Page 199 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

“I don’t have a father.”

He lunged.

I had no time to think as my index finger squeezed tighter.

His eyes went wide. His mouth opened as he tried to stand taller. And he looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. Like I was something he should have been afraid of all along.

Then he took one more step back before his legs gave out, and he slumped on his back to the floor.

His eyes stayed open. Glassy and staring. Not at me anymore. At nothing.

I stood over him, no longer shaking. The gun was still in my hand. My arm was still extended just in case I needed to put another bullet into him.

But he was dead.

I lowered the gun. Set it on the bed. Then I picked up my phone and dialed.

Ivan answered on the first ring.

My father’s body lay on the carpet. His shirt turning redder. “My father is dead. Room three zero three. I need the cleaners. And check the perimeter because the bastard claimed there were men ready to kill everyone if I didn’t bring Violet and Mila to him.”

“Mudak!” A pause. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Good. Stay there. Give me two minutes, and throw a towel over him to soak up the blood.”

He hung up.

After I placed a towel either side of him and once over the wound, I sat on the bed next to the gun and waited. I didn’t look at him, I looked at my hands instead. Still not shaking.

Two minutes passed. Three. Then a soft knock.

I counted to ten before I glanced through the peep hole. Ivan came alone.

After I opened the door, he looked at the body, then at me. A flicker of something crossed his face. Respect, maybe.

“There was only one man,” he said. “In a car by the rear entrance. Gregor has him.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. He was bluffing. The perimeter is clean.”

I nodded. My father had always been a liar. Right up to the end.

Ivan made a call.

“Go back to your wedding,” Ivan said to me. “I’ll handle this.”

I stopped at the door. “Ivan.”

He turned.

“Thank you.”

I expected him to say something funny about wanting to use the rocket launcher on him. But he just nodded once. Then I walked out.

I stopped in the bathroom down the hall where I washed my hands and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were clear. I killed my father and hadn’t shed one tear.