Page 23 of Betrayal and Vows (Bratva Vows #2)

Anton

I watch as Mikhail retreats from the basement.

The guards raise their weapons. I close my eyes and wait for the bullets.

I picture Lena.

Her smile.

Her beauty.

Her smell.

The gunshot echoes through the basement like thunder.

I wait for the pain, for the darkness, for the end.

But it doesn't come.

Instead, I hear bodies hitting the floor. One after another. Wet thuds that sound like sacks of meat being dropped.

I open my eyes.

Dmitri stands in the doorway, gun in hand. Three guards lie dead at his feet, blood pooling beneath their bodies.

"Miss me?" he asks, stepping over the corpses like they're nothing more than obstacles.

"How the fuck ? —"

"Elena." He moves to the wall where I'm chained, examining the locks. "Your future mother-in-law is savage."

He raises his gun and aims at the chain securing my left wrist. "Close your eyes."

The shot rings out and the metal explodes. My arm drops, pins and needles shooting through my shoulder as blood returns to my hand.

"Elena helped you?" I ask as he works on the second chain.

“Yeah. I know. Shocked the shit out of me, too. Those fuckers had me tied up in your room. And then she showed up. Told me I had ten minutes, and then she was gone.”

Another gunshot. My right arm falls free.

He helps me to my feet. My legs shake, but I force them to hold my weight. “Where’s Lena?”

"The wedding, Anton. It's happening right now." He checks his watch. "We have maybe ten minutes before they finish the ceremony."

Ten minutes.

"Can you move?" he asks.

I test my legs, rolling my shoulders. Everything hurts, but I'm alive. I'm mobile.

"I can move."

He tosses me a gun. I catch it, check the clip. Full.

"Let's go steal a bride,” he says.

We race up the basement stairs, taking them three at a time. My body screams in protest, but I push through the pain. Nothing matters except getting to her.

The main floor is chaos. Staff members run back and forth as they prepare for the wedding reception that will be starting any minute. No one notices two bloodied men moving through the corridors.

The doors are closed, but I can hear the priest speaking.

"Now or never," Dmitri whispers.

I check my gun one more time, then kick open the doors.

Every head turns toward me as I stride down the center aisle, blood trailing from my temple.

Candles flicker. The sickly-sweet scent of flowers hits me.

I ignore all of it.

I focus on Mikhail standing at the altar.

And Lena.

The sight of her makes my vision tilt. She’s gorgeous.

The dress is the ugliest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, but she’s beautiful.

And terrified.

The crowd turns. My gun is already raised.

And then everything erupts into chaos.

Mikhail’s guards are the first to react, drawing weapons from inside their coats.

The wedding was a no weapons zone.

Vadim’s orders.

That meant only the guards would be armed. I didn’t have to worry about the guests. And because I’ve been a part of the security detail, I know where every guard stands.

I fire. One shot center mass. He crumples before his gun leaves the holster. I vaguely hear the screams from the guests. Another tries to flank me, but Dmitri moves faster and puts a bullet in his neck before he can raise an alarm.

Screams erupt. Guests dive to the floor. The priest drops the cross and runs.

“Anton!” Lena screams. I see her trying to shove past Mikhail.

He grabs her wrist.

I snap.

I don’t think. I just move.

I shoot his guard clean through the skull and drag Lena away from him, but another pops out behind a column and fires. The crack of the bullet is deafening.

But it’s Lena’s scream that stops me dead in my tracks.

She collapses.

Blood spreads across the fabric of her dress.

“No!” I’m down beside her in an instant.

“Where are you hit?”

“My arm,” she groans.

I see the blood seeping from her arm. I rip the sleeve and expose the injury.

It’s high. Clean. Through the meat. It hurts like hell, but it’s not fatal. Not if we get her out now.

I press my hand to the injury causing her to cry out.

“Anton,” she gasps, her hand clutching my shirt. Her eyes lock onto mine with the kind of desperation I’ve only ever seen on dying men. “I didn’t betray you. I swear, I didn’t. He said he’d kill you. I had to push you away. I’m sorry.”

“Shh,” I murmur. My lips brush against her lips. “You’re okay.”

She thinks she’s dying.

As if I would ever let her leave this world without me.

“You’re okay. I need you to run, Lena.”

“I’m not leaving you!”

“Lena. I have to finish this.”

She shakes her head.

Gunfire and bullets zip by me.

I drag Lena, avoiding the stampede of guests. I get her outside the ballroom. “Stay here. I have to get Dmitri.”

Mikhail’s voice cuts through the screams, “Kill him! Now!”

Vadim rises slowly from his place beside Leonid, brushing off his suit like a man bored of the entire performance. “Enough,” he says calmly.

He’s acting like he’s bulletproof.

But surprisingly, no one shoots.

Even I hesitate.

“I said I would protect my family,” Vadim says. He turns to his men with a sharp nod. “Take them out.”

Now, I’m fucked.

But the bullets that are blasting aren’t hitting me.

Vadim’s guards open fire on Mikhail’s loyal men.

Dmitri appears from my left. “Go!”

I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’m not sticking around to find out.

Dmitri and I run for the same exit I carried Lena to.

She’s moved herself down the hall, leaving a trail of blood on the pristine floor.

I lift Lena in my arms, holding her close, shielding her with my body. She whimpers in pain but doesn’t fight me. Her blood soaks my shirt.

“This way,” Dmitri barks.

“Stay with me,” I whisper to Lena.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she murmurs, voice weak. “Not without you.”

Bullets ping off stone as Dmitri leads us through the side exit. The halls are narrow and littered with overturned flower arrangements and stunned wedding guests.

And then?—

Elena.

She’s standing there, silver pistol raised. Her blue gown is speckled with blood. Her eyes are wide, calculating.

I freeze.

Dmitri raises his weapon. “Move.”

She doesn’t.

“Mom,” Lena croaks.

Elena’s eyes flick to her. Her hand trembles.

“Let us go,” I say. “She needs help.”

“You’ll destroy everything.” Elena looks at her daughter in my arms. “He’ll hunt you.”

“Fuck him,” I snap. “I’ll keep her safe. She doesn’t need him. Or you. None of you.”

The gunfire behind us has stopped. I can hear Mikhail's voice raised in fury, arguing with Vadim. Their words echo down the hallway.

Father and son are fighting.

That works to our advantage. With them focused on each other, they aren’t thinking about us.

Elena keeps her gun trained on me, her hand remarkably steady. Her eyes dart between Lena and me. Would she risk shooting me and hitting her own daughter?

"What's your plan?" Elena demands, her voice holding a hint of fear. "Where will you take her?"

"None of your fucking business," I growl, adjusting my grip on Lena. Her blood is warm against my chest, seeping through my shirt. My abused muscles are screaming for relief. "Don't make me kill you. I'll put down anyone who gets between me and her safety."

"Anton, please," Lena whispers, her voice breaking. "Mom, please. Let me go. I can't—I won't survive this marriage. You know what he is."

Elena's composure cracks. For a moment, she's not the ice queen of the Bratva—she's just a mother watching her daughter bleed in another man's arms.

"He'll come for you," she says quietly. "Both of them will. There's nowhere you can hide that they won't find you."

"Then I'll kill them too." The words come out flat. It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.

Elena stares at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, she lowers the gun.

"Go," she whispers. "Before they realize I helped you."

"Mom—" Lena reaches out with her good arm.

"I love you," Elena says, tears finally breaking free. "I've always loved you. Be happy. Be free."

Lena sobs against my chest as I turn and run. Behind us, I hear Elena's heels clicking as she walks back toward the chaos, back to face whatever punishment awaits her and Leonid for their daughter's broken marriage.

I can't think about that now. Can't worry about the consequences for anyone else. Lena is bleeding in my arms, and she's the only thing that matters.

We move. Fast. Down the corridor, out the staff exit, into the alley where a car is already waiting. Dmitri opens the door.

I slide in, Lena still in my arms. She’s pale, sweaty, her dress soaked with blood.

“I can’t breathe,” she gasps. “The dress. Too tight.”

I grab the delicate fabric at her neckline and yank. The sound of tearing fabric fills the car as the bodice splits open, revealing the brutal corset underneath that's crushing her ribs.

"Hold still," I growl, working my fingers under the laces. The stays are pulled so tight I can barely get my fingertips beneath them. No wonder she can't breathe—this thing is a fucking torture device.

I hook my fingers and pull, using brute force to snap the laces one by one. Each broken cord releases more pressure until finally the corset falls away completely.

Lena gasps, her chest expanding as she drags in desperate lungful’s of air. Color returns to her cheeks almost immediately.

"Better?" I ask, smoothing the hair back from her damp forehead.

She nods, still breathing hard. "Much."

I tear a long strip from the voluminous skirt, the expensive fabric shredding easily in my hands. I cannot express the pleasure I feel shredding the fucking dress.

I work quickly to wrap it around her wounded arm, pulling it tight enough to slow the bleeding but not cut off circulation.

"This will have to do until we can get you medical attention," I tell her, knotting the makeshift bandage securely.

Dmitri throws himself into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind him.

"Everyone buckled in?" he calls back to us.

Obviously, a joke.

Before I can answer, he floors it. The tires scream as we rocket forward, laying rubber and leaving a cloud of smoke in our wake. Through the rear window, I catch one last glimpse of the estate growing smaller behind us.

No one is following.

I don’t know what the hell is happening with Mikhail and Vadim. I don’t care. I just want to get the hell away.

“Tell me what happened,” Lena whispers.

She reaches up to touch the cut on my eye.

“Mikhail knew I was planning something. He sent his men to take me out. Tied up. Beaten. Ordered me dead but this asshole saved my ass.”

“You’re welcome,” Dmitri says from up front.

“I didn’t know,” she breathes. “He told me you were dead.”

“That asshole is a lot harder to kill than you would think,” Dmitri says.

Lena tries to smile and winces. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re lying.”

“I wasn’t going to let you marry him,” I say. “I’d rather die.”

She reaches for me with her good hand. “I thought you left.”

“I’d never leave you.”

A sob escapes her lips. “I thought I was protecting you.”

“ Solnyshko, I will always protect you. With my dying breath I will protect you.”

A tear slides down her cheek. “We’ll be okay?”

"Yes.”

I didn’t know that for sure, but I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her alive.

The car races through backstreets. Dmitri is driving like the hounds of hell are on our heels.

I don’t mind.

“She’ll be okay,” Dmitri says from the front seat, glancing at Lena. “I know a doctor. Quiet. No questions.”

We drive in silence for a few more minutes before Lena shifts in my lap. “Anton?”

“I’m here.”

“I don’t want to go back,” she says, barely above a whisper. “I don’t want that life. Not with him. Not with any of them. Please don’t let them get to me.”

I nod. “We’re not going back.”

“But Vadim?—”

“I’ll deal with Vadim.”

She closes her eyes. “I chose love. I chose you. Don’t let this be for nothing.”

I can’t run from this. Not anymore.

I have to end it.

Mikhail. Vadim. The entire rotten foundation has to be taken down.

It all burns now.

For her.

For us.

For whatever future we claw out of the rubble.

Lena falls asleep in my arms, blood still seeping from her wound. But she’s alive.

And I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her from me.

Even if it’s the Bratva itself.

I don’t know where we’re going.

It’s the first time I’ve even thought about it.

I trust Dmitri. He’s got a plan.

I have to trust him.

I lean my head back against the worn leather seat and close my eyes. The adrenaline that carried me through the basement, the fight, the wedding is draining out of me.

Every muscle in my body screams. My ribs throb where that bastard cracked them with his baton. My shoulder feels like it's been ripped from its socket and shoved back in wrong. The cut above my eye pulses with each heartbeat, sending sharp spikes of pain through my skull.

But none of it matters. Not the pain, not the exhaustion, not the fact that we just declared war on the most dangerous men in Moscow.

Lena is alive. She's in my arms.

Breathing. That's all that counts.

Her weight settles me against me as the car rocks with Dmitri's aggressive turns. Even unconscious, even wounded, she fits perfectly. Like she was made to be held by me.

Mine .

The makeshift bandage around her arm is holding.

The bleeding has slowed to a seep. But she needs proper medical attention soon.

The bullet went clean through, which is good. I need to make sure there are no other injuries.

I need to ask if what Mikhail told me is true.

Did he…

I can’t bring myself to even think about it.

I’ll kill him if he put one finger on her.

I brush a strand of hair from her face.

Even pale and bloodstained, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

My brave little sunshine who stood up to monsters and chose love over riches.

Chose me over everything.