Page 55 of The Tsar’s Obsession (Bratva Sinners #1)

Only I Can

Kirill

Our fucking office. Our fucking office! That’s where he had her—right under my fucking nose.

I missed thirteen of Yuri’s calls, and once I floored it out of the fucking golf course, I called him back. "Kirill! What the fuck?! I've called you like twenty times! She’s at–”

"I know, where the fuck are you?!" I swerved to avoid colliding with an eighteen-wheeler, suddenly feeling alive. I wondered if my mind was actually on fire; I could barely see out of my eyes from the white-hot rage that pulsed inside me.

Et tu, Brute? The fact that Dmitry was behind it all was the biggest shock of my life and, at the same time, strangely predictable.

“I’ll be there. Kirill…he has a bunch of my guys working for him." Yuri's embarrassed tone seeped through the phone like he was a little misbehaving child.

"No, really?!" I retorted sarcastically, annoyed and pissed off at him. "And I thought he did it all by himself! You fucked up, Yura!” I pressed the gas harder, knowing I had to admit it. “And so did I. I fucked up big time."

"Fuck," Yuri responded in defeat. "You have to finish this and finish them all. Or else we will all drown."

For the first time in weeks, my mind was awake. I was going to get my girl . Finishing Dmitry in the process would just be a bonus. "If I get there first, I won't wait for you. I'll go in, and you back me up when you get there. How many of your boys are there?"

"About ten. Maybe more,” Yuri responded quietly. Ten?! What the fuck had Yuri been up to?!

"Fuck. That's a big security leak, Yura; you're getting old, man, time to retire!" I chuckled, excitement and determination lighting up inside me like fireworks as I pressed on the gas once more.

There were no doubts in my mind—tonight, I was leaving with Mia in my arms, and she would sleep with me, at home, in our bed.

My sudden disappearance from the meeting would leave a scar on my reputation, maybe even one that would never mend, but I would just have to deal with the fallout later because nothing had meaning without her. Without my Sunshine.

Roman was assigned with leading the meeting, I sent Misha to the hospital to get Polina, and everyone else would just have to wait. And they would fucking wait. How many of them were on Dmitry’s side?

"Oh Ilya, you picked the wrong fucking side, my boy.

" I chastised my own man while he searched me before letting me into my own fucking building. The whole setup was Dmitry’s style.

Just how we used to do it: hole up in a familiar area, place your men in every corner, isolate the enemy, expose him, and attack.

No weapon, no backup, going in blind, I marched inside behind another one of my guys, the rest of the world burning into nothing. In fact, I would set this whole fucking place on fire too.

But before I had a chance to even think about where Mia might be, a blood-curdling scream sounded from inside, stripping all my senses. Mia. My head flooded with images of what he was doing to her, and all of me shook with rage.

“Mia!” I called out instinctively, but a sudden swoosh behind me interrupted my thoughts.

The pain exploded across my back, sharp and blinding, and I collapsed onto my knees, unable to keep myself up.

I gasped for air, but a boot landed in my nose, sending another radiating ache through all of me. Fuck.

The lights of our lobby went out, leaving me in the pitch darkness. Blind, unarmed, and smack dab in the middle of enemy territory, I didn’t fight back; I just needed to get in there. Another scream sounded; this time I knew it was from the basement.

I breathed through the blood on my face and the pain, standing to face my abusers. The pain intensified with every single one of their hits. A bat, a metal pipe, a boot, a fist. They were doing it old school, but I took it all, Mia’s screams hurting more than anything they could give me.

I folded, falling to the tiled floor once more. “Enough,” I gurgled on my own blood, choosing to surrender just to get there in time. “Take me to him.”

Another scream…quieter this time. My vision obscured, I was pushed forward and down the steps to be faced with a scene I’d never forget.

My eyes adjusted to the light, and I saw a dark, glistening pool stretched out on the floor. My stomach fucking dropped. There was a naked body there—drowning in the thick puddle.

Her long, beautiful hair covered her face. Her clothes were scattered around, no doubt ripped off her body. Her chest…I strained to see if it rose, even a little, but it didn’t.

My legs became numb, my vision tunneling. I stumbled forward, barely registering the switchblade glinting in the bastard’s hand. He stood over her, calm, his hands painted red with her blood, like he was admiring his work.

No. My girl. My angel. I was too fucking late!

“Get her up,” Dmitry ordered, and in disbelief, I watched how two men roughly picked her up and dragged her closer to me, trailing right behind him.

A fucking crater of violence ripped open inside me. I was a patient man in the past. I was merciful; I liked dialogue and diplomacy. But tonight, I would bathe in Dmitry’s blood.

“Got carried away,” he muttered, like she was just a toy he broke. Mia was dropped to her knees in front of me, her head slumped down, and her body weak. “A beauty, wasn’t she?” Unable to hold herself up, Mia fell at my feet.

I couldn’t breathe at the sight of her. I deserved to die for letting it come to this.

For letting her suffer. Every muscle in my body screamed to move, to tear him apart, but I stayed still, knowing that both of us would meet our end in seconds if I acted on impulse.

So, I clenched my jaw, relaxed my shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. Emotionless.

A few of my men hung around, evidently having decided that Dmitry was a more viable option. They would all be dead tonight. I heard a sniffle and whipped my head toward the wall. Was that…fucking Jeremy?! His eyes wide, he kept shaking his head, as if denying his existence.

“Sit. Brother,” Dmitry commanded in his full position of power and pointed to a chair behind him. “She’s not dead. I’m not done with her yet. I was going to make a video for you, but since you’re here already…I think you’ll enjoy the live show.”

I stepped over Mia and followed his instruction. If I overreacted to his words or showed how much I cared for her, it could all go to shit in one short second. I took a deep breath in and walked myself back from a nervous breakdown at the sight of her.

“You want my woman? My status, power? You can’t have it all, Dima. Only I can.” I sat down as instructed, my mind already estimating if I could cut his head off with just a switchblade.

A silenced gunshot sounded somewhere upstairs, but Dmitry didn’t turn away from me, only signaling our men— my men—to take care of it.

Yuri arrived. About fucking time. “Oh, The Tsar brought back up, huh?” he mocked.

“You never work alone, do you? Always need someone there to help you out. Me, Polina, Yura…you use everyone like a stepping stone.” Dmitry laughed bi tterly, and heavy footsteps thudded above us.

“But your girl’s smart. She stretched the time until you arrived. ”

Something flashed in his hands, and handcuffs landed in my lap.

“Put those on,” he ordered, lighting up a cigarette, his hands red with Mia’s blood.

He didn’t dare look away as I slowly snapped the handcuffs onto my wrists, stretching the time—just like my girl, giving Yuri the opportunity to do what he did best.

“Look at us. Two brothers. One about to kill the other. We can never escape the fate of our people, can we?” I spoke with meaning, mentally letting go of the man I called my brother almost my whole life.

“I gotta give it to you—you set up an intricate web. You’re a good student; you learned everything I could have possibly taught you,” I taunted him, usurping all his attention away from Mia.

He chuckled and engaged. “You’re the cockiest motherfucker I’ve ever met.

You think you’re God. That nickname really got to your head.

” He exhaled plumes of smoke and breathed in the filthy air with his full chest as he watched me place my handcuffed wrists in my lap.

I’d done it before, and I was stronger than ever now; I was going to break these fucking handcuffs, and then I would let all my wrath out onto him.

“I killed for you. I bled for you. I lived with you on the streets.” Genuine sadness began to overpower me as I pronounced those words. “I saved your life countless times, Dima, and for what? So we could end like this?”

Jeremy sniffled again, his sobs silent and pitiful. What a little bitch. “You think you can just live how you want, don’t you?” Dmitry piped up again. “Never caring about the consequences of your actions. Never caring about who you hurt.”

Fuck. He wasn’t wrong. That’s how I lived my whole life, and that’s how I ended up in this mess with Mia.

My angel lay prostrate on the cold floor, hurt, almost naked, barely alive.

My eyes caught on the ugly patch of raw, red skin where her tattoo used to be, the one I used to trace with my fingers on quiet nights .

He’d fucking cut it out. He cut her apart, and it was all my fault. I let it get this far, too fucking stupid to foresee this.

“Can’t get enough of your beauty?” Dmitry woke me with his voice.

“Don’t worry, you can burn together in hell until the end of time.

” The gun flashed in his hand, and before I could react, the bullet had already left the chamber.

Jeremy screamed behind the duct tape, his body shaking in the chair as crimson poured from the wound in his shin.