Page 35 of Hateful Vows

She spits in his face, yanks the knife out of his throat and stabs him again, right in the eye socket this time. He’s already dead but she needs the outlet.

And Dante needs my help.

I fall to my knees at his side. Then, I drag him to rest against the sticky wall. The fight is dying down around us. The Angel of Death has his eyes set on Misha’s second-in-command who seems to be the last one standing. I signal for Dan to help the man and refocus my attention on Dante.

I cut open his tee-shirt looking for the bullet hole, ready to press my bare hands onto the wound and stop the blood from flowing out of his body.

But there’s no blood.

Kevlar greets me and I sigh a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

“You’re fine. You’re fine. You’re okay.” I clasp his arms, touch his chest. “Fucking hell, don’t scare me like this, Ventura.”

“It hurts like a motherfucker,” he rasps.

“Why didn’t you watch your back?” I almost yell at the aggressively annoying man in my arms.

“It seemed more of a priority to taunt you at the time.”

“Tell me hindsight just taught you a lesson.”

His only response is a shit-eating grin and I push him out of my arms. He chuckles then coughs and I almost regret being rough with him. My adrenaline levels are returning to normal and heaviness settles on my limbs.

The sound of the dying has been replaced with the chilly silence of death already collecting its due.

I look up and see Nico taking care of Petrov’s second while Irina watches.

She turns her head to me and our eyes meet.

She frowns with concern but I shake my head, trying to convey that we’re both okay, though maybe bruised and exhausted.

Blood is pooling on the disgusting grey floors around.

I love the sight. It’s been too long since I felt so justified in my anger and in my love of retribution.

When I feel more collected, made sure Dante’s alive and that there are no survivors, I call my cleaning crew. The sooner I can get home and wash the grime off, the better.

But I can’t leave Dante’s side.

I wave Ilia over. “Send their heads to Petrov.”

Grotesque displays of death seem to be the only thing the Moscow pakhan understands. I’m hoping this will be enough to keep him as far away as possible. Forever.

“What happened?” Irina’s furious voice snaps me out of my fatigue.

I stand, and swallow. She’s spitting mad.

I don’t know if it’s at me or Dante but seeing her like this does something for me.

Maybe it’s the reassurance that she can deal with anything we throw at her, and that she can protect herself.

It doesn’t lift the weight of that task off my shoulders.

I think I might be too attached to it to let it go but she truly is the vicious viper Dante calls her and that makes me want to drop to my knees for her.

“Dante got shot.”

“I can see that. And you?”

“Popov punched me in the diaphragm.”

She snorts. “So I’m the only competent one around here. Shocker. Since you are both children who can’t seem to have the discipline for this life, you can both ride together and lick each other’s wounds.”

She turns on her heels and disappears out the door, her hips swaying with each step and making me regret the past sixteen years of my life.

“She’s truly something,” Dante says like Irina chewing our ass is a dream come true.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”

We walk slowly to my car, Irina having taken Dante’s, and ride for a few minutes in companionable silence. Just when I start enjoying it, Dante opens his big mouth.

“Have you always been so silent, Lyosha ?”

I don’t comment that I’ve only allowed Irina to call me that. Nor do I reveal that I like it a little too much in his mouth. It’s more sensual than when she uses it, a dark oath rather than the soft comfort she offers. It reminds me how perfect for each other they are.

“It’s hard not to when your father makes you kill your friends.”

I don’t mean to tell him the truth, or to show a piece of me not even Irina knows about but my adrenaline is dropping, and so are my inhibitions.

And my father is dead, like Dante likes to remind me.

Maybe it’s time to open up again. What’s the worst that can happen?

He’s been trained as a soldier since he was a child.

He may not have been traumatised by his own father like I have but I doubt his childhood was a walk in the park.

“Fucking hell, Aleksei. That’s fucked up. How many?”

“How many what?”

“How many of your friends did he make you kill?”

I shrug. “Torture and kill. All of them. I stopped trying to have any.”

“I’m sorry.” His hand lands on my thigh. It’s far removed from a sexual touch but I shiver all the same, the comfort of the simple movement something I didn’t know I needed.

He does that a lot. I guess I should have known he’d be such a worthy opponent. Dante’s strength is obvious in his physique, but it’s in his observation skills and capacity for vulnerable leadership that he truly shines.

“He tried to make me do the same to Irina. And worse.”

The hand tenses before he takes control of his reaction. “What happened?”

“I said no. And he made me pay for it.”

I signal to my scars, keeping my eyes trained on the road.

“That’s where the scars are from,” he says.

I nod once. “Not on the same day but she became the reason for all of them. He tried to give me a joker smile and it was the first time I bested him. He got bigger and meaner and tried to take my eye. I didn’t let him, but I got whipped within an inch of my life that day.”

“God. And I thought my father was a piece of shit.”

He shakes his head, his words tinged with regret.

“He got what he deserved.”

“I’m glad you killed him, Lyosha . And I’m glad she watched.” He waits a beat but the pause is pregnant with unsaid words. He wants to add something and it’s going to be about her. I can feel it.

“Is that why you always pretended to hate her?” he asks.

“Who says I was pretending?”

He clicks his tongue and gives me a sardonic look. Right. I already admitted I never did. And I came to him for her protection, giving him half the Bratva’s income just so he’d go with it. I have no place left to hide behind.

“With all due respect, pretty boy, even blind I would know you love her. Because unlike you, I know what love looks like. You’re so fierce with it, it burns. But she’s never going to let you love her if you don’t let her be who she truly is.”

“And what is that?”

“A viper. A queen. A blood-thirsty bitch,” he adds the last word with a fondness only someone who loves her would be capable of. And I’m not even jealous. After the life she’s had and the struggles she’s faced, Irina deserves all the love she can get. And I won’t ever be enough for her.

My fists tighten around the wheel. “I don’t know how.”

“That’s why you have me, pretty boy.”

The rest of the way, Dante leaves his hand on me and I wish this would be how I end every single day for the rest of my life.