He swallowed hard. “It’s unforgivable.”
“Good.” I held his gaze and slit his throat.
His body convulsed beneath my grip, unable to use his hands as he choked on his own blood. I watched the life drain from his wide eyes, and when the shaking stopped, I let go of his hair. His lifeless body thudded to the ground, his blood pooling at my feet.
“Mr. Tarasov, there’s no need for violence…” Alexei began, his voice trembling with fear.
I ran my blade through his bodyguards’ chests, one after the other, until I reached him. He pleaded with me in Russian, begging for his life.
“You wanted my attention, didn’t you?” I asked him. “Well, now you have it.”
He gasped loudly with bulging eyes as I ran my blade through his heart. I pulled the knife from his chest, and his now limp body fell into the pool of blood sprawled across the floor.
I straightened and stretched out my hand, and a white handkerchief was handed to me. With it, I wiped the blood from my blade and my fingers.
Just then, a noise came from outside the building, as if someone had kicked a rock. My head snapped toward the window, and there I spotted a hooded figure running into the night.
“Don’t let him get away,” I ordered calmly, unfazed by the witness.
Ilya spoke into his walkie-talkie, instructing the men outside to grab the runner.
It wasn’t even a minute after my order that two of my men barged in through the front door, dragging the witness.
“Let go of me,” he protested. “I didn’t see anything, I promise.”
Strangely, the voice didn’t sound like a man’s—it sounded more like a woman’s, and it was rather familiar.
The witness was pushed to the floor, and they dropped to their knees in front of me. Ilya yanked their hoodie off, revealing a face that shocked me to the bone.
It was her—the same girl from the library.
My eyes squinted at this realization, yet I maintained a stoic expression.
“What’re we gonna do with her?” Alexei asked me. “She saw everything.”
I didn’t respond, just kept staring at her, furious that she couldn’t stay out of trouble. I could’ve ended her life in her dorm last night and made it look like an accident. I didn’t. But she seemed to have a death wish or something.
“You leave it to me, Boss,” Ilya chipped in. “I’ll handle it. One bullet to the head will do the job, and I’ll dispose of the body in the river.”
“What?” She lifted her head and met my gaze. “You don’t have to do that. I didn’t see anything. I swear.” She shifted her eyes across our faces and added almost immediately, “Okay, maybe I did see something, but I promise, I’m not gonna say anything.” She zipped her lips.
Silence.
My cousin, Adrik, turned to me, his voice cutting through the stillness. “You’re not seriously considering letting her go, are you?” He stepped closer. “No loose ends. That’s the rule.”
“I don’t kill women and children,” I said in Russian, reminding him of my own rule.
“I do,” Ilya said, ever ready to clean up this mess. “Just say the word, and it’s done.” He cocked his gun and aimed it at her forehead.
“Oh, God, no,” she whimpered, lowering her head and raising her hands. “If you have any shred of humanity left in you, please, don’t kill me.”
The sound of her voice, the innocence in her plea, melted my stone-cold heart. I couldn’t bring myself to give the order, especially because I knew she didn’t deserve to die. She wasn’t a threat. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was her curiosity that landed her in this situation, and now I was unsure what to do. I should’ve known from the moment I realized she’d solved part of the puzzle that she was trouble. I should’ve torn out the pages of that notebook, or better yet, just taken it with me.
At least that way, she wouldn’t have ended up in this mess. What was it about this young girl that had me looking for an excuse to spare her life anyway?
“What do you say, Boss?” Ilya asked, his gun still aimed at her head.
