And although no one likes to say it out loud, it isn’t always men, but the uncomfortable truth is that, more often than not, it is.
And because I cannot erase Emily’s face, because the fury that awakens in me refuses to fade, I reach for the gun at my holster and put a bullet straight through his skull, sprawling his brains out.
His blood spreads across the floor in a widening pool.
I stand there for a moment, my chest rising and falling.
There.
Justice served.
I should have made him suffer longer, but my temper gets the better of me once again.
Adriano pushes away from the wall and comes to stand beside me. I look up at him, and he looks down at me in return.
“Come here,” he murmurs.
I step into him, and his arms close around me. Mine slide around his waist without thought. He presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“You’re the strongest person I know, tesoro,” he murmurs.
We remain like that for a moment, his arms around me, and I take the strength I need from his embrace. Gradually, his eyes drop to the blood on the floor.
“I’ll have the clean-up crew brought in.”
I manage a nod. “Finish this properly. Leave my signature, and let word get out that Death has struck again. I want every fucker afraid, looking over their shoulder, knowing I’ll eventually come for them.”
I step back, squaring my shoulders, and turn my attention to the man once again.
Still, justice never feels like enough.
My gaze lingers on him, and the image begins to blur. For a fleeting second, it isn’t Ryan strapped to the chair, dead and bleeding out.
It’shiminstead. But he’s smirking, and very much alive.
“Kukolka.”
The sound of his voice alone, even if it’s only in my head, is enough to make revulsion crawl through me.
I blink, and the vision snaps away.Thatbastard is still breathing, still capable of hurting the innocent. But I am patient. I know how to wait.
His time will come.
And when it does, the floor will run red.
Chapter 5
Octavia
A knock at my door pulls me out of sleep.
I jolt upright, hair falling into my face, my skull throbbing with the aftermath of yesterday.
I barely managed two hours of sleep, by the time I reached the academy, morning was already creeping in.
Another knock follows, harder this time.
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter, swinging my legs off the mattress.
