pauses, his hand extended. I stare down the barrel. “It wasn’t just a nightmare, but deep down, you already knew that, didn’t you?”
I scream just as a shot fires. The sound reverberates between my ears as I fall to the floor on my knees. Red drops slip down the side of my arm and dive into the fabric of my dress. They blossom into deep stains, stains just like the ones my father couldn’t wash from his hands.
And now they’ve transferred to mine.
My body numbs, my mind tormented by Boris’s caustic words. I crash forward, my back buckling, my face hitting the cool tile. Pain assaults my left side. I slap my right hand against the floor, trying to pull myself up.
This can’t happen. I have to stop it… stop him. His anger has already destroyed so much. I can’t let him hurt anyone else. I need to fight.
Boris’s face blurs through my tears.
Another shot fires.
My fingers tense and tighten, my wrist wobbles on the floor. An inferno of anguish consumes my body until my arm gives out completely.
