Page 40 of City Of Thieves

And again.

And again.

I hear the crunch of breaking bones and a voice I don’t recognize.

“You fucking touched her! You fucking touched what’s mine!”

There’s a shuffling noise behind me and rapid breathing.

It’s too fast. She’s not okay.

“Who are you?” I hear myself roar.

Below me, a bloodstained mouth spreads into a twisted smile. “Marchesi…”

“Who sent you?” The black walls grow thicker, rising higher. They’re closing in on me. But somewhere in that place where light is afraid to shine, a moment of clarity lasers in on his wrist.

A Bratva tattoo...the same as hers.

He touched her.

The rest of him is a bloody mess, but the monster inside me isn’t satisfied. Grabbing a jagged piece of glass from the broken crystal lamp, I drive the sharpest point through the back of his hand, ignoring the pain as it slices into my own palm.

He spat on her.

Wrenching the glass out, I soak in his screams as I pry open his mouth.

He kicked her.

All my demons chant as I drive the glass through his tongue before I’m twisting behind and sinking it one last time into his thigh.

Next, I’m squeezing my hands around his throat. “Who’s your fuckingpakhan?”

The man beneath me doesn’t move. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t run.He laughs, a defiant gurgle spilling blood from the corners of his lips as he garbles out a forked-tongued version of, “Go to hell.”

Releasing his throat, I slam my palm down onto his forehead and pin him to the floor while shoving my gun in his mouth. “You first.”

I pull the trigger, and then watch as my black walls turn to red.

Chapter Eleven

Tatiana

There’sa blanket of pain smothering me.

It’s not rough enough to require hospital treatment, but it’s still aching from thepatsan’spunches.

When the single gunshot rings out, I pull it tighter around me, content to drown in it, until two strong arms are lifting me up from the floor.

“Easy,” I hear him say, pulling me close, holding my aching body with a tenderness that should be anathema to a criminal like him. “Is anything broken?”

Yes, me… I shattered a long time ago, and now my parts don’t fit together like they should.

“Tell me where it hurts.”

All over. Inside and out.

“Fuck, Tatiana, talk to me. I can have a medic here in five minutes.”