Page 164 of Beautiful Trauma

“What are you doing?” Father blared.

“Letting her end you.”

I staggered back at his words. “You are?”

Dima nodded. “That’s why I came up with the plan for you to come into our territory.”

Since I didn’t want Father to escape, I quickly pulled my arm up and pointed the gun at him. He sputtered with indignation. “How could you betray me like this?” he demanded of Dima.

A menacing look came over his face. “Because you met with your advisors while I was in a coma. You soft-launched the idea of Aleksander taking my place. But your men wouldn’t hear of it. They wanted Maksim–the leader they should’ve had all along.”

“The stuttering fool’s conniving has sent him underground,” Father scoffed.

Dima smiled. “He’s only underground as part of our plan.”

“Your plan?” I questioned.

“Yes, Maksim and I plan to rule the Korolova family together.”

Hope surged in my chest at the news. “That’s exactly as it should be.”

“It’s ridiculous! There’s no way the two of you can rule together. My men won’t allow it.”

“But they will. You’ve made so many enemies over the years. Some you don’t even realize.” Dima tilted his head. “Like your children.”

“Bullshit.”

“You can't even imagine what your own ignorance and pride has cost you. This whole plan? I wouldn’t have even thought of it if it hadn’t been for Dare Kavanaugh.”

At the reference to the Kavanaugh family, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“This whole plan–it came from researching them.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Father demanded.

“Dare Kavanaugh’s new bride, Ava? When her uncle had her cousin, Ares, kidnap Ava, he cleared his house of soldiers so he could take care of her. What he didn’t know was that his son wanted his father dead. So he pretended to be going along with his father’s kidnapping plan. But in the end, he shot his father. Having him clear the house gave Ares the perfect opening.”

“And that’s what you think you’re going to do to me?” Father demanded to Dima.

Before Dima could answer, I shook my head. “No.I’mgoing to be the one to shoot you. And although I’d like to shoot you in the head just like you did Mama, that would be too easy.”

He sneered at me. “You don’t have the guts. You never had.”

I cocked the gun. “The allegedly great Danill Korolova’s legacy will be that he was taken down by his daughter.”

Father’s eyes bulged in rage. “You bit–”

The crack of the gun cut him off. He staggered back as blood poured from his shoulder wound. I aimed the next shot at his crotch. His scream of agony was much louder.

As he collapsed to the floor, I shot him again in the leg. Turning back to Dima, I asked. “How long should it take him to bleed out?”

He shrugged. “Impossible to say.”

“I want to end him, but I want him to suffer.”

“So do I. But it’s too risky. I can’t have some of his men finding him and trying to save him.”

I nodded. As Father howled and bellowed with pain, I pointed the gun at his head. “May you rot in hell.”