Page 92 of Prince of Control

The door to the master bedroom is at the end of the hall. There’s a sliding lock on the outside, like Brash has imprisoned women here before, but it’s not locked. Which means she’s either not in there, or he’s with her.

A scream sounds from inside.

Lara.

Adrenaline rushes to my limbs. My mouth washes in saliva, like an animal preparing to bite its foe.

“Where is she?” Adrian demands in the comms in my ear.

I ignore him and push the door open, gun pointed.

No. Fuck no. Not my Lara.

Goddammit!

I shouldn’t be shocked by the scene in front of me. I fully expected something horrific. But seeing my wife strung up by her wrists from a hook in the ceiling ignites a rage in me so fierce I could tear him apart with my bare hands. I will tear him apart with my bare hands.

She’s in nothing but her panties. There are bruises on her cheek and throat. Brash points a dagger at one of her nipples.

Her eyes meet mine and widen. “Baron!”

Brash whirls and takes in the gun in my hand.

One bullet. One bullet is all it would take to kill him. But not with Lara behind him. Besides, a swift shot would be too kind for this animal.

These thoughts happened in a split second because I’m already in motion.

Brash dives away, thinking I’m going to shoot. I follow his movement with the gun, and as soon as he’s clear of Lara, I cap him in the thigh.

He yelps and drops behind the bed.

“Report!” Tension radiates in Adrian’s bark.

I don’t have time to give him the play-by-play. I leap onto the bed in a single stride. With the next step, I drop onto Brash’s sprawled body, stomping into his solar plexus to knock the wind out of him. My next step is onto his throat, then I drop down and straddle him.

He fights back, but I punch the muzzle of the gun into his mouth, knocking out a tooth. I want him to look in my eyes when I kill him.

He reaches for the lamp by the bedside table and swings it at me. I angle my back to take the blow as I fire.

He gurgles blood.

Too fast, dammit.

I wanted to make him suffer for touching Lara. For all the pain he’s caused in this world.

I holster the gun and punch his face, satisfied by the sound of his nose breaking. Then his cheekbone. I knock his teeth out.

“We’re coming in,” Adrian says.

Fuck.

“Taking all cameras offline,” Dima says.

I hear the rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire out in the orchard, and it brings me back to reality.

Brash is dead. I shake myself and put two fingers against his throat to make sure.

I need to get Lara out of here. I whirl and rush over to her, pulling a knife out to cut her down. “Lara. Malyshka. Fuck.”