“Time’s up,” I said, stepping forward. “Now I’m choosing who dies.”
Alisa spun around, whipping the knife through the air threateningly.
Well, at leastsheprobably thought it looked threatening. To me, it looked like a kitten who was unleashing its claws for the first time.
Clumsy and adorable.
Too adorable to be bleeding out at my feet.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t murder someone actively swinging a knife at me. I’d probably regret it later. My dick wasn’t getting the memo though.
“Cute,” I said, surging forward and snatching the knife out of her hands.
Alisa stumbled to the side, while I flipped the handle of the knife through my fingers absently.
She desperately tried to reach for the knife, but I shoved her to the ground.
“Youreallywere willing to give up your life for your brother,” I mused while she struggled to stand up.
“Kill me instead,” she begged, finally on her knees like I had wanted. But why was that suddenly not nearly enough?
“Why?”
Her mouth flopped open at my question.
“He’s my family,” she said as if it should be obvious. It wasn’t. In my family, your relatives killed each other, not the reverse.
“And?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Alisa. Stop it,” Kiril said.
“No,” she cried, reaching for my pants leg. “If you kill me instead, maybe they’ll forgive him. Maybe he’ll live.”
Kiril sighed, exhaustion permeating his voice. “You know I don’t want that. I’ve made my peace.”
Her voice wobbled. “I can’t go on without you. I need you.”
If I actually had a heart, I’d probably find this touching.
But the reality was that if I left these two to their own devices, both of them were dead. And for some reason, picturing this teary-eyed girl with her throat slashed made my skin itch.
“Sorry, kotenok,” I said, stepping past her. “You aren’t allowed to die yet.”
I plunged the knife into Kiril’s throat.
Chapter one
Alisa
Two Years Later
Exhaustion permeated me as my target droned on about his seemingly only interest: crypto currency.
I blearily rubbed my eyes as he droned on in a condescending tone. Not that he even noticed since his attention was completely fixated on my chest.
Aidan, the man the Bratva had assigned me to kill, absently scratched his hairy arm. I glimpsed the wedding band he’d forgotten to take off in his rush to find a girl to pick up after work.
Piece of shit. I didn’t have a choice in who I killed for the Bratva, but it helped when the men were as terrible as this man.
