Tatiana’s expression turns serious as she looks at me. “You weren’t the only one to suffer at your father’s hands, Aurora. You and I were supposed to take him out, but then you were gone. I was left to pick up the plan, and I’ve done everything I fucking can to get to this point.”
“Bullshit. You wanted revenge, sure, but the rest of you, you enjoy this shit. You love doing this and being the assassin you are.”
She grins. “Oh, yes, that’s true. I’m very good at it.” Then she looks at Ilya again, before her gaze sweeps to Mila and finally over to Alonzo. Something crosses her face, but I can’t catch it before she looks back at me. “But sometimes, things come along that make you realize just how much more there is in life that you want. So I had to make it happen.”
I really don’t want to understand or have any kind of sympathy for her. I’m pissed at her, but I’m also seeing just how deep this runs.
“So let me see if I’ve got this straight. You rescued Mila from a pedophile, met her father and uncle, realized that you had the hots for said uncle, and went on the hunt to find out how she was given to the sick piece of shit. From there you found out that Timur and my father were involved, so you wanted to take them down. You set this entire plan into motion until you could get me here and have them both out of the picture. And Simeon for good measure. All because you want to bang Romanov here?”
Zakhar lets out a snorting laugh, but I ignore him.
“And,” I continue, “you also realized that this was the perfect time to fuck over my entire life, nearly get me, my dog, and myman killed. Oh, and finally tell me that my husband is not in fact dead, but alive, trained as an assassin by my father. Do I have that right?”
The rage bubbling inside me is like lava, scorching as I stare at her. I slowly advance on her. She doesn’t move, anticipation building as she gently pushes Mila away from her and orders Freya away, who slinks back to Oleg.
“Pretty much,” she returns cheerfully.
“I’m going to kill you.” I launch myself at her, infuriated more when she lets out a bright laugh, her own fists flying.
41
ALONZO
I tryto get closer to step in, but Ivano steps closer, stopping me with a hand to my chest. I whirl to him, furious, because I still haven’t figured out his role in all this, but he shakes his head and says, “She contacted me before we reached the plane. David and John are still there, making people think she’s on board. She told me I had to bring her back. When I refused, she sent that asshole to persuade us.” He nods at Mishka, who is ignoring us and currently watching the two women fighting with clear annoyance on his face.
Though I notice he doesn’t try to step in to stop them. An odd reaction for someone to have watching his ex-wife fighting with a woman who almost got her killed.
“I’ll keep an eye on Hades,” Ivano offers. “You deal with that when they’re done.”
Yeah, I’m going to kick his ass when this is over, but right now, my focus is on getting to my woman before this other crazy bitch hurts her worse than she already is.
Ilya steps forward too, but there’s a look on his face I can’t decipher. He looks pissed, but also pleased. Like whatever this bitch just said has made him rethink a few things. The man is insane if he wants a woman like her.
I jump back when Rori picks up one of the art pieces from the floor and throws it at Tatiana, who dodges it easily. “You fucking bitch.” Rori seethes. “All you had to fucking do was come to me, talk to me, and I’d have fucking helped you. Instead, you ruined my friendship to serve your own agenda?”
“You were the one living in a lie, Aurora,” Tatiana returns, landing a solid kick into Rori’s gut that has her staggering back. I want to step in, but Rori lets out a low snarl and rushes her, launching a round-house kick right to Tatiana’s face. Tatiana goes flying, landing against the bed and falling to the floor. She laughs, rolling and taking Rori out at the legs. “You really thought that you could live your life that way? Do you know how many times I was so close to you, you had no idea? You were getting complacent, lazy. You were no good to me dead. Bitch!” she hisses when Rori manages to slam her fist into nose, sending blood flying.
“Ouch,” I hear Mila hiss.
Tatiana wipes at her nose and glares angrily at Rori, then she launches herself at her, executing a move that I’ve seen few manage to master. I try to get close to her, but Mishka steps in front of me. “Don’t.” It’s his only word of warning.
“Get the fuck out of my way, fucker,” I hiss. “I don’t give a fuck who you are.”
“These two have business to settle. Let them do it or we’re going to be doing this for months.”
“So you’re just going to let your girlfriend beat on your wife?” I demand furiously.
He doesn’t answer, he shoves me back, and crosses his arms.
I really want to kill him, but something tells me that if I do that, Rori might not ever forgive me. She’s going to have a lot of unanswered questions.
“Enough!” Tatiana snarls, and my fists clench at my side when I see she’s gotten Rori into a chokehold, and she’s almost completely subdued. “Enough, Rayea,” she hisses again. “You want to be angry with me, you want to hate me, fine, I don’t fucking care. But whether you want to face it or not, you’re finally free. All the shit we went through, all the pain and humiliation, it’s over. It’s done. We can live our lives the way we want. That’s the only thing that matters. You can marry the man you love, have a bunch of babies, and have a happily ever after. Rayea Antonova is dead the moment he stops breathing. And you’ll never have to see me again.”
I narrow my eyes at her. There’s something in her voice. Is that pain? Regret? How the hell does that make sense?
“Let her go,” I snap.
No one even glances my way.
