And now everything hung in the balance.
"Rodion," I whispered. "Don't—"
The gun pressed harder against my temple, silencing me.
"Drop it," Branko said. "I won't ask again."
Chapter 25 - Rodion
The world narrowed to a single point.
Keira's face. The gun at her temple. The man holding her, his arm locked around her throat, his finger on the trigger.
Everything else—the gunfire still echoing below, the bodies I'd left in my wake, the blood soaking through my shirt—faded to nothing. There was only this. Only her.
"Drop the gun," Branko said again. "I won't ask a third time."
I calculated the shot. The angle was wrong—too close to her head, too much risk. Even if I were perfect, even if the bullet went exactly where I aimed, the impact could make him pull the trigger. A reflex. A spasm. And then she'd be gone.
I couldn't take that chance.
"Okay." I kept my voice steady, controlled. "Okay. I'm putting it down."
I crouched slowly, setting the Glock on the floor. The metal clicked against the hardwood, impossibly loud in the silence.
"Kick it away."
I did. The gun skittered across the floor, disappearing into the shadows.
Branko smiled. That perfect, predatory smile I wanted to tear off his face with my bare hands.
"Good boy," he said. "Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to walk ahead of us, down the stairs, out the front door. My men will be waiting. And then—"
"Your men are dead." I straightened slowly, my hands raised. "Every single one of them. There's no one waiting for you, Branko. No backup. No escape. Just me."
Something flickered in his eyes. Doubt, quickly suppressed. "You're lying."
"Am I? Listen."
Silence. The gunfire had stopped. The shouts had stopped. The only sound was our breathing—three people suspended in a moment that could shatter at any second.
"It's over," I said. "Let her go, and I'll make it quick. Keep holding her, and I'll make it last for days."
"You're in no position to make threats."
"I'm in every position." I took a step forward. "You think I came alone? You think my brothers aren't outside right now, waiting for my signal? Demyan's men, Kirill's men, everyone I could call in a two-hour radius. This house is surrounded. There's nowhere for you to go."
I was bluffing. Demyan was in Chicago, Kirill in Boston. But Branko didn't know that. And right now, uncertainty was the only weapon I had.
"Stay back." His arm tightened around Keira's throat. She gasped, her hands clawing at his forearm. "I'll kill her. I swear to God, I'll kill her."
"Then you'll die a second later. Is that what you want? To die in this rotting house for a woman who will never belong to you?"
"She was promised to me!"
"She was never yours to promise." I took another step. "She chose me. Married me. Carries my child inside her. Nothing you do will change that. Nothing you do will make her yours."
His eyes went wide. "Child?"
