Page 162 of Fallen Empire

Aleksei’s jaw flexed, his lips curling back in a sneer. “Ifoundthat man by walking straight into his circle. Without him ever fucking knowing. I’m the only one that holds the power. He never saw me coming.”

Costa’s head rolled to the right, then back, then left in a circle, like he was forcing himself to take deep breaths. Trying to rein in the anger that was starting to pulse off him. Trying not to snap.

“Your father knew exactly what he was doing when he handed you over to me,” Costa said, his tone tightening. “He didn’t want you running everything he built into the ground with your narcissistic greed. Instead, he sent you to me to babysit your tantrums.”

Costa began pacing again, slow steps that carried him halfway across the room, but never all the way back to Jaxson. He kept turning, eyes sweeping over the blood-soaked floor, the bodies, the guns still raised.

“My father was useless,” Aleksei spat, venom dripping from each word.

Costa stopped cold.

“You’re useless,” he said. His tone was calm, but there was nothing calm about the way it cut through the air. It was the voice of a man holding every ounce of patience he had just to get through what he needed to say—before everything exploded.

Aleksei’s lips curled. “If I’m so fucking useless, tell me—how many millions have you made since babysitting me?”

Costa stopped in front of him again and crouched down, tilting his head. “The real question is… how manybillionshave I lost while you tried to control Sinclair Industries like a fucking puppet? Skimming off every deal, hiding it, thinking I’d never fucking find out. You think I’m that stupid? That I don’tknow what’s happening beneath my own nose? Within my own Empire.”

Aleksei’s mouth opened… then shut. His face went pale, the blood draining from it until he looked almost sick. And for once, there was nothing he could say. Because for the first time in his life, he knew—without a doubt—control was something he’d never had.

“You’re alive because I let you be,” Costa said, his voice low and lethal. “As a favor to your father. He’s the only reason you still breathe the air of this world.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline, the blood loss, or the irony of everything that had transpired since Aleksei kidnapped me. Since he dropped a body barely clinging to life in a room with me as I watched her take her last breath, since I felt him stab a knife into my thigh without remorse, or since I watched him shove a gun inside my soulmate’s mouth—but I couldn’t stop what happened next.

The laughter burst out of me, loud, relentless, filling the room’s silence like shrapnel. It was twisted, unhinged—the kind of laughter that would’ve made the Joker proud.

When it finally slowed, I turned to Aleksei. His eyes were already locked on mine. Costa’s too. He probably thought I was batshit crazy. And right now, I fucking was.

“Poor Aleksei.” I shook my head. “Checkmate.” And I winked.

I wasn’t sure what came over me, but when his gun swung in my direction, I didn’t close my eyes. Not even when the shot rang out.

I watched as the bullet barreled into the side of his head, splattering the wall behind him with red and gray.

My eyes adjusted, and Costa was standing over him, a gun dangling from his hand.

The room was silent.

Costa wiped the end of the barrel with a crisp white handkerchief, then slid the gun back into his jacket pocket. “Such a waste,” he murmured.

When he turned, the men in tactical gear had already lowered their weapons. Reaper, Ben, and Jaxson hadn’t. Three barrels still tracked Costa like they could pin him to the floor if he so much as twitched.

He didn’t twitch.

He walked to the center of the room, owning every inch of space with each step.

“Westbrook,” he said, his tone almost casual. “Looks to me like I’ll be seeing you around. Looks to me like you owe me a favor.”

His eyes swept over all of us—leisurely, thoughtful. “Or five.”

Then he walked out, the armored men trailing after him.

All except one.

They pulled off their helmet, dark hair spilling out, and for the first time since they’d stormed the building, I saw her face. Nic.

Despite Ben’s hands on me, freeing me, checking me for injuries beyond what he could see, I just kept staring at the door Costa had walked through.

Somewhere outside, sirens wailed in the distance. Faint at first, then growing.