Page 30 of Deadly Knight (The Bratva’s Elite #2)

The address leads to a broken-down house in a low-income neighbourhood, and I can only assume Ivan’s been lying low here.

Equipped with two guns, one in each leg holster, I barely switch off the car before I’m bounding up the wooden steps, their paint chipped and faded, while ignoring the elderly couple smoking on the porch next door.

Surely, they’ve seen a lot from that vantage point, and they’re about to hear a whole lot more.

I bust the door with a firm twist of my hand as the ancient knob puts up no fight before I’m inside the stuffy house, reaching for one gun to protect myself from whatever—whomever—my father has with him.

Only silence greets me, so with the gun positioned in front of my body, I carefully step down the short hallway, stopping by the open archway leading into the living room.

Faded white walls stained with smoke and age, a ratty mattress in the far corner, and a single item on the floor in the centre of the room.

A cell phone. His cell phone.

“Fuck!”

I’m sure that the couple next door can hear my shout as I stomp towards the cell, barely remembering not to smash it since it could contain helpful leads.

The slim metal is in my hand when it rings, the label Unknown Caller stretched across the screen. I tap to accept, feeling deep down the caller is also the cell’s owner.

“Ivan.”

“Syn.”

“I’m no son to you. You lost that right years ago. Where are you?”

He chortles. “I’m not exactly pleased to call you blood either. You’ve been a disappointment time and time again.”

“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 are exactly like 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 people can do 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, you still can’t leave her alone.”

Distracted from Katya. I left her behind…

“Do not go near her. I will slaughter you.”

“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.

I don’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 his syn again, 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.

He smirks, gesturing to my leg. “Your other.”

With an annoyed click of my jaw, I lose that one too.

Another smirk. Another gesture. “And the knife.”

“I don’t have one.”

“You forget who trained you… syn .”

With a huff, I bend down and lift my right pant leg up, retrieving the knife in my boot and tossing it near my guns. “That’s everything.”

“I believe you. After all, you wouldn’t risk her life.

” His attention shifts to Katya. “Such a damn shame how she controls you, even now. Her hold over you is much too strong, so you must choose. Vanessa ordered my death; let’s not pretend otherwise.

Attack me. Be the soldier who’ll defend the Bratva against one of a few who continue to oppose Vanessa—because let me assure you, I am not the only one.

Be who you should be. By going after me, she’ll die, and you’ll finally be released from her grubby hands.

Or you save her and choose love over duty.

In which case, I will slip away and steal your chance at revenge. ”

This is exactly the game he played with Vanessa when capturing Serafina and Zeno Mancini and forcing her to first choose between them, to pick between her love for Zeno and the Bratva’s leadership. Now, he assumes having Katya here will cause me to falter; to go after him rather than save her.

It’s always been about choices with him, which is ironic since he’s never given me a choice in my life. Ten years ago, he gave Katya a choice too: money or me.

He’s a gambler, playing with people’s emotions for one another. House always wins, though, and in this case, the house is the Bratva. No matter the choice, the ending will unfold the same way. I’ll ensure it does.

For now, Katya is my choice of cards. She will always come above everything else.

“Choose wisely, Dimitri.”

I move. My father turns away, heading for the back door, leaving the ultimate choice with me. The soldier releases Katya and yanks away the chair in a quick swipe before following Ivan out.

No!

I’m by her side before the rope has a chance to drop taut, arms catching around her knees. My knife is at least twelve feet away, leaving me with no choice but to hope this aged building is as fragile as it seems.

I reach above Katya’s head and loop the rope around my fist before hauling down, using every pound of my weight. The ceiling bars give way, cracking and releasing the rope.

Before metal shards land on us, I scoop her up and carry her towards my weapons, depositing her on the dirty, stained, black-and-white tiled flooring.

With my knife, I slice through the rope around her neck, cursing at the red lines there.

After a check of her pulse, I confirm Ivan didn’t lie about one thing, at least.

My hands can’t stop touching her. Her arms, her face. Those blasted arms she insists on scratching until she bleeds. How many times have I wanted to burst into her life, all to end the self-harm she inflicts on herself. To erase the memories of those assholes who cause her to linger in the past.

She feels fucking amazing, but I’m also checking for injuries. Other than the red on her neck, she seems okay, and I breathe for the first time since seeing her strung up.

She’s okay. She’s safe.

But no matter how many times I repeat it, it doesn’t feel real.

She’s okay. She’s safe. She’s drugged.

It’s the last fact, that she’s unlikely to wake anytime soon, that allows me to drag her onto my lap again, keeping her as physically close as possible. Her heart beats steadily against my chest, and I focus on the rhythm, matching my own breaths to them.

“I’m so fucking sorry, moya dusha . Yet again, you’ve been hurt because of me. Nothing I do will ever be enough. It’s one more crime he’ll pay for, I promise.”

If I were smart, I’d leave Katya here to chase after him before he gets too far. She can wake alone, disoriented but safe, and walk home.

But now that she’s in my arms again… I can’t let her go. My father has now used her twice against me. There can never be a third instance.

She must be safe.

When she wakes, I need to be by her side.

She’ll inevitably hate me when she realizes I’ve been the monster beneath her bed this entire time.

But she’ll eventually see this is for the best. He tricked me once to get away from her.

What’s to say he won’t again if given the chance?

No matter how well I can predict, he’ll be one step ahead.

I can’t both stalk her, leaving her to live her life, and hunt him. Something will slip—again.

I won’t be abandoning her. Not now…not ever again. Agreements and wishes be damned, history cannot repeat itself.

Repositioning her, I reach into my pocket for my phone, tapping Vanessa’s name.

“Hey, I need you to send the plane to Toronto. I’ll be home soon.”

We both will , I think, looking down at Katya.