Body, don’t fail me now. One more go. One more time. We can do this.
“You were so promising and then you had to go and fuck it all up when you married him. You went soft.” His lips curl into a sneer as he glances over to the still dazed and half-unconsciousTimur. “All his fucking fault for not using you the way you were meant. He’d have controlled the whole West Coast by now if you had been under control. Not this Romanov fucker. Do you know how much money and time they’ve cost me?”
Why doesn’t that surprise me? Some of the pieces are starting to fall into place. My father wants control in the United States, not just Russia. Starting with the west coast, and eventually, he’d want to push inward even more. Putting people in place that answer to him.
“Like I give a shit. You sold me at sixteen, and expected me to continue doing whatever you told me.”
“It was your fucking job, and you failed fucking spectacularly.” He stops just out of reach, but I don’t really expect anything else. He knows not to underestimate me now. “You let that son of a bitch fuck you, and you became useless. I should have killed you when I had the chance, not let your fucking mother convince me to give you the chance to be what I wanted when she didn’t give me the son I demanded.”
The mention of my mother infuriates me. My mother, the same woman who he controlled and abused. The same woman who never gave him another child and died at his hands. The woman who tried to save me. She never would have sold me out to him.
“I was sixteen and out from under your thumb. Did you really think that I would continue to follow your orders?” I sneer at him. “And in another country. You sold me to a man who wanted to fuck me and use me for what he wanted. He was never going to follow your orders. It was your first mistake.”
His face contorts, but he manages to keep himself from launching at me. Instead, he snaps, “I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Rayea. Again. You remember the first time you finally broke? Maybe some more time with my men will show you just how little strength you have?” His lips tilt into a cruel smile.“Valentin will love to have you back. He’s been waiting for another turn at you.”
I refuse to let him goad me into visually reacting. I’m not a young child anymore, but the same fear clenches in my stomach, and bile builds in my stomach. Valentin has been one of my father’s men from long before I was ever born, and I was his favorite to abuse. My father gave me to him from the time I turned eight until I was thirteen to break almost constantly. After that, my father would give me to others to use and abuse when he wanted to remind me that any outburst from me, any defiance, would end with that result. Not that my father didn’t still send me to him when he wanted me punished severely.
I still carry some of the scars that man inflicted, and I don’t want to imagine just how much worse he’s gotten in all this time. Or the other kids he did the same things to. Boys and girls. The man wasn’t picky.
Once I kill my father, he’ll be my next target. Him and the other men that did these things to me. To others.
It’s that anger, that desire for revenge, that fuels me and pushes me from the wall in a burst of speed. I catch the expression of shock on his face, sure that he had beaten me, as I take him down at the knees. He lets out a loud curse and he falls, landing hard on the floor.
I scramble over him, already reaching for a knife on his belt, but it’s not fast enough before he bucks, tossing me over his head. I land hard, but I’m getting my second wind and roll to my stomach and stagger to my feet. “I’m really going to fucking enjoy killing you,” he hisses, rolling to his feet. Then his eyes land on my gun that’s near his feet.
Shit.
He grabs it, lifting it. “You’re a disappointment, Rayea. Always have been.”
“The only one disappointed is you,otets,” I taunt, unable to stop the words. I’ve waited so long to say this, and if he’s going to shoot me, he’s going to hear them. “I was never going to be what you wanted. I pretended, I suffered, and I endured and excelled at everything you tried to put in my way. Your biggest mistake was giving me to Timur and Mishka. They showed me what I could have, and they gave it to me. I lived my life, and you couldn’t touch me. You tried sending people to me as a warning in those early days, but it never worked. You couldn’t go against Timur because you needed him. So you had to sit and watch me live, watch me thrive, and be something without you.”
“You thought that was living?” he mocks. “You were wasting your talents, Rayea. Hunting down criminals? Beneath you. You have no idea how many times I was so close I could have killed you.”
“Then why didn’t you? Because you can’t stomach the idea of killing your first ever success story. I was your legacy, the one who was meant to put you on the stage in front of all the others in the Bratva, but I didn’t fall in line. Because even now, you can’t justify killing me, can you?”
“At one time, I fully intended to bring you back, but things changed. Then someone better came along.” His lips pull up into a cold smile. “I’m sure you know them. They are my legacy now, so I don’t need you. Do I?”
The cold steel presses against the back of my head, and I stiffen. “Hello again, Ms. O’Brien. Or should I call you sister now?”
I should have fucking known. I don’t even turn my head to stare at Tatiana. All of this was a game. Get me right where they wanted me.
Fuck!
38
ALONZO
I’m covered in sweat,blood, and I don’t even want to think of what else. My breath comes in pants, and beside me, Hades is doing the same, but his body is vibrating with excitement and exertion.
I’ve lost track of the men I’ve killed, but I hear the voices in my ear, strong and sure, as the others handle the assault. The only voice I haven’t heard? Rori’s. Dread fills my gut.
“Has anyone heard from Rori?” I bark into the coms, moving swiftly down the hall toward the stairs again, dodging the bodies littering the floor.
“Do I sound like I’ve been trying to keep fucking track of her?” Oleg snaps, even as more shots echo through the coms. “That was your fucking job. Fucker!” he hisses, and then I hear a low snarl on the other end, followed by screams.
The panic in my gut churns and I move faster. Where is she?
“Rori, I need your status, right now.” Nothing. “Rori!” I snap again. Fear fills my guts.
