“No!” Dominik shouts from the ground as the men let him rise to his knees. “I won’t do it!”
“You will, little brother. Because I’m giving you one last chance to do as you’re told. If you refuse my orders again, I’ll kill her and him both right now.”
Oh, wow. That shady son of a motherfucking bitch.
“Fuck you! Fuck you all to hell!” Archer shouts as he twists in the guard’s hold, knowing he’s doomed himself for the very last time.
“You wouldn’t…you wouldn’t hurt her,” Dominik mutters as he looks from my face to his brother’s.
But we both know he would. Gavriil wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep with my blood on his hands. He would kill me just to punish Dominik, to teach him a lesson.
“My men killing him teaches you nothing,” Gavriil says. “Butyoukilling him teaches you everything. Obedience. Loyalty. Where your priorities truly lie. This lesson must come from your hand, not mine, little brother.”
“Please don’t do this,” I beg, the words soft enough that only Gavriil hears them because he’s the only one who can stop what’s about to happen. What has my heart thumping in my chest so hard I can barely hear over my own terrified pulse.
“Alina…” Dominik starts, and I already know what he’s going to say.
“Please, Gavriil. Stop this!” I exclaim again. “What do you want? A month? A year? Ten? Tell me!” I beg.
“A month with you is all I will ever want or need,” he replies coolly, rejecting and belittling me all at the same time.
I consider slamming my foot into his knee or stomping on his toe but inflicting pain on him would only make the asshole happy.
“Alina,dikaya koshka,I’m so fucking sorry,” Dominik says as he gets to his feet and staggers toward my brother.
“Don’t! You don’t have to do this, Morozov!”Archer shouts from his knees. “He’s lying. He won’t kill Alina. He’s fucking obsessed with her!”
My brother’s final words are trying to delay his death a little longer, to take me with him. He’s scared and desperate, and I don’t even blame him.
My mind races, searching for a way out of this, even though I know we’ve run out of options. There are no more clocks left ticking.
This is it.
Time is up.
Unable to look at Dominik or to hear another word of Archer’s pleas, I do the only thing I can, I close my eyes and slap my hands over my ears. I refuse to watch the scene play out in front of me.
Even with my ears covered, I hear Dominik cock his gun and Archer’s sobs, right before the single shot is fired, his last words cutting off abruptly.
Behind me, I can feel Gavriil’s smugness that he got what he wanted.
Bastard. He’s a fucking bastard.
I hate him so much right now that it physically hurts every inch of my entire body.
Archer is gone.
And it’s Dominik’s fault.
Gavriil’s fault.
My brother is dead, and it’s all my fault for betraying Dominik. I thought Gavriil was my only option. I was stupid enough to think that the mobster would keep his word.
I don’t deserve to run away with Dominik now. To have a happily ever after. I don’t deserve peace, not when Archer is lying so close and yet impossibly far away.
I lower my hands and open my eyes to finally face the new reality in front of me.
Dominik drops his gun, letting it fall with a heavy thud right next to where my brother lies unmoving.
