“Nick Barresi has two hostages in there, probably a half dozen men minimum.” Viktor pulled up the building schematics on his phone, information his intelligence network had compiled during their brief business relationship. “Multiple exits, shipping containers that provide cover, and Nick’s probably expecting us to come through the front entrance.”
“So we don’t,” Kostya said, his usual playful demeanor replaced by something colder and more focused. “Fedya and I take the loading dock, you and Ilya go through the office entrance, we coordinate the assault from multiple angles.”
“What about me?” Anka asked, her voice carrying determination that brooked no argument.
Viktor looked at her, weighing her safety against the reality that she knew her sisters better than anyone and mightbe crucial to getting them out alive. “You stay with me. When we find Raya and Sofie, getting them to safety is your only priority.”
The assault was precise and brutal, executed with the kind of coordinated violence that had made the Nikolai family feared throughout the region. Viktor moved through the warehouse like an avenging angel, his focus narrowed to finding Anka’s sisters and eliminating anyone who stood in his way.
When they finally located the shipping container where Nick was holding the girls, Viktor felt rage unlike anything he’d experienced in years. Raya and Sofie were bound and terrified but alive, their eyes wide with recognition when they saw Anka behind him.
Nick stood between them and the girls, a gun in his hand and madness in his eyes. “I was wondering when you’d show up, Viktor. Though I have to say, bringing the wife along seems counterproductive.”
“Let them go, Nick.” Viktor’s voice carried the kind of deadly calm that preceded executions. “This is between us.”
“Is it?” Nick’s smile was sharp and completely without humor. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like this is about teaching you that actions have consequences. You embarrassed me, cost me deals, and made me look weak in front of people whose respect I need. So I decided to return the favor.”
Viktor could feel Anka tense beside him, could sense her preparing to do something desperate and potentially suicidal. He caught her wrist, squeezing gently in a signal to wait for his move.
“You want revenge? Take it out on me.” Viktor stepped forward, his hands visible and empty. “Let the girls go, and we’ll settle this properly.”
Nick laughed, the sound echoing off the container walls like broken glass. “You really think I’m stupid enough to—”
The shot came from Viktor’s concealed weapon, fired before Nick could finish his sentence. The Italian dropped instantly, his gun clattering across the concrete floor as his body went limp.
Viktor was moving before Nick hit the ground, cutting the restraints that held Raya and Sofie while Anka gathered her sisters into fierce embraces that spoke of relief and terror in equal measure.
“Are you hurt?” Anka asked, her hands checking for injuries with the kind of desperate efficiency that came from genuine fear.
“We’re okay,” Raya whispered, her voice shaky but determined. “He didn’t hurt us, just scared us.”
Viktor watched the reunion with something that felt almost like peace settling in his chest. This was what mattered—family, protection, the willingness to sacrifice anything for the people you loved. His pursuit of revenge against Adrian seemed petty and meaningless compared to the fierce joy on Anka’s face as she held her sisters.
As they made their way out of the warehouse, Anka caught Viktor’s arm, her eyes carrying gratitude and something else he was afraid to name.
“Thank you,” she said simply.
Viktor looked at his wife, surrounded by her rescued sisters and flanked by his brothers, and finally understood what he should have prioritized from the beginning.
“Always,” he replied, and meant it with every fiber of his being.
Chapter 23 - Anka
The aftermath of violence always carried its own particular weight, Anka had learned tonight. Not the absence of danger, but a quality of exhaustion that settled over survivors like lead blankets. The warehouse district hummed with activity now—Viktor’s brothers coordinating cleanup, police sirens wailing in the distance, the controlled chaos of a crisis being managed with ruthless efficiency.
But Anka’s attention was focused entirely on her sisters, kneeling beside them in the back of an ambulance as she checked them over for injuries that logic told her weren’t there. Her hands moved with careful precision, each gesture deliberate and controlled in a way that barely masked how close she was to falling apart completely.
She knew this particular brand of composure. Had worn it herself two years ago when she’d been the one bound in a warehouse, when the world had narrowed to survival and the desperate hope that someone would find her before it was too late. The body insisted on functioning normally while the mind struggled to process what had happened, running on pure adrenaline until that fuel inevitably ran out.
“They’re both fine,” the paramedic was saying, his voice carrying professional reassurance. “Dehydrated, some minor bruising from the restraints, but nothing that won’t heal. We’ll want to monitor them for shock over the next few hours, but physically they’re in remarkably good shape.”
Raya nodded, her young face pale but determined. At nineteen, she possessed the kind of resilience that made recovery from trauma possible, though Anka knew the mental effects would linger long after the physical evidence faded. Sofie,barely seventeen, clung to Anka’s hand with the desperate grip of someone who’d discovered the world was more dangerous than she’d previously believed.
“Can we take them home?” Anka asked, surprised by how steady her own voice sounded when everything inside her felt like it was vibrating at dangerous frequencies.
“I’d prefer they spend the night under observation,” the paramedic replied, already reaching for his clipboard. “Just to be safe. The hospital has an excellent trauma unit, and—”
“No hospitals.” The interruption came from Sofie, her voice small but firm. “Please, Anka. I just want to go home.”
