Page 123 of Betrayal and Vows

My father.

Vadim.

Guards are running from the back of the room.

I see one of them raise his gun, pointing it at Anton.

I scream only to be silenced with Mikhail’s fist to my face.

Chapter 21

Anton

Iwatch as Mikhail retreats from the basement.

The guards raise their weapons. I close my eyes and wait for the bullets.

I picture Lena.

Her smile.

Her beauty.

Her smell.

The gunshot echoes through the basement like thunder.

I wait for the pain, for the darkness, for the end.

But it doesn't come.

Instead, I hear bodies hitting the floor. One after another. Wet thuds that sound like sacks of meat being dropped.

I open my eyes.

Dmitri stands in the doorway, gun in hand. Three guards lie dead at his feet, blood pooling beneath their bodies.

"Miss me?" he asks, stepping over the corpses like they're nothing more than obstacles.

"How the fuck?—"

"Elena." He moves to the wall where I'm chained, examining the locks. "Your future mother-in-law is savage."

He raises his gun and aims at the chain securing my left wrist. "Close your eyes."

The shot rings out and the metal explodes. My arm drops, pins and needles shooting through my shoulder as blood returns to my hand.

"Elena helped you?" I ask as he works on the second chain.

“Yeah. I know. Shocked the shit out of me, too. Those fuckers had me tied up in your room. And then she showed up. Told me I had ten minutes, and then she was gone.”

Another gunshot. My right arm falls free.

He helps me to my feet. My legs shake, but I force them to hold my weight. “Where’s Lena?”

"The wedding, Anton. It's happening right now." He checks his watch. "We have maybe ten minutes before they finish the ceremony."

Ten minutes.