“Right behind you,” Maximo confirms.
“Incoming!” one of our men shouts from behind us.
I look up just as three enemies rush down the stairs with their guns drawn. One of them immediately aims at Gavriil, but I don’t have time to lift my gun and fire. All I can do is shove Gavriil to the side instead.
Pain detonates in my upper arm, white-hot and blinding, as blood instantly soaks my sleeve.
The impact knocks me off balance, and the world tilts violently as I hit the tile.
Gavriil’s voice shouts my name, but the sound drains away, swallowed by ringing silence.
If I die tonight, at least it’ll be for the two people I refuse to lose.
49
Gavriil
“Dominik’s been hit!He’s down!”
I hear one of my men report into his mic behind me as everyone takes cover. At first, I can’t move as I watch Dominik hit the ground, blood already pooling beneath him.
Everything happened so fucking fast.
He pushed me out of the way. He took that bullet for me.
“Is Dominik okay? Tell me he’s okay!” Alina’s voice sounds in my ear, full of fear.
A sudden wave of fury and concern hit me hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I’m not letting him die. Not after protecting me. Not when Alina needs him.
My men and the Italians give me cover as I run over to Dominik, hearing him groan in pain. That’s a good thing, though. Feeling pain means he’s still alive.
“Come on,Bratishka,” I say as I push him up into a sitting position and pull his arm over my shoulders. “One, two, three.”
I haul him up to his feet, grateful that he’s strong enough to not immediately crumble back down to the ground. I duck under a bullet that sails just over my head, my heart slamming against my ribs as more zip around us.
As fast as I can, I usher him into the nearby dining room as the others split into different rooms, enemies continuing to make their way down the stairs.
“Fuck, my head,” Dominik mutters as he stumbles along with me.
I drop him down into one of the chairs at the long dining table before pushing his shirt sleeve up to look at his wound. “Through and through. You need to put pressure on it.”
Dominik waves me off. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”
I grab his jaw and turn his head, making sure that he isn’t bleeding from his head from falling so hard. “Do you know what day it is?”
“I don’t have a concussion, Gavriil,” Dominik tells me. He sounds dazed, though.
“Quiet,” I say, hearing gun shots coming from nearby rooms. “Stay here. I need to go back out there.”
Dominik’s eyes sharpen. “I said I’m fine. I’m not—behind you!”
I whip around just as a man wearing a balaclava and a bulletproof vest steps into the room. He must be part of the unknown faction. I fire at his head, but he ducks out of the way.
Dominik tries to stand. I shove him back into the chair then run at the man, tackling him before he can raise his gun at me. I take him down to the ground and pin the hand holding the gun to the floor.
The man grunts in anger and swings his other hand at me, punching me in the jaw.
Pain rings throughout my face, but I stay steady and keep him pinned.
