Page 62 of Deadly Knight

“If this is about Vanessa being Pakhan, we both know she’s a better leader than any of us.”

“The Bratva no longer holds the same appeal for me as it once did. After my attempt with the Mancinis, I realized my time is up. You’re going to kill me, Dimitri, because as much as you hate to admit it, you areexactlylike me. When pushed to the brink, you act. After all, look what happened to those four men I hired.”

“They decided to stop breathing,” I bite out, forcing breath through my clenched teeth. This conversation isn’t going anywhere.

“Decided,” he repeats, his tone amused. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what happened. No matter. You’ve done well getting your retaliation; that I’ll admit. The rest of you has been a disappointment.”

My hand tightens around his cell. The same one he’s had for years, so I’d recognize it anywhere, right down the massive scratch over the glass backing, done when he got pissed off one day about a deal gone wrong.

“Where are you? Not with your phone.”

He chuckles, his smooth tone making me want to chuck my own out the window, simply to end the sound. “So your peoplecando their job. Petrov, I assume. I figured the moment I turned it on and left it there, he’d track it.”

“But you’re not here, which means you’re up to something.”

“Da. You had to be distracted for ten fucking minutes and stop stalking Katya. Truly, it’s frustrating that after all this time, youstillcan’t leave her alone.”

Distracted from Katya.I left her behind…

“Do not go near her. I willslaughteryou.”

“You’re already planning on killing me, so why not make this fun?” He utters off an address near Katya’s apartment. “Come find me, Dimitri. Or don’t, and she’ll pay the price for your idiocy. Again.”

Click.

“Fuck!”

Thoughts about keeping his cell for later uses are gone, long fucking gone, and in a flash, it’s smashed against the far wall, immediately shattering into pieces to further trash this run-down shithole.

I’m out of the house instantly, mind barely catching up to the rest of me as I get into the car and peel out of the dirt driveway, heading in the opposite direction, my thoughts on one thing only. One person only.

Katya.

I’m coming. This time, I’ll save you.

The speed I used to get through the city to that house is nothing compared to the one used to get to the address Ivan gave me. I pass our apartment building, turning down a side road three blocks away.

How the hell did he snatch her when she was on a date? Did he kill Carter, or wait until he dropped Katya off? Regardless, Caleb Carter is as much to blame as my father for not protecting her, and after I’m finished with Ivan, he’s next. He doesn’t deserve her.

Idon’t deserve her, but at least I can fucking protect her. At least I can keep her wrapped in a tiny box all for me and no one else.

The car squeals to a stop in front of an abandoned shop, the faded beige sign indicating this was, at one point, a laundromat. I wait until I’m in the shadows of the awning, away from the few cars passing by, to remove my gun and cock it, positioning it in front of me as I enter the store, heart pounding with the unknown of what’s inside.

If it’ll be at all similar to my tormented memories of Katya on that mattress, those fuckers above her. Every time I shut my eyes, that night is all I see, all I hear. Over the years, my mind’s taunted me with every alternate version possible: ones in which they killed her, ones where I’ve saved her, ones where I got her out but was murdered in the process. It’s always an endless cycle of pain and torment. And tonight might be another chapter for my head.

I step through the small entranceway, which opens up to the main part of the shop, where my father stands beside my newest nightmare.

Katya’s being held up in a standing position on a metal chair by one of my father’s men, a rope tied around her neck and the other end looped through the ceiling tiles. Her head is slumped forward, her eyes shut. She looks at peace…and dead.

“She’s alive,” Ivan says with a knowing tone. “Only heavily drugged. No need for her to be screaming through the next part. You should be pleased. After all, it’s because of my mercy she’ll die being unaware. It’ll be over before she knows it.”

My gun jerks up, angled at his face. If Katya weren’t here, he’d already be dead, but the asshole knows exactly what to do, how to play me, and how to ensure his own safety. She’s a threat to his murder, which is probably the entire reason he’s kidnapped her.

“Let her go, Papa.” I’ve stopped referring to him as anything familial years ago, but if he wants me to be hissynagain, then so fucking be it. I’ll get on my knees and beg for forgiveness if that’s what it’ll take.

A thin brow hikes, his expression one that’s irritated me for years. “You think it’s that easy? That after all it took to retrieve her, I’d let her go because you demanded it? That’s not how this works.Drop the gun and be done with your pointless threats. I don’t need to remind you what’ll happen if you don’t.”

My hand tightens around my weapon, but with a quick peek at Katya, this isn’t worth the risk. With a disgruntled noise, I lower the gun to the floor slowly, kicking it to the right of me in a controlled manner. One that’ll be easy and close to retrieve.