Page 68 of Climbing Everest

Kato

F uck, that burns. The fucker obviously hadn’t shot me to kill me. He was too close to miss. He could have easily put a bullet in my brain.

No. He didn’t want me dead yet. This is all about Everest. I’m sure they plan to kill all four of us, but her pieces of shit parents want to make sure their daughter suffers as much as possible before they take her life.

Not fucking happening.

What’s pissing me off is that no one has come through the front door yet. No Brix. No Madd. No hired guards.

Maybe I shouldn’t be pissed off but instead fucking terrified. Could they all be dead? Had these assholes gotten to my brothers before kicking in the door?

I should have opened fire the second I heard footsteps on the decking, but part of me was worried I would end up shooting my brothers or guards by accident.

One of those ask forgiveness deals. I’m sure Madd or Brix would have forgiven me if I’d hit them.

Now?

Now there’s a chance my hesitation could cost us our lives.

I’d had to ditch my gun the moment Everest came running from the bedroom. The threat of her taking a bullet was more than I could handle.

We really thought we had this whole thing planned out to the finest detail. There are so many weapons in the bedroom, but there’s also a fucker thundering from the room, yanking his mask over his head to reveal an obvious broken nose and a bloody chin.

My girl got in a hit. At least that’s something.

I recognize him and the other fucker, but don’t know their names. Never cared to know.

What I want to know, though, is whether either of these cocksuckers were there the night our child died, and Everest almost lost her life, as well.

There will be time for those questions after I figure out how the hell to get Everest out of this fucking cabana without being filled with holes.

She now carries my name, and I made sure my legal people had her added to every single thing I own. If I die here today, she’ll be okay.

I can’t help but send up a prayer to anyone listening that Maddox and Brixton make it out alive to keep her safe once I’m gone. She’s already lost entirely too much – she can’t lose all three of us in one swoop.

“I get to kill the bitch,” Bloody Face says.

A muscle clenches in my jaw as I glare at him. I might lose my life, but I’ll use my own body as a shield as long as needed until someone gets their fucking ass in here to get her out.

My pistol is at my feet. Right fucking there. What is the chance I can grab it and get off a shot before someone blows out my brains?

Gunshots ring out from somewhere outside. Not close enough, or maybe too close depending on who’s doing the shooting.

Fuck. This was an airtight plan. What the fuck had we missed?

Of course, we hadn’t really planned on Ada Sidorov being present, nor had I planned on the sneer, the look of pure, unadulterated disdain as her eyes roam her daughter. She’s literally looking at Everest with nothing short of hate and disgust.

Yeah. This bitch will definitely die right beside her husband.

I’d really wanted to take my time, make them and the asshole guards suffer before ending their life. But as that fucker points the muzzle in Everest’s direction, I’d settle with a quick death. Anything to get her out of the path of destruction.

Inching closer to my wife, I try to keep my attention split between the four people here to take away the only woman I’ve ever loved. Fuck, no doubt I’ll be up next.

And maybe it’s selfish, but I’d much rather go first – the thought of seeing the life bleed out of Everest’s eyes does something dark to my insides.

I don’t know how much time has passed, but it feels like an eternity.

There’s got to be something I can do or say to distract them, something to give Madd and Brix time to get in here, time for the guards to get in here…if any of them are still alive.

The thought of losing my two brothers is nearly as painful as the thought of losing my wife.

When I glance in Everest’s direction, I do a double take. Instead of the fear I expect to find, I see nothing but anger and a tiny, satisfied smirk as she glares at Bloody Face.

“How’s your nose, Eriks?”

“Fucking cunt,” he grits out as he moves forward as though to lunge for her.

But Dima stops him with a raised hand. “No one dies until the other two are dragged in. I want her to watch them die first.”

Eriks. He was one of the three men who’d beat her, who’d killed our child.

So who is the other guy?

“Is that Mikhail?” I ask her while keeping my eyes pinned to him since he’s currently staring down the sight of the gun. Eventually, his arm will get tired. He’ll have to either switch hands or drop his arm.

That could be the single moment I need to get the upper hand.

“That’s him,” Everest practically snarls.

Okay. That means all the people who need to be dead are in the same room. I just need my backup, or a single moment.

The problem, though, is Dima and Eriks are both armed. I’ll have to act fast.

“Let me guess – one of these two pricks will pull the trigger? You’re too much of a fucking coward to look me in the eye and kill me yourself,” Everest says to Dima.

He merely scoffs at her. “I pay people to do the grunt work,” he says.

Ada rolls her eyes. “Just get it over with. The other two are probably already bleeding out somewhere out there.”

“Or they’re seconds away from blowing your brains out.” I blink at Everest as my eyes go wide and a proud grin stretches across my face. “What’s it like?” she asks her mom.

Ada rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “What? What is what like? Be more specific.”

“To hate your own daughter so much you asked your husband to have her killed?”

My wide eyes narrow and I frown at Ada. “What?” I growl.

Ada turns and glares at her husband. “Do you spew monologues with every mark?” she asks.

“I didn’t say shit to her,” Dima says.

Everest huffs a humorless laugh. “He didn’t have to tell me. You just did. It was a guess after the engagement party, but you confirmed it. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making it so much easier to kill you. I’d almost started to feel bad about wanting you both dead. Not anymore.”

Ada’s lips twitch, then a small smile pulls up the corners of her lips. When she begins to titter the most annoying and downright evil sound, I’m momentarily preoccupied with the bone deep desire, nah, the raw need to see this bitch’s head laying on the floor beside her dead body.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Ada says in a saccharine sweet voice. “Two of your boyfriends are dead. Kato’s next. Then you.”

Something is…off. Since when does a woman speak on behalf of a member of the Bratva? Yeah, Everest addressed her, but Ada sure as fuck is acting as though she has more power than any wife in any Family should have.

“So what are you waiting for?” Everest asks.

If – No. Fuck that – when we get out of here in one piece, I’m putting my wife over my lap and spanking her ass pink for that shit. Why the fuck would she taunt the people literally holding a gun to our heads?

When Dima flits his eyes to his wife before returning his attention to me, things begin to click into place.

“You’ve been running the show,” I say to Ada rather than ask.

The smirk she sends me is all the answer I need.

“Damn, Dima. No wonder you’ve never been brought up through the ranks – your wife has kept your balls in her purse all these years. Wait…is that why Everest is an only child? Because she castrated you twenty-four years ago?”

“Fuck you, boy,” Dima says.

I guess he thinks calling me boy will rile me up. Instead, I find myself rather entertained by the red creeping up his neck and settling in his cheeks, the vein bulging in his forehead.

And the smug look on Mikhail’s face.

“Hey, if I’m wrong, maybe you should put your wife in her place. Wouldn’t want your men to see how fucking weak you are.”

It’s a stretch, but it’s worth a shot. Another attempted tactic to buy us some time. If they’re fighting among themselves, their focus will be off us for a few moments. That might be just enough time.

Blood is still seeping from the wound. It’s not life threatening, but if I don’t get the bullet out and get the wound sealed up, there’s still a chance I could bleed out soon, and I refuse to leave my wife without knowing she’s safe.

Dima’s nostrils flare as he barely shoots his wife a look from the corner of his eye.

“Go ahead. We’ll wait,” Everest says. And fuck, if we were alone, I would kiss the shit out of her.

She was right when she’d told us she was no longer the sweet girl we’d known as teens. This woman…she’s a badass.

I suppose she would have to be to not only be in a committed relationship with three men, but three criminals. She’s married to the Don of the Greek mafia and sharing her heart, mind, and body with all three of us and makes it seem as though it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Hell, to us, it is .

Everest’s smirk fades a touch as her attention focuses on her mother. “Will you at least give me the courtesy of telling me why the fuck you hate me? I’m your only daughter. Your only child, and it’s not like I was a difficult kid to raise considering you had nothing to do with it.”

I wasn’t there when she was growing up, not behind closed doors. But I saw how indifferent and cold her mother was to her at the gatherings when our parents would rub elbows and whisper business deals.

But most the parents behaved as though their kids weren’t in attendance since they were either drunk or busy with business. When we were young, the nannies were in charge of keeping us in line.

As we got older, we were left to our own devices and had to entertain ourselves while still behaving.

Bet her parents are regretting that decision right about now. I know my father did the night I told him the four of us were leaving the Family and having a baby together.

“Do I need a reason? I never wanted a kid. I never wanted to be a mother. Hell, I never wanted to be a wife,” Ada sneers, shooting her husband a side eye.

“Shut the fuck up,” Dima mutters to her under his breath. Don’t know who he wants that last tidbit hidden from, but everyone in the room heard him just fine.

“I figured if I was going to be forced into this life, I would take advantage of the money. Then your father,” she says, turning a glare on Dima as her nostrils flare, “decided I shouldn’t have a choice in the matter.”

Now I’m curious as to whether he strong armed her into getting pregnant, or manipulated her birth control the way we had with Everest when we got her back.

Doesn’t really matter how she came to be a mother – she’d had a duty to her daughter and she not only failed her, but talked her fucking husband into getting rid of Everest.

Had this whole thing been planned before they found out about the baby? Had that merely been an excuse, something they could use as justification should anyone question her murder?

No. That last part isn’t part of it being as everyone was told she had run off with a Russian fucker of his choosing. Even her best friend thought she’d merely disappeared to start a new life.

“We were going to leave. We were going to start a family in another state. You couldn’t have just let us go? Let us do as we pleased? Or do you just hate me that much?” Everest asks.

I don’t have to look at her to know the tips of her ears are red. She’s probably fighting tears, too.

Fucking assholes. I’m not sure how, but all four of these pieces of shit will die today. And now, I’m thinking I’ll leave Ada for last, make her suffer longer.