I need to bide my time. An ache starts in my chest, knowing I won’t get to see Alonzo or Hades again, but I force myself not to think about it. I need to focus.
“Get her back in the room. We’ll get out of here. I have a plane waiting to take us back to Russia at the landing strip not far from here.” He gives me another cold smile. “We’ll see if you survive the flight back.”
There is no way I’m getting on that plane. Still, I don’t fight, and I don’t struggle as they lead me into my room. I glance back at Tatiana, but her gaze is cold, dead, on mine, and it’s then I realize that she looks exactly like my father wanted us all to look.
Wearing all black, short hair, and colored contacts. The only difference between her and me is that her hair is bleached blonde and her eyes are now a bright blue. Our heights are similar, and if someone didn’t know I changed my hair and eye color, they’d think she was me.
I want to ask her how the hell she can think that this is going to end any other way than both of us dead, but what’s the point? She’s been as brainwashed as the others. They all think they’ll live forever, and while she might be the most successful, that doesn’t make her invincible. And no matter how much she thinks she’s going to pull away from my father to do her own thing, like doing the Chameleon work she does, she’ll always belong to him.
My father moves to stand beside the large window seat, and I see the rope ladder lying on the cushions. Guess that answers how they got in. They had to have blocked the cameras because there is no way anyone would miss that.
“You go down first,” Tatiana tells my father. “Make sure she doesn’t try to make a run for it when she goes down.”
“You think you’re going to give me orders?” The words are dangerously low. I bite back a smirk. My father will never take orders from anyone. Especially not someone he feels is beneath him.
“I think you’re wasting time,” Tatiana replies evenly, no fear. Not even a tremble where she’s got the gun and knife at my back. “And you’re the one who allowed himself to get shot. Someone comes behind us, you’ll be dead.”
His face contorts with fury. “You do not give the fucking orders, bitch. Get her down the ladder. Now. I’ll deal with you later.”
“Uh oh, looks like trouble in paradise,” I jeer.
“Shut up!” he spits. I can practically see him shaking with rage. I also don’t miss how Tatiana has angled me to block her, and from the look on his face, he knows it. He can shoot me, but he won’t reach her, and he hasn’t decided yet to kill me. I’m still possibly useful.
This little battle of wills might be the thing I need.
I need to do this right. I’ve got one shot. It’s a risk I have to take.
I drop, letting all my weight pool against Tatiana, the knife digging into my back, and I feel it slice my skin, but I ignore it. Tatiana doesn’t curse, she lets me drop, and then she’s moving, gun up and already firing on my father, who fires on her.
Both of them manage not to get shot, but that doesn’t give me hope that they’ll turn on each other. That was a power play, but I’m still the main goal. I roll, swiping my leg and taking Tatiana down to the floor, kicking the gun out of her hand, and I manage to barely dodge the bullet my father fires at me before I get off one of my own. I miss his head by an inch, and he runs to put himself on the other side of the bed.
“Bitch!” Tatiana hisses, already rolling over me, knocking the gun and sending it sliding toward the door.
Damn it.
She still has her knife, but before she can use it on me, I kick at her trying to dislodge it. She shifts, the kick missing her, and she gives a laugh of delight. “You’re still predictable. We’ll need to work on that.”
“We’re not going to be working on anything, you crazy bitch.”
She opens her mouth, but then a low snarl fills the room, and real fear seizes me. “Hades, no!” I shout, even as his body rushes through the door.
My father’s gun goes off, but somehow misses him, and Hades barrels toward Tatiana with a singular focus to get her away from me. Tatiana curses, rolling, but Hades takes her down with a vicious snarl, teeth bared, and almost foaming from the mouth.
Any other time, I’d laugh, but if Hades is here, that means Alonzo isn’t far behind.
On cue, Alonzo and Ilya burst through the door. Alonzo’s eyes are on me, but Ilya’s is on the woman being held down by Hades. “Move!” I scream, cursing them both as I try to get to my feet.
My father is already firing, and Ilya falls with a cry, Alonzo whipping around and firing too. Shit.
Desperation has me moving fast, but it’s not fast enough before my father gets another shot off and I see Alonzo fall. “No!” I scream, rage and panic giving me the power to launch myself over the bed at my father. He whirls, but it’s not fast enough. His shot goes wide as I slam into him, taking him down.
I slam my fist into his face, then my elbow when he tries to dodge. He lets out a groan of pain, and I don’t stop, kicking the gun away, too angry to realize that now that I’m in danger again, Hades has turned his attention to me, releasing Tatiana.
Hades is over the bed, hitting my father and me, and knocking me away from him. I lie on the floor, stunned, head spinning from the impact. Hades towers over my father, snapping and snarling, and I vaguely see my father trying to reach for his gun, only stilling when Hades’s teeth snap inches away from his face.
“I’ll make him tear out your throat,” I rasp, rolling to my side.
“He’s not yours to kill, Aurora,” Tatiana says coldly, and I turn my head to see her standing there, gun pointed at…my father. I realize slowly that her gun isn’t aimed at Hades. Wait, what? “Call him off. Now.”
