“Fuck,” I growl. “You ain’t hit the most important target, asshole.”
I push the throttle to its limit, closing the gap. The two boats race parallel for a moment, engines screaming. I line up my shot, breathe out, and squeeze the trigger.
The bullet strikes the general square in the head.
His body slumps. The cartel powerboat veers wildly out of control, slamming into the concrete embankment at high speed. The impact is catastrophic and the boat explodes in a fireball of fuel and debris, lighting up the night sky.
I throttle back, breathing hard, watching the flames reflect on the water.
The war might not be over.
But this battle has very much been won for now.
And with Viktor and Ivan no doubt holding up their end of the bargain wherever they are right now, I can only hope that this is the last of the cartel we’ll be seeing for some time.
* * *
I meet up with Viktor and Ivan a couple of hours later at one of Viktor’s private bars on the edge of the financial district.
Both men are bloodied but thankfully very much alive.
Viktor has a cut above his eye. Ivan’s shirt is torn and stained with someone else’s blood. We look like men who have walked through hell and come out the other side.
We raise glasses of vodka.
“To victory,” Viktor says.
“To the fallen,” Ivan adds.
“To unity,” I declare.
We drink deeply. The burn feels good. For the first time in days, the tension in my shoulders eases slightly.
“They will speak of this night for many years,” Viktor says.
“And some will lie and say they were there,” Ivan adds, a wry smile on his face. “But only those who lived through it will know how it went down.”
I nod in agreement. Our triumvirate strike will go down in history, in all of our families. I feel proud to have led theAntonov family through it. To lead from the front, to be the pakhan who lets actions speak louder than words means something. I don’t say it out loud, but I know that my father would have been proud of me tonight.
“Our peace pact will continue,” Viktor says. “If that is what you wish, Kirill?”
“It is,” I say. “We will always be different families with our own best interests at heart. But… we are stronger when we work together. Any other family will think twice before stepping up to the team that vanquished the cartel.”
“I hate to bring the moment down,” Ivan says. “But we still have the small matter of a potential rat to handle.”
“Tomorrow,” I say.
“Tomorrow,” Viktor adds.
“Of course,” Ivan says. “Tonight…vodka.”
The door to the private room opens.
The boys walk in… Eddie and Landon first, then Bobby, and finally Teddy.
The moment I see him, a huge release of energy floods through me.
All the adrenaline, the fear, the cold calculation of the night collapses into something raw and real.
