Page 34

34

ANASTASIA

M y head hurts.

Everything hurts, from my brow right down to my toes.

It’s been a blur since the explosion.

I barely remember Rocky dragging me out from underneath the rubble, never mind the commotion with the gunman.

Everything passed me by in a daze.

Erik tried to fight, I think, but it was useless.

The gunman wasn’t afraid to shoot Rocky again, and the sound of the gunshot rings in my ears even now as Erik and I cuddle together in the trunk of a car being driven to God knows where.

“Anastasia?” Erik whispers softly in my ear.

“Yes?”

“Oh, thank God.” It’s impossible to make out his features in the dark, but I feel his body aligned with mine and his arms tight around me.

“I hadn’t felt you move in so long, I was scared.”

“Sorry, I’m just…” I have no words.

It doesn’t even feel like I’m really here.

Maybe I died under the rubble and this is some kind of passive hell that I’ve woken up in.

“It’s normal to be in shock,” Erik murmurs.

“But I promise, I’m going to get us out of this.”

He speaks with confidence I don’t share.

Everything is falling apart in ways I never even imagined.

Viktor was supposed to get arrested at the gala and I was supposed to start my new future as a Godmother without snakes in my garden.

Now all people will remember me for is the Godmother who got countless people slaughtered at her gala.

The noise of the explosions still rings in my ears, and if I breathe too deeply, I can still feel the wooden beam that landed on my chest and crushed me.

My entire body throbs like a bruise in time to my heartbeat, and even Erik’s comforting touch isn’t enough to keep the looming sense of dread at bay.

“I don’t think we'll make it out of this one,” I whisper. “Not this time.”

“Don’t say that.” Erik’s grip around me tightens as the car rumbles and lurches. “We will.”

“To what life?” Warmth surges behind my tired eyes. “Anyone who was on my side was in that hall, and now they’re all most likely dead. All those cops are dead too, and Rocky… God knows if he’s even still alive. You know the Italians will hunt me to the ends of this earth for hurting him.”

“I will protect you,” Erik insists.

“You can’t protect me from everything. Not this time.” A sob forces a wobble into my voice, and I screw up my eyes, tucking my face into Erik’s neck as if I’m even deserving of such comfort. He curls around me like a shell, as if his very body can protect me from whatever’s going to happen to us. Despite his lies, despite how he came into my life… I’m glad he’s here.

“Why were the cops there?” Erik asks, caressing the back of my head. “Tell me.”

“I…” There’s no point keeping it a secret now. “Cormac put me in touch with Rocky, and I took a risk. I needed help, and Rocky… well, you know how the Italians have the cops in their pocket? I still had the letter opener I used to kill my father. He was going to plant it in evidence and make sure the prints pointed at Viktor. I thought if he were publicly arrested, his reputation would be ruined even if he got out of it.”

Erik chuckles softly. “Wow. I’m impressed.”

“Hardly matters now, though. Viktor clearly had his own plans for the gala. Or the Cartel. I don’t even know who did this.”

Erik murmurs softly in the back of his throat. “I know you won’t believe me, but I am going to get us out of this. I promise. I’m going to protect you, even if it’s with my last breath. And then I’m going to make sure everyone knows that Viktor holds the blame. Especially if the Italians need someone to blame.”

“Don’t say that.” I curl one hand into Erik’s shirt and grip tightly, soaking up the warmth from his body.

“Say what?”

“Until your last breath. Please. I saw so many people die tonight and I can’t… I can’t even think of anything happening to you.”

“I thought you hated me,” he murmurs, his lips lightly skimming across my forehead.

“Hurt, yes. Hate? Never. And if this is the last moment we get to spend together, then I need you to know that I like you the most out of everyone.”

“Oh, wow.” He huffs out a soft laugh. “I like you the most, too.”

The car rumbles and creaks, then suddenly falls silent. All motion comes to a dead stop and fear curls its cold fingers around my heart.

This is it.

This is the end.

Even together, we don’t stand a chance against whoever has kidnapped us. Reaching up through the dark, cramped space, my fingertips skim Erik’s jaw. His head tilts down into my touch, and I tilt my head up to meet him. Our lips skim over one another, seeking each other out and after the first touch, we lock together in a deep, needy kiss.

I pour everything I have into the kiss. All my adoration and love that I can’t voice, everything I wish I could say but we don’t have the time, every good feeling I’ve ever felt about him and an apology for being the reason he will die.

Erik’s kiss is just as intense, and it lasts until the trunk is opened and Erik is ripped away from my arms.

Viktor stands before me on the roof’s edge, staring out at the city stretching out from the skyscraper like a sea of twinkling lights. Sirens fill the air as emergency services rush toward the scene of the gala disaster, where the fire still blazes out of control blocks away. From this high up, it looks like someone has smudged the skyline with orange paint.

So it was him.

I almost hoped for the Cartel.

My heart throbs with each beat. So much blood. So much death.

I couldn’t prevent it. I couldn’t save anyone.

Erik is a few feet away from me, forced to his knees with several men armed with rifles standing around him. He shoots me an apologetic look, then glares across at Viktor who remains with his back to us. Cold wind drags its long fingers across the rooftop, weaving between us with enough strength that it feels like one wrong step and I’ll be whisked right up into the sky.

Someone steps up behind me, and pain explodes through my back as they drive the butt of their rifle into my kidney. “Kneel!”

I fall to my knees with a cry and a gasp as a roar of anger escapes Erik. He surges up toward me and is immediately restrained and dragged back by his guards.

“You son of a bitch!” he roars. “I’m going to kill you!”

“Enough.” Viktor turns slowly to face us. “I am sick and tired of you.”

Before I can react, before I can even blink , Viktor raises his gun and shoots Erik right in the chest.

He collapses forward without a sound.

“ NO !!” I fight to get back onto my feet under the heavy hand of my captor. “Erik! Erik! No, no, no ! Erik!”

Tears well up thick and fast in my eyes and pour down my cheeks as an unbelievably sharp pain splits across my chest. It’s like my heart is trying to break free of my ribs and fly over to Erik to give him what little life I have left in me.

“Erik!”

He doesn’t move. He doesn’t reply. One of the guards nudges him with their foot.

He remains motionless.

“Oh, my God,” I gasp, hyperventilating. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Me?” Viktor taps the barrel of his gun against his temple, then aims it at me. “What the hell is wrong with you, hmm?”

“You! I hate you, you hear me! I hate you. And I’m going to kill you!” I try once again to get to my feet, but as soon as I do, the guard strikes the back of my knee and brings me back down to the ground with a cry. “I’m going to kill you!”

“Oh, dear.” Viktor sighs dryly. “I almost want to see you try.”

“How could you kill him? He looked up to you like you were his own father!”

“He was like a son to me,” Viktor snarls suddenly. “Don’t speak of matters you know nothing about!”

“Who kills their own son?”

“Who kills their own father?” Viktor snaps back. “I suppose Erik would have tried had I given him the chance. You have that effect on people, Anastasia. Patricide runs in your blood, it seems. Maybe from that nasty thing between your legs corrupting my boy.”

“Corrupting?” I scoff through the tears. “You’re one to talk. You poison everything you touch. It’s a wonder someone as good and kind as him could even exist in your fumes!” I don’t hold back. There’s no point. I’m powerless and outnumbered. Erik is gone. Rocky is gone. Faina… I pray she died quickly.

There’s just me. And maybe, if I can get close enough, I can take Viktor with me.

“I did what I had to do,” Viktor grits out. “Including killing my own son. Because I understand sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices?” Rolling my aching shoulders, I shrug off the touch of the guard but remain kneeling. “You mean like those children you and my father were planning on selling?”

Viktor takes a few lazy steps away from the roof’s edge. “Ah.”

“Ah? The fuck you mean, ah?”

“I suspected you knew about that but I hadn’t been able to confirm it.”

“I know everything!” Despite the grief carving me up inside, anger floods through me so I cling to it. “With everything going on, it didn’t take me long to work out that the only person my father would have trusted with such a disgusting scheme was you. So yeah, I know you were his partner in those twisted, twisted plans to start trafficking children, you disgusting roach! I know you’re the one who’s been trying to kill me ever since I stepped into power. I know you’ve been pushing back against everything I’ve been trying to do, and I know you’re the one who just slaughtered everyone at the gala!”

Viktor slides his gun back into his hip holster, then loosely begins to clap his hands. “Well, well. You really think you have it all figured out. Do you really think I’ve spent this entire time just trying to kill you?”

“Yes!” I yell. “I know the truth!”

“No,” Viktor snaps, suddenly advancing toward me. “You only think you do.”

“Then correct me,” I spit out. “You love doing that.”

“It’s true, I am the one behind the attempts on your life, but it wasn’t because I wanted you dead. Well.” He pauses and clasps his hands together. “I did. But I wanted you humiliated and then brought before the other families to be executed. How else was I easily going to step into your role? So the attempts on your life were only for one reason. To drive you into Erik’s arms. He was doing a terrible job at getting close to you, so I orchestrated a few scenarios that would force you two together. And it worked!”

“Why?” I blink furiously, trying to clear the tears as Viktor’s truth becomes clear. “Why not just kill me and take power?”

“You forget, Anastasia, how close I was with your father. The deep respect I had for that man…” Viktor breathes deeply. “I owed it to him to make sure you were completely and utterly humiliated, and then killed fairly. Proving you killed him, however, was more difficult than I imagined.”

“And this?” I cast an arm toward the city, fighting to ignore Erik’s nearby body. “Is this just another thing to blame me for?”

“Naturally,” Viktor replies. “You should have just admitted things and taken a clean execution. Now hundreds are dead because of you. Which will make it easier for me to take control. No one will care that you are dead.”

“And how do you suppose you’ll be able to lead with the police on your tail? Not exactly good for business.”

Viktor scowls. “I can fix that.”

“Can you? Your trigger-happy guard ensured that the Italians will do everything they can to put me in the ground, to put all of us in the ground.”

“What?” Confusion passes over Viktor’s face. “What are you talking about?”

I laugh humorlessly. “You don’t know? Oh , that’s just perfect! Are you really so in the dark?”

Viktor closes the gap between us and grabs me by the throat, drawing me to my feet. “Speak plainly, girl.”

“I invited the Italians to the gala,” I croak through his grip while winding my hands around his wrist. “They were there. Rocky Barati was there, and your fucking guard shot him. How many Italians do you think lie dead in that rubble, huh?” I gasp as his grip tightens further. “You’re fucked.”

“You little—” A sudden buzzing cuts Viktor off, and he releases me in favor of answering his phone.

I hit the ground hard, and pain shoots up my knees. The strangulation aggravates the tender inflammation in my throat caused by the smoke inhalation and I erupt into a sharp coughing fit, bringing fresh tears to my eyes.

“What is it?” Viktor barks, his phone on speaker.

“Mr. Petrov,” drawls an unfamiliar voice with a Mexican twang. “Our deal is off.”

Viktor goes rigid. “What?”

“When we agreed to blow the gala, you didn’t tell us the police would be present. You’ve brought too much heat to this entire shitstorm,” the voice continues. “The cops are onto you. You’re on the Most Wanted list and that shit ain’t good for business. So the deal? It’s off. Keep your tainted money. We want your fucking head instead. You’ve fucked us around enough.”

Money? Is he talking to the Cartel?

So, he made a deal with them behind my back. Is that why my recent request to meet with them went unanswered?

Catching my breath, I glance up as Viktor stumbles over himself. While he’s distracted, I subtly slip off one of my shoes and reach under my skirt to grasp it. The moment it’s in my hand, I surge upward with a cry and slap the heel hard into Viktor’s shoulder. Unable to tell whether it did damage or not, I throw my whole weight behind shoving it into his body. Viktor yells in pain and stumbles backward, the phone falling from his hand.

As we tumble together, I snatch up the phone and scramble to my feet.

“My name is Anastasia Remizova. I am the Godmother of the Remizova family and I have your payment in full, with interest. I’m not on the wanted list and I don’t want a war. The cops are working for me. You need to contact Tatiana Yegorov, and she will pay you in full as long as you kill?—”

“Wrong move, bitch!” Viktor snarls. His fist collides with my face with the power of a truck.

My head snaps to the side as a sharp ringing bursts through my ear. My jaw snaps upward, crashing my teeth together, and hot pain explodes across the right side of my face while the phone falls from my hand.

It was a desperate attempt, my last chance to make sure Viktor will meet his end when he’s done with me.

It’s all I have left.

I regain my balance, and Viktor is suddenly in my space with his hand around my throat. Our eyes meet, and he smiles coldly as something hot and painful impacts my abdomen.

Every muscle inside me tenses and I’m frozen, locked in place. Warmth spreads out from the pressure and as my heart beats once, the pain grows.

It becomes searing. My lips part as I struggle to breathe.

I look down, and my entire world dims around the edges.

Protruding from my stomach, clasped in Viktor’s hand, is the hilt of a knife. The blade is embedded deeply inside me, radiating hot agony with every terrified beat of my heart.

“I knew that fucking baby was still alive inside you,” he growls, applying further pressure to the blade.

I can’t speak. I can’t breathe. A smothered wail rises in my throat, followed by several choked gasps.

My baby.

Not my baby.

No.

Not like this.

Not like this .

“I’ve changed my mind.” He brings me close until scarcely an inch exists between our foreheads. “I’m going to keep you. And I’m going to make you watch as I burn down everything you’ve tried to create. Businesses? Gone. Alliances? Dust. I’ll keep you locked up in my basement, powerless to do anything but witness how great I am in power. And if you’re lucky…”

His cold gaze drifts down my body.

“Maybe I’ll put another baby in you.”

I still can’t speak. It’s like the blade turned off my ability to think, breathe, or move. I’m utterly frozen, and as Viktor reels off the horror of my future, cold tears roll down my raw cheeks.

I blink sluggishly, and someone crashes into Viktor, sending the two of them flying away from me. They land on the roof, rolling together while Viktor’s guards surge forward and take aim. Only, they can’t shoot. The two figures are too intertwined, grunting and grappling with one another. Fists fly, blood sprays, and then the shadow pulls Viktor to his feet.

No.

Not a shadow.

Erik!

Blood soaks his shirt, seeping from the gunshot wound on his chest. His skin is ashen and his smile lopsided when our eyes meet. Pain bleeds across his face as he glances down to where my own hands circle the knife plunged into my body. My legs wobble.

“E–Erik…”

“Anastasia.” He continues to grapple with Viktor, who yells obscenities and demands for his men to open fire. None of them can risk taking the shot and killing Viktor, so they merely stand with their guns raised.

“I’m sorry,” Erik croaks, and our eyes meet. “I love you.”

Erik wraps both arms around Viktor and with a trembling cry, he throws the both of them off the edge of the roof.

“No!”

Erik and Viktor vanish from sight as my scream fills the night air. The ground rushes up to meet me as my legs give way, and I’m deaf to the sound of a door crashing open and guns firing.

Death greets me warmly, a final comfort as I fall into darkness.