Natalia grabbed the knife that was sitting on the console table in the entryway, standing over Annika’s body with a smile on her face, like she couldn’t wait to tear into her, to enact the revenge she’d been waiting to dish out for quite a long time. A lot of what she had been feeling stemmed from jealousy, from seeing Annika have everything she wanted. At the end of the day, Annika’s family loved her truly, and that was something that Natalia never received at any point in her life. It was quite sad, but it was the only thing that was driving her to such violence.
She looked over at me, waiting to see my reaction when she took the first hit, but I kept my neutral expression. She was trying to rile me up, get me to see that she was the one in control, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me squirm while she hurt the woman I loved.
I’d been through so many situations like this in the past, from people I’d worked for, to people I’d stolen from, and I knew the minute I gave up any control I had over the situation, we’d all be good as dead. I fiddled with my bindings while Annika had started to come to, and I watched as she looked up to see that Natalia was standing over her with a knife. She turned her head, looking over at me to see the expression on my face, and my eyes began to well up with tears, but I held it together.
“What are you doing, Natalia?” Annika asked, laying right under her, completely oblivious to what was going on.
“I’m going to get what I want, and then I’ll be on my merry way, but it seems that your boyfriend over there doesn’t want to tell me what he knows. Do you mind helping me out a bit?” she asked, driving the knife into Annika’s thigh, and I listened to her cry out in pain, but I didn’t budge. I didn’t flinch, I watched her get up from where she had been towering over Annika, leaving the knife in her thigh, before she went to address her parents.
“I won’t disappoint you both this time. Please, let me take care of this,” she asked, wanting to be alone with us all because she wouldn’t be able to do what she needed to with them watching her every move. It was pathetic to see just how much she wanted to become like them, even though it was quite clear that she would never be that way.
There was still an ounce of humanity left in her because I didn’t see a cold-blooded killer when she drove that knife into Annika, I saw someone who felt guilty for what they had done.
You can pretend all you want, Natalia, but this isn’t going to end very well for you either.
Natalia turned her back to me as she led her parents out of the room and I noticed her legs were bandaged, a result of the gunshot wounds I inflicted earlier. My aim was not as it should have been, or she wouldn't be walking at all.
She stumbled, tried to keep her balance, holding onto the door frame for support. I glanced over to find Annika looking over at me. I had just a few seconds to tell her what to do, and I mouthed her the instructions that I hoped would be able to get us out of here.
“Take it out. Stab her,” I mouthed, and it took a moment before she registered what I had said. I could tell that she was scared, but she acknowledged with a nod.
Natalia returned and looked down at her, like she was disciplining a small child, and Annika, running on pure adrenaline, took the knife out of her thigh, and drove it into Natalia’s stomach.
“You fucking bitch!” Natalia moaned as she clutched her stomach, staggering backward.
We only had a few moments before her parents were going to come right back in to see what happened, and we had to be well on our way out of there before then.
“Better luck next time, Natalia,” Annika croaked, crawling on the ground with the knife in one hand, trying to keep her wound closed with the other. I couldn’t believe that she managed to do that. That she had enough strength coursing through her to pull that knife out and jam it into the woman she once cared about so much.
Now that bloodied knife was being used to cut my bindings before all hell was about to break loose. I struggled for a moment, and I could see that Annika was losing a lot of blood, but she was holding it together for my sake. I glanced over for a moment at her parents as they looked incredibly shocked to see just how strong she truly was.
“We don’t have much time, Annika. I need you to hold on. I’m going to free your parents and we’re all getting out of here, okay?” I comforted her, begging her to hold on while I rushed over to cut her parents free.
“Take Annika and head to my car,” I said to her father. “Here are my keys, if I’m not out in five minutes, I need you to drive somewhere far away from here,” Annika fought against him, trying to free herself so she could stay and help me, but she was in no position to fight anymore. If she stuck around, she’d surely be gone before any of us could save her.
“Stephan, no! We can’t leave without you!” she screamed, and it hurt me to see her in such pain, it hurt me to know that she probably thought this might be the last time we got to see each other, but I had to finish this. If I left at that very moment, too many people would be left alive, too many people that would be instructed to find us and take us all out.
“I’ll be right behind you! Please, go now!” I yelled at them, and they all funneled out of the front door, rushing to my car, and I could’ve only hoped they managed to get safely inside.
Just as they left, Natalia’s father came in from one of the side rooms accompanied by a group of his goons. He looked at the body of his daughter bleeding out onto the tiled floor, then over to me. I only had seconds to react before they realized what was happening, so I pounced quickly, managing to grab one of them around the neck and turn him towards the others, using his gun to fire off a few rounds in quick succession. I used the knife to slit the guard’s throat, using his limp body to take the bullets that were flying my way.
I took out the remaining guards, with a few more precise shots before dropping the dead man and confronting Natalia’s father. He had already drawn his weapon and was pointing it menacingly in my direction.
“You have some nerve, Volkov. You and I knew very well that painting is worth more than anything I could take from here, and so you’re going to take me to it, otherwise I’m not going to stop until I take everything you’ve ever loved away from you,” he warned, staring back at me. I was running out of bullets, so I had to make sure that I had a clean shot if I was to get out alive, otherwise, he was going to live up to his promise.
“You have some nerve having your daughter orchestrate this whole thing when you know very well that no one in your life is even capable of love. You must live such a sad life to not even care about what happens to your daughter. You’re here pointing a gun at me when she’s there fighting for her life. It’s such a shame,” I said.
“You have no right to talk about my family, Volkov. You abandoned yours a long time ago, and that makes you a lot like me. I believe that there will come a time in your life where you become just as greedy as I am, working to build your empire, and taking out anyone that gets in your way. You’re not going to walk out of here alive, and your precious little girlfriend may be getting to safety now, but it’s only a matter of time before I have what I need to strike again,” he threatened, but I wasn’t buying any of it. He was spewing the first few things that came to his mind because he couldn’t fathom the possibility of us making it out of this mess.
“I’m going to find my way out of here, sir. It’s a shame that you left this entire operation in the hands of your incompetent daughter. If you had lifted a finger yourself, you might have had a painting and a family that still cared about what happened to you,” I said.
“What will it be, sir? Are you going to let me walk out of here, or you’re going to try to play the hero now?”
He looked at me like he already knew what was coming next because he didn’t have anyone around to protect him anymore. As he raised his arm to fire off his final shot, I pulled my trigger and held it. The last three bullets hit him squarely in the chest and he dropped to his knees before collapsing face down.
At that moment, I heard a gun go off behind me and felt the acute pain in my shoulder, as I staggered back.
“You had no right, Volkov. That was my husband, and he was the love of my life. It’s a shame that you’re never going to see yours again.”
