I press harder. Cartilage starts to give under my fingers. Just a little more pressure and?—
"Boss!"
It’s Misha's voice. Urgent. He's through the door, moving fast.
"Eight more cars just pulled up. Reinforcements. We need to go. Now."
The laser dots multiply. I see them in my peripheral vision. More appear by the second. Red everywhere.
My men are entering from other doors. His men flood in from the back. All armed. All ready. Thirty men at least.
One wrong move and everyone dies.
I have to let go.
Fuck.
I have to.
Lila doesn’t live if everyone here dies. IfIdie. That can come after she’s safe.
My hands open, and Dmitri drops. He hits the concrete hard, gasping and choking. Both hands clutch his throat.
The smirk is completely gone now, replaced by raw desperation. He sounds like an animal dying.
"You're wrong, Ivan." He coughs and spits blood. "Volkovs were never parasites. We were life support for your fucking family. The backbone. The muscle. Everything you took credit for."
I reach for my gun. Every cell in my body screams to finish this.
"WHERE IS LILA?!"
"You know what my father told me?" He's still on the ground, gasping for air. But talking anyway. Always fucking talking. "That your father was a fucking idiot. That without us, without Volkov support, you're nothing. There's no Petrov without Volkov."
He looks up at me, eyes watering but defiant. Bruises are already forming on his throat.
"AND NOW YOU'VE LOST THAT FUCKING LIFE SUPPORT."
I kick him in the ribs. Bones crack.
His men rush forward. Mine mirror them immediately. A circle forms. Guns are everywhere. Thirty weapons. Forty. All pointed at someone.
I don't care.
I kick him again in the same spot. Another crack.
"I'd burn both empires before I let you touch her."
He laughs, coughing out a spray of blood. "Lila's gone, Ivan. Already sold to the highest bidder. Spreading her legs for him right now. Getting fucked exactly how whores deserve?—"
My gun is out before I can process his words, the barrel pressed snug against his forehead.
With one squeeze, his brains will paint the floor, and he’ll never say her name again. Never think about her. Never?—
"BOSS!"
Misha's voice cuts through the blind rage, pulling me back from the edge.
I look around.
