Her face is sheet-white. “I didn’t know what he was using it for. I swear, I had no idea.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“I was trying to save my husband!” Her voice breaks, desperate. “I didn’t want to know, okay? I just wanted him to leave us alone. He promised.”
I’m about to tell her that’s not good enough, that nothing will ever be good enough, but Viktor cuts me off.
“Thanks for your help.” He reaches behind his back with a casual movement, like he’s just adjusting his jacket. “But here’s the thing about promises. They’re just words. And words don’t mean anything.”
The gun appears in his hand.
Time slows down.
I see Harper’s eyes go wide with the realization of what’s about to happen. I see her mouth open to scream. I see Viktor’s finger tighten on the trigger, his expression as blank as if he’s swatting a fly.
The shot is deafening in the enclosed space.
Harper crumples. One second she’s standing there, alive and terrified, and the next she’s on the concrete with blood pooling beneath her body.
The scream that rips out of me doesn’t sound human.
“No!”
For one horrible second, I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Can only stare at the blood spreading across the concrete floor.
Then something inside me snaps. I don’t think. I just move.
My shoulder slams into Viktor’s ribs before I even realize I’m running. The impact knocks him off balance and sends the gun flying from his grip. It skids across the concrete, spinning away somewhere behind Harper’s body.
I swing at his face. Miss. Swing again, and this time my knuckles connect with his jaw. Pain explodes through my hand, but I don’t care. He betrayed me. He threatened my family. He’s selling women like property. And he just killed Harper right in front of me.
One of his men starts forward, but Viktor waves him off without breaking eye contact with me.
He recovers faster than I expect. His palm connects with my cheek, hard enough to make stars explode behind my eyes. I stagger sideways, nearly falling.
“Stupid bitch.” The smile is gone. What’s underneath is worse—flat, empty, like something human switched off. “I was going to make this easy for you. Find you a nice owner, someone who’d treat you well. But now?”
I kick at his knee with everything I have. The crack is satisfying, and he howls in pain, doubling over. I use the opening to drive my elbow into his temple.
But I’m not a fighter. Matteo taught me only the basics, and basics don’t mean anything against a man who’s been hurting people his entire life.
Viktor’s hands close around my arms, and he shoves me backward with brutal force. I hit the concrete hard, the impact rattling my skull, and something warm and wet soaks into my dress.
I’m lying in Harper’s blood.
My stomach heaves as I scramble backward, trying to get away from the sticky warmth spreading across my skin. My hand closes around cold metal.
The gun.
Viktor is already coming for me, his face twisted with rage, blood trickling from his lip where I hit him.Never point a gun at anything you’re not willing to shoot.
Matteo’s voice in my head, calm and steady and grounding.
I lift the gun. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely aim, but Viktor’s only a few feet away. Even I can’t miss at this distance.
He sees the weapon and slows down. For the first time, uncertainty flickers in his dead eyes.
“You won’t do it,” he says, but his voice isn’t quite as confident as before. “You don’t have the nerve.”
