My fingers close around the hilt of my knife still nestled inside my suit jacket.
I move on instinct, stepping into the flames without a second thought.
At the same time, I slide my blade from its sheath.
My eyes laser in on my target.
My wrist whips.
But it’s too late.
The explosive report of a gun firing makes my ears ring.
The kick moves Pyotr’s hand just enough that my blade barely brushes the edge of his palm, skimming past him to embed itself in the wall beyond.
And as Don Augusta slumps, lifeless, to the floor, Pyotr turns to look at me, a wicked grin parting his lips.
“Better luck next time,Mudak,” he sneers.
Then he bolts, sprinting down the hall toward the wing of the house where Sandro and Raf live.
My vision turns red as intense, consuming rage overwhelms me, and I’m chasing Pyotr down before I think through the logic of my decision.
The Don is dead.
My first priority should be protecting Leo.
Keeping him alive.
But all I can think about is crushing the villain that murdered the man who raised me.
He has enough of a head start that I barely catch sight of him disappearing around the far corner as I reach the hall.
Then gunshots and explosions impede my path more, bursting around me without rhyme or reason, some coming too close for comfort.
But nothing is going to stop me from avenging Don Augusta’s death.
I should have saved his life—it was my responsibility to protect him.
But since I failed at that, the least I can do is kill the man who slayed him.
Then an agonized wail turns my blood to ice.
Raf.
My twin brothers might be identical, but I know them well enough to tell them apart by sound, and that was most definitely Raf’s cry.
It’s a sound of loss so deep and heartrending that only one of two things could draw it from him, and my chest tightens as reality comes crashing back to me with shattering force.
“Sandro,” I breathe, stopping dead in my tracks.
Iwillget revenge for my adoptive father.
Pyotr is going to die a slow and agonizing death.
But if the twins need me now, then I refuse to let anyone else die today.
Gripping the doorway beside me, I use it to slingshot myself back in the opposite direction, then turn down a hall to my right.
