“A momentary problem,” he says. “One I plan on rectifying quickly.” He pauses as he looks at my gun pointed at him.
“Looks like we’re at an impasse,” I say. “Think you can shoot me faster than I can shoot you?”
A smarmy grin spreads across his face. “You were never as good as me. I am twice the enforcer you’ve ever been.”
“And yet Nikolai chose me for the job… and you to be his bitch. Jumping at every beck and call. I’ve been meaning to ask you all these years. How does his dick taste?”
He scowls. “You vulgar piece of shit. Of course you would question my loyalty to the brotherhood. You and his traitorous son were always cut from the same cloth. My only regret is that you didn’t die in that car crash with him.”
That felt like a push to the chest, a dare to kick my ass. I stare him down as I ask, “It was you, wasn’t it?” He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t have to. “Of course it was. If Nikolai told you to eat his shit in the name of the Bratva, you’d have done it. You’re as dishonorable as he is.”
“Am I?” His smile broadens. “And what would you call a man who gets his boss’s daughter pregnant?”
I glare at him in furious silence and he laughs.
“Oh, you didn’t think she’d tell us of her delicate condition?” he says. “You’d be surprised what a person will say to try and save their own lives. Too bad it didn’t help her.”
The fury blazes like a wildfire inside me. The idea of Tati dead…
Something hardens inside me and I say, “Let’s settle this like men, Yanov. I’m sure as much as you’d like to end me right here, I’ll bet you’d much rather kick the shit out of me.”
“More than you can imagine,” he says with a low growl.
“Then put your gun down and let’s go.”
He tilts his head slightly, considering, then he puts up his hands. I follow suit, putting up my hands as well. We both move to put our guns on the floor slowly.
“You’ve made a fatal mistake, Morozov.” He starts to circle me. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
He lunges at me, fist coming straight for my head. I dodge him, throwing my arm up to block him. Then I deliver a punch to his side, then another.
He grabs my head and rams his knee into my chest. The air leaves me and I stumble backward. Before I can recover, he’s on me, lowering himself and driving his shoulder into my abdomen. We both go backward, crashing into the wall. I wrap my uninjured arm around his neck in a headlock, squeeze as he struggles. His hand reaches up, digging into the bullet wound in my shoulder.
I grit my teeth and bear the pain, squeezing his neck tightly. He brings the heel of his hand up and it connects with my chin. It’sonly a moment of pain that causes me to release him, but it’s enough. He pulls away from me, his usual serene countenance twisted into a scowl.
I throw jabs at him, cracking him in the nose and jaw until he stumbles out of my reach. I close the gap and he steps to the side, hitting me across the face with his elbow. It turns me around, and I’m dazed for a split second, but I’m still on my feet.
He brings his leg around to roundhouse me, but I manage to duck it. He turns on his foot and counters with a kick to the chest. I grab his foot as it connects and swing him around. He goes flying into the staircase, his back hitting the railing.
“Motherfuck!” he barks as he staggers away. I see him go for his gun, just a few steps away, and I step forward, kicking it into the kitchen.
“Beat me fair and square, you piece of shit,” I growl at him. He brings his fist up as he stands, clocking me in the jaw. I see stars as I stumble back. He keeps coming, punching me in the gut, then across the face again.
“The Dark Cloud,” he jeers as he hits me again, punching me across the face. “What a joke. You are nothi?—”
I block his third punch and hit him in the throat. He stumbles back, so I hit him again, harder. I feel the bones break under my knuckles as it connects. He gapes and stumbles backward, grabbing at his throat. Loud, strangled gasps escape him and his eyes start to bug out.
He bumps into the couch as his arms flail out, grabbing for anything that might save him as his gasps turn to gurgles. I saunter over to my gun and watch as he falls onto his hands andknees, holding his throat as blood starts to bubble and spurt out of his mouth and onto the floor.
I watch as his lips turn purple and he claws at the carpet, my finger itching on the trigger. He looks up at me, defeated, his mouth open and gasping like a fish out of water. He wants me to end it.
I walk over and kick his side. He topples over, landing on his back as he gasps for air. As the last little bits of life drain from his face, I kneel down next to him and say, “Suffer, Yanov. For Nicki, Marla, and most of all, Tati. Suffer for them all.”
His mouth moves, but nothing but a strangled noise comes out. He claws at his bruised throat for a few seconds longer and then, finally, the light in his eyes starts to fade and Yanov is no more.
I wait until that familiar death rattle floats out from between his slack mouth. Then I stand up. Now, to find Nikol?—
I’m hit hard from behind. The pain rushes over my head as the world turns on its side and I’m down. The last thing I see before I pass out is Nikolai standing over me…
