Page 68 of Twisted Fate

Long seconds tick by. Then Alexei signals again, hand signals displaying the all-clear. The guard has moved on, continuing his patrol along the cliff edge.

We resume climbing, more cautiously now.

When we reach the top, we pull ourselves over one by one, staying low in the scrubby vegetation that grows right up to the edge.

I hear a slithering sound in the grasses and freeze, watching as the sinuous shape of a striped snake passes by, disturbed by our footsteps, but clearly afraid of us.

From here, I can see the full layout of the compound.

The main house, all glass and stone, sits at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the rest of the island.

Smaller structures—guard posts, equipment sheds—dot the perimeter.

A helipad occupies the far end, a sleek black helicopter sitting ready for a quick escape.

I take note of that, motioning to Alexei, who I know has pilot training. He nods.

The security is visible too—cameras mounted throughout, guards patrolling in regular patterns. Possibly a sniper or two, though I can’t be sure of how paranoid Kane is, exactly.

It's every bit as fortified as the intelligence suggested. Maybe more so.

"We stick to the plan," I whisper to the team. "Use the blind spots between camera coverage. Take out the perimeter guards silently. Converge on the east entrance."

I make my way through the dense vegetation, staying low, using the landscaping as cover. The place looks like paradise, but it’s a hell of Kane’s making, and it’s one that I intend to rescue Valentina from.

I reach my first objective—a small guard post near the eastern perimeter. Two men stand outside, automatic weapons slung casually over their shoulders. They're alert but relaxed, clearly not expecting trouble from this direction.

Their mistake.

I approach from behind, using a dense stand of tropical flowers as cover. The first guard dies without a sound, my knife finding the soft spot beneath his ear with practiced precision. The second has just enough time to widen his eyes in surprise before he joins his colleague on the ground.

I drag the bodies into the guard post, out of sight of the cameras. Inside, I find what I'm looking for—a security terminal, displaying feeds from around the compound.

And there, on one of the screens, I see her.

My chest clenches, my heart beating hard as I reach out involuntarily toward the screen.

Valentina is being dragged back toward the main building, and she looks weakened—her face bruised and her gait unsteady—but she’s alive.

Conscious, and still fighting. I’d expect nothing less.

Relief floods through me, so intense it's almost painful. Then cold rage follows just behind it, as I look at her again. Kane is going to pay for every bruise on her, every drop of her blood he might have shed. Valentina gets the kill, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take my own pound of flesh as well, off of the man who’s dared to harm my wife.

I scan the other feeds, searching for Kane. I find him in a strange glass room, overlooking the ocean, talking to someone I can’t see and gesturing emphatically with one hand. His other wrist is splinted, and pride floods me. She must have hurt him. Good .

I take in as much as I can of the surroundings, quickly, and keep moving. I reach for my radio as I do, keeping low. "Change of plans. Target is being moved to the main building, east wing. Glass room overlooking the ocean. All units converge there."

Acknowledgments come back, one after another, terse and professional.

We're shifting from infiltration to assault, a much riskier proposition but potentially faster. Every second Valentina remains in Kane's hands is a second too long, and I don’t know what he has planned for her. I don’t intend to wait to find out.

We breach the main building, entering through a service entrance guarded by only one man, quickly dispatched. Inside, the modern luxury feels surreal after the wild beauty of the island outside. It’s all marble floors and abstract art, the background noise the soft hum of air conditioning.

It all fades into my periphery as I move, my only focus getting to my wife. To Valentina.

We make it halfway down the second hall before we’re seen.

The men spring into action as we start to clear the hall, quick rattles of gunfire taking down guards as we go.

Two of my men are hit—neither of them in a place to wound, their tactical gear taking the brunt of the bullet.

Still, the danger feels more real here, more pressing.

We need to get to her, and fast.

Finally, we reach the east wing. Through a wall of windows, I can see the glass room jutting out over the cliff’s edge, a strange architectural cube that would make me laugh if not for the situation we’re in.

Inside, I can see two figures: Kane, standing with his back to us, and Valentina, on the ground in front of him.

Rage burns through me like a cold fire, and I gesture to my men.

"There," I growl, pointing. "Three of you circle around, come at it from the other corridor. Alexei, with me. We’re going in directly.

" My blood is pounding in my ears. I need to get to her, now . The sight of her on the ground, broken in front of that man… I’ve never felt the need to kill so viscerally.

To see someone bleed out in front of me.

The men start to move, and a voice rings out from behind me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Abramov."

I turn slowly, weapon raised, to see a man facing me, aiming a gun directly at my head.

Two dozen other men flank him, weapons raised as well, ready to shoot.

The man has the bearing of a leader—I suspect he’s someone important to Kane.

I could take him down before he could shoot me, probably, but we can’t outshoot all of these men. We’d all die, too.

And Valentina will die shortly after. I feel sure of that, that Kane will have no more use for her, once I’m dead.

"Drop your weapons," the man continues in a short, authoritative tone, "or we start shooting. And while you might get a few of us, you won't get all of us. And you definitely won't reach her in time."

He's right, and we both know it. Even if I'm willing to die here—and I am—I can't guarantee I'll reach Valentina before a stray bullet does. I won’t get her free before these men cut me down, and I’d be abandoning my own men to death, too. They all knew the cost—but I need to be smart about this.

Or maybe this was always a suicide mission, and I’ve been fooling myself. Maybe we were all dead from the moment we stepped onto that helicopter.

I lower my weapon slowly, signaling Alexei to do the same, trying to think of what to do next. The man leading Kane’s team smiles, satisfied. "Kane wants to see you. He's been expecting you."

Of course he has. This was a trap from the beginning. I knew that coming in.

I just didn't care. I thought I could beat him at his own game.

I was fucking wrong.

My jaw works as the men surge forward, disarming us and marching us toward the glass room.

My men are split away from me, and Alexei looks toward me, his expression furious.

It’s clear he’s still ready to fight, but I give a quick shake of my head.

We need to wait for the right moment. We’re outnumbered right now, but we’re not dead yet.

If we’re careful, another opportunity might present itself.

The door to the glass cube slides open with a soft hydraulic hiss.

Inside, the space is even more impressive than it appeared from a distance—three walls of perfectly clear glass providing a panoramic view of the ocean far below.

The floor is glass too, creating the unsettling illusion of standing on air.

The jagged rocks below are even more unsettling.

Kane turns as we enter, a cold smile spreading across his face. In front of him, I see Valentina push herself up—and her bruised face goes pale as she sees me, the bruises a stark green and purple against her skin as her eyes go wide.

“Konstantin,” she breathes, and I can’t tell if she’s pleased to see me or not.

I can see that she’s terrified for me—for us both, probably.

My heart twists in my chest. I’ve never seen her afraid, and it makes me want to cut Kane apart piece by piece, to find out how long he can live without parts of himself before he finally dies.

"Konstantin Abramov," Kane echoes, as if greeting an expected guest at a dinner party. "How kind of you to join us."

I don’t look at him. I can’t take my eyes off of Valentina, crouched on the glass floor. Her face is a map of bruises. Blood crusts at the corner of her mouth and in her tangled hair. Her hands are bound behind her back, her posture one of barely contained fury rather than defeat.

"I told you he'd come," Kane says to her, almost gently. "Love makes men into fools."

“Let her go,” I growl, my voice low and dangerous. “You wanted me dead. Here I am. Your quarrel is with me.”

Kane laughs, the sound genuinely amused. "My quarrel, as you put it, is with anyone who interferes with my business. She—" he gestures to Valentina, "—betrayed me after years of loyalty. And you—" his gaze returns to me, harder now, "—you turned her against me. Stole my most valuable asset."

"She's not an asset," I growl. "She's a person. One you've manipulated and abused since she was a child."

Something dangerous flashes in Kane's eyes. "I gave her purpose. I gave her a future. I made her who she is." He moves closer to Valentina, resting his good hand on her head in a grotesque parody of affection. "And now I'll unmake her, while you watch."

I lunge forward, blind with rage, only to be restrained by four guards, two on each side as they grab me. Another man grabs the back of my neck, all five of them forcing me down to my knees as I struggle, a foot away from Valentina. She looks at me, agony in her eyes—not for herself, but for me.

It’s in that moment that I know. She feels the same way I do. And if I can get us the fuck out of here, we’ll finally get a chance to say it.

"Are you okay?" I whisper to her, ignoring Kane altogether.

She gives me a small, fierce smile despite her split lip. "I've had worse."

"How touching," Kane mocks. He reaches into his tan linen jacket and pulls out a sleek black handgun.

For a moment, I think this is it—he'll shoot us both and dump our bodies into the ocean below. A neat, clean end to his problems. He looks between the two of us, a cold smile stretching the corners of his lips, and I know in that moment that it’s not going to be that simple.

He steps forward, pressing the gun to my temple as he gestures to one of the men. The cold metal digs into my skin, but I don’t flinch, keeping my eyes on Valentina. If I am about to go, I want the last thing I see to be her.

To my surprise, the guard unlocks Valentina’s handcuffs. He pulls her to her feet, roughly, and I lurch forward, fighting against the hands holding me. “Get your fucking hands off of her!” I snarl, and Kane shoves the gun against my temple, hard enough to hurt.

“Manners,” he snaps. “Valentina?”

The guard pushes her forward, close enough to touch if my hands were free. Kane pulls the gun away from my temple and holds it out to her. Her eyes widen, shock filling her features.

"Take it," he orders.

She stands there, frozen. “What?” Her voice is small, almost childlike.

She knows what he’s going to do, as clearly as I do.

We’re both people of this world, molded by cruelty, trained in violence.

None of this is a shock, except for the part where we’re caught up in it, forced to perform brutality past what even we’ve imagined.

Kane smiles, pleased at his own theatre. “I'm giving you a choice, my dear. One final test of your loyalty." He nods toward me. "Kill him, and all is forgiven. You return to your place at my side, where you belong. Fail, and, well…” His smile tightens. “I’ll have to get more creative.”

Valentina's eyes meet mine. I see the calculation there, the rapid processing of options and outcomes. She’s trying to think of a way out, a way to turn this to our advantage. One that won’t end in our deaths.

"If I refuse?" she asks, still not taking the gun.

Kane shrugs, that cold smile never leaving his lips for even a second. "I’ll kill him anyway. But slowly. Painfully. After I force him to watch as I kill you. Or maybe I’ll make you watch, since you’re the one who betrayed me. A lesson to others who might consider the same."

"So my choice is to kill him myself, or watch you kill both of us," she clarifies, her voice steady despite everything. I know she’s thinking. Buying herself time to plan.

Kane nods, pleased. "Exactly. Though I prefer to think of it as a chance for redemption. A way back. You can prove to me that this was all a mistake, daughter ."

It was the wrong thing to say. Valentina's eyes find mine again, and in them I see a thousand unspoken words. Regret. Resolve. Something deeper that makes my heart clench painfully in my chest.

Valentina reaches for the gun, her fingers closing around the grip. Kane steps back, satisfaction evident in his posture.

"Good girl," he murmurs. "I knew you'd make the right choice."

Valentina turns to face me fully, the gun leveled at my head.

Her expression is unreadable, her eyes locked with mine.

And though I trust her more than I ever thought I could, I don’t discount that she might buy her own life with mine, even if it tears her heart out to do it.

I don’t believe she will… but she could.

The thought doesn’t upset me as much as it should. Is that what love is? I wonder. I’d die, if it meant she lived. However that happens.

I don't close my eyes. If these are my last moments, I want to spend them looking at her. Memorizing every detail of her face, every shade of green in her eyes. Remembering everything we shared, even if I still don’t know how much of it was true.

Some of it was. And if we get out of this, I want to know every moment that she meant. Every one that was real.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, so softly I barely hear it.

Then she moves, faster than I thought possible in her injured state. The gun swings away from me, toward Kane?—

And everything explodes into chaos.