Page 163 of Beautiful Trauma

Regret flooded me. If only Maksim had been successful and taken my Father out, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Despite everything he had done, I still believed there was a part of the old Dima still inside the man before me.

“What’s your favorite memory of our mother?” I asked softly.

His jaw clenched, and he remained silent. “My favorite memory isn’t just one specific one. It was all the Christmases we had with her. We’d go caroling and bake cookies. I loved the feeling of coming back into the house after Midnight Mass when just the glow of the tree lit the room. She always let us open one present when we got back. Then she would sing us to sleep toSilent Night.” I swallowed my rising tears. “She made everything beautiful.”

Dima didn’t respond. Instead, he kept staring straight ahead. When I realized not even memories of our beloved mother could get through to him, I ducked my head and let the silent tears flow.

“Your tears won’t save you,” he growled.

“I know.” I swiped my eyes. “Besides, they're not for me. They’re for mama.”

Dima shifted in his seat. “It isn’t good to live in the past.”

“It’s never wrong to remember the woman who gave us life and sacrificed everything she had for us.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he just kept staring ahead. I knew it was pointless to say anything else. He was already lost to me.

At that moment, the SUV began slowing down. Glancing out the window, my stomach lurched.

We’d arrived at Father’s.

Instead of going in the front like we usually did, the SUV wound around to the back. As I got out of the SUV, Dima grabbed me by the arm and led me into the house. Ordinarily, there would be staff in the hallways or rooms. But today, it seemed eerily quiet. It made sense that Father would clearthe house for my murder. Most of them had known me since childhood.

When we got to Father’s office, Dima didn’t knock. Instead, he threw open the door and dragged me inside. While I expected the room to be filled with soldiers, it wasn’t.

Instead, it was only Father behind his desk. With a cruel smile, he rose out of his chair. “It fills me with such happiness that this day has finally arrived.”

Since I knew no words of apology or begging would help, I merely glared at him. He cocked his brows at me. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re insolent to the last.”

Once again, I remained silent. I didn’t know if I could trust my emotions, and I sure as hell wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of crying.

“When Dima told me his plan. I laughed at him. I told him you would never be stupid enough to come into our territory again. Not even on the false pretense that Kira was injured. Yet here you are.”

Tsking, he said, “I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that your unending love for your siblings would be what brought your downfall. In the end, you were weak.”

As he closed the gap between us, he said, “I have to give it to Dima. He came up with such a detailed plan such as faking the hospital number to go to a phone bank we manned.” He slapped Dima’s back. “He is very useful for a cripple.”

Dima’s jaw clenched at his words, but like me, he remained silent. Father reached into his jacket pocket and produced a shiny black gun. When he started to raise it at me, Dima barked, “NO!”

Father narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“It should be me who does it.”

His words sent a knife slicing through my chest. It cut me so deep that I fought to breathe. It was one thing for him to witness my murder, but to actually pull the trigger? It was horrific.

“Why should it be you?”

“To prove my devotion and honor to you and this family.”

Father stared intently at Dima before he slowly nodded his head. “Yes, you’re right. Then we can tell our men that your honor to our family couldn’t even be dissuaded by your traitor sister.”

After Father handed the gun over to Dima, the world slowed to a crawl. My chest rose and fell in harsh pants. I couldn’t believe it had come to this. The man whom I had once loved with all my heart and soul was going to end it.

As Dima stepped towards me, a single tear slid down my cheek. Although I wanted to shutter my eyes from the pain of seeing my brother kill me, I couldn’t bring myself to close them.

When he was as close as Father had been to Mama when he shot her, Dima raised his arm. As I waited for the click, my heart threatened to beat out of my chest.

And then he grabbed my hand. I stared down at it in disbelief before he passed the gun over to me.