“And what’s the woman’s involvement?” Lorenzo asks as he crosses his arms over his chest and takes a seat as casually as one does while someone is attempting to hold a beast hostage. The only thing that keeps us on our barely-there leashes is the two women sitting across from us. I keep my gaze on Romi, a silent message passing between us. That no matter what, she’ll walk out of this alive.
I take my seat across from her.
Her jaw clenches, and I try to instill her with as much ease as I can. In fact, I imagine that by tomorrow we’ll be bickering like we always do, and her gaze softens as if she read my mind.
“Oh, Fiona? Well, I promised her that if she worked with me, I’d connect her with her long-lost brother, Andrei Popov. They were separated, you see. She went into foster care here, and her brother was taken back to Russia. He appeared a year ago alongside The Lion and was one of the few to survive.
"I got some dirt on him before my friend was killed, and let’s just say blackmail works like a dream. He helped me set up these bombs, in fact, and acted as my middleman while dealing in weapons with Pavel Smirnov, another member who followed The Lion and had gone into hiding. I kept Fiona close, and once all of this is over, she’ll finally get to meet her brother. Everyone wins.”
Ah, I see it now. He held her as leverage as he prompted Andrei to loyally work with him, and this woman seems none the wiser to her predicament. I’m not in the market to pity others, however.
“Oh, Andrei Popov? We killed him,” I say matter-of-factly. “But, Shaun, surely you knew that.” Itsk, and Fiona steps out of the dark, her hands clutching a gun to her chest.
“H-he’s wh-what?” she stammers.
“Don’t listen to them,” Shaun says quickly. “He’s trying to get into your head.”
“For what it’s worth, your brother was worried about you. The only way we got answers out of him was when we questioned your connection, and he was adamant you had no involvement in this. You realize you’ve been played, right? This asshole has been using you as leverage against your brother,” I provoke, because I need to make sure their attention is on me. It’s what I’ve always done best.
“You can’t listen to this liar!” Shaun says, half laughing, but his smile drops when she nervously points the gun at him. I refrain from smiling myself.
“Call him.” Her hands are shaking, but she doesn’t lower the weapon. “Call Andrei. I want to hear his voice.”
“Shaun, I know you’re new to this game, but the thing about using people is, they have to be alive to be used,” I say insightfully.
“Shut the fuck up!” he screams as he presses his gun to my temple. My pulse quickens with the cold kiss of the barrel.
“Don’t!” Romi yells, and I wish she never said anything because it only draws his attention to her.
“You’re right. It shouldn’t be him I’m pointing a gun at when what will hurt him most is right here.” Shaun redirects the gun in Romi’s direction. I go to stand, but he points it back at me and hovers his thumb over the red button on top of the bomb's remote.
“You’re really starting to piss me off,” Shaun growls, and for once, I refrain from telling him it’s kind of my thing.
“Then this is about to really piss you off,” I warn.
Everything unfolds within seconds, just as planned. Shaun’s wrist explodes in a bloody mist, which means Tyson and Kage are in position, and as always, Tyson’s a good shot even from a distance.
In Shaun’s moment of shocked surprise, I add to his pain by punching his forearm. As he staggers back, his gun swings to point in the direction of Lorenzo. And I act before I think. The moment I step in front of my brother, the gun goes off, and pain explodes in my stomach.
42
ROMI
“Dante!” I scream the moment the gun fires. He wrestles the gun out of Shaun’s hand, and Lorenzo stands behind him, putting a bullet in Fiona’s head the moment she points the gun at Lily. I watch in horror as a smile twists Dante’s lips as he points the gun under Shaun's chin, and he forces him to pull the trigger on himself. Shaun's head explodes, and his body drops to the floor, lifeless.
Dante stumbles back, finally looking down at where he’s been shot.
“Dante!” I scream again, furiously wrestling against the restraints. Hands are behind me, and I notice a man wearing a white mask is cutting me free. The moment the rope falls away, I lurch forward onto my knees, crawling to Dante, my heart pounding, a cruel fate clutching my chest as tears spill over my cheeks.
“No, no, no,” I sob as I lift his heavy weight, my hand frantically patting down his torso. It’s strange that there’s no blood. I try to open his leather jacket, but he catches my wrist, and his eyes slowly open as he gasps for air.
“Dante.Dante,” I squeak, praying that somehow he’s okay.
Please be okay. Don’t be so cruel as to take him from me as well.
“Fuck, that one actually hurt,” he grits out through pain, his eyes rolling into the back of his head for a moment before focusing back on me.
“Quit being such a crybaby,” Lorenzo says from behind me, and picks up the detonator for the bombs. Another masked man cuts Lily free and then begins removing the bomb.
