Page 67 of King of Malice

I see Dimitri draw taller, my own heart hammering in my chest. “You’ve been clear. Which is how I know you’re not allowing me to see them either way.”

There is a pause, the thickness of it making it hard to breathe. “You think you are going to force my hand?” I can hear the razor-sharp edge in his father’s words, the danger in them, making me shiver.

And then the cock of a gun fills the silence, my own body jerking in response.

A feral snarl rips from Dimitri’s lips, but I can’t see what’s happening. “Don’t.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Dimitri

I openthe door that barely hangs off its hinges

My father stands with Sasha and Katarina to his right, both of them hunched down and holding each other.

Several men flank him on either side, one with the automatic rifle in his hand. He’ll pay for what he’s done. After.

Because right now, my father has a pistol aimed at Sasha’s temple. He cocks the hammer, the click jolting through me.

“Don’t,” I snarl, every muscle in my body turning to stone. I know I’m challenging my father like never before. That I’m drawing this confrontation to a head, but I have to remember…he’s never fought fair, and he won’t today.

“I only need one of your sisters to make the trade with the Smiths. I only need to give up one casino. You’ll do as I say, boy, or it’s her life.” He’s making it clear. This isn’t a negotiation. I am to sell one casino and only one. And in exchange, Sasha keeps her life. That’s it.

I raise my hands in the air. I need to break from my father to keepAva and Anna safe. But I can’t do it in exchange for Sasha’s life. I’d never be able to forgive myself. “I’m sure there’s another way.”

He lowers the gun, eyeing me with a gleam that fills me with dread. “Let me think…”

The hair on the back of my neck stands up.

I’m not afraid of my father. I’m not afraid of death either.

But the damage he can inflict on the people I love, that frightens me more than anything in the world.

“Otets,” I growl out low, knowing he doesn’t deserve the title of father.

“I’d consider a trade.”

Fuck. I already know what he’s going to say and my fingers ball into fists. “No.”

“Give me Ava and I’ll let you have Sasha and Katarina.” An evil smile curls his lips.

Gris was right. He used Trent to test Ava’s importance in my life and now that he knows, he’s found an even better tool to control me. The woman I love.

He raises the gun again, back to Sasha’s temple. “I’ll shoot her Dimitri. You’d better decide and be quick.”

I open my mouth to drop every obscenity under the sun when a soft hand brushes my back. “I agree to the terms.”

My head whips around, even as Ava steps past me. “The fuck you do.” I reach out my hand, wrapping my fingers around her upper arm.

She gives me this smile, soft, sweet, full of love and the slightest bit of apology. “Let me help you.”

“No fucking way,” Cadence spits from behind me. Honestly, she took the words right out of my mouth. “Ava Tantor, don’t you even think about sacrificing yourself. You can love someone without killing yourself.”

But Ava doesn’t answer as she pulls out of my grip like she’s just going to walk up to my father. Like he’s not going to take all three of them and disappear, trapping me so tightly I can’t breathe.

She doesn’t understand this will never be fair.

I reach out to grab her arm again, to stop her, when a shufflehappens behind me. My head snaps around in time to see Cadence with a gun in her hand.